What do you think?
Rate this book
Sauce for the Goose
This book is brand new and sealed, never read or used in any way, PERFECT!!
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
1 person is currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Peter De Vries
54 books164 followersPeter De Vries is responsible for contributing to the cultural vernacular such witticisms as "Nostalgia ain't what it used to be" and "Deep down, he's shallow." He was, according to Kingsley Amis, "the funniest serious writer to be found on either side of the Atlantic." “Quick with quips so droll and witty, so penetrating and precise that you almost don’t feel them piercing your pretensions, Peter De Vries was perhaps America’s best comic novelist not named Mark Twain. . .” (Sam McManis, Sacramento Bee).
His achievement seemed best appreciated by his fellow writers. Harper Lee, naming the great American writers, said, “Peter De Vries . . . is the Evelyn Waugh of our time". Anthony Burgess called De Vries “surely one of the great prose virtuosos of modern America.”
Peter De Vries was a radio actor in the 1930s, and editor for Poetry magazine from 1938 to 1944. During World War II he served in the U.S. Marines attaining the rank of Captain, and was seconded to the O.S.S., predecessor to the CIA.
He joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine at the insistence of James Thurber and worked there from 1944 to 1987. A prolific writer, De Vries wrote short stories, reviews, poetry, essays, a play, novellas, and twenty-three novels, several of which were made into films.
De Vries met his wife, Katinka Loeser, while at Poetry magazine. They married and moved to Westport, Connecticut, where they raised 4 children. The death of his 10-year-old daughter Emily from leukemia inspired The Blood of the Lamb, the most poignant and the most autobiographical of De Vries's novels.
In Westport, De Vries formed a lifelong friendship with the young J. D. Salinger, who later described the writing process as "opening a vein and bleeding onto the page." The two writers clearly "understood each other very well” (son Derek De Vries in "The Return of Peter De Vries", Westport Magazine, April 2006).
De Vries received an honorary degree in 1979 from Susquehanna University, and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in May 1983.
His books were sadly out of print by the time of his death. After the New Yorker published a critical reappraisal of De Vries’ work however (“Few writers have understood literary comedy as well as De Vries, and few comic novelists have had his grasp of tragedy”), The University of Chicago Press began reissuing his works in 2005, starting with The Blood of the Lamb and Slouching Toward Kalamazoo.
His achievement seemed best appreciated by his fellow writers. Harper Lee, naming the great American writers, said, “Peter De Vries . . . is the Evelyn Waugh of our time". Anthony Burgess called De Vries “surely one of the great prose virtuosos of modern America.”
Peter De Vries was a radio actor in the 1930s, and editor for Poetry magazine from 1938 to 1944. During World War II he served in the U.S. Marines attaining the rank of Captain, and was seconded to the O.S.S., predecessor to the CIA.
He joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine at the insistence of James Thurber and worked there from 1944 to 1987. A prolific writer, De Vries wrote short stories, reviews, poetry, essays, a play, novellas, and twenty-three novels, several of which were made into films.
De Vries met his wife, Katinka Loeser, while at Poetry magazine. They married and moved to Westport, Connecticut, where they raised 4 children. The death of his 10-year-old daughter Emily from leukemia inspired The Blood of the Lamb, the most poignant and the most autobiographical of De Vries's novels.
In Westport, De Vries formed a lifelong friendship with the young J. D. Salinger, who later described the writing process as "opening a vein and bleeding onto the page." The two writers clearly "understood each other very well” (son Derek De Vries in "The Return of Peter De Vries", Westport Magazine, April 2006).
De Vries received an honorary degree in 1979 from Susquehanna University, and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in May 1983.
His books were sadly out of print by the time of his death. After the New Yorker published a critical reappraisal of De Vries’ work however (“Few writers have understood literary comedy as well as De Vries, and few comic novelists have had his grasp of tragedy”), The University of Chicago Press began reissuing his works in 2005, starting with The Blood of the Lamb and Slouching Toward Kalamazoo.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 20, 2013
" 'I heard your analysis of humor.'
" 'Oh? And what did you think of it?'
" 'This.' And she smacked him in the face with a recipe for custard pie" (32).
“…and the Diesel was so unsatisfactory in bed that she became known
among local wags as the Lay Miserable” (37).
“She was to be seen on television blowing manageability into her hair,
when not advertising a mattress coming in twenty firmnesses” (62).
“ ‘You know who your friends are when you’ve caught sixty-three fish’” (73).
“And smiled uproariously. Some people can do that” (87).
“Knew she the hammerblows of his sweet nothings?” (99).
“Dolfin blew out a long breath through puffed cheeks that made him
momentarily resemble a wind deity” (103).
“ ‘Love makes the world go round—I guess dot’s why it wobbles on its
axis’” (104).
“He was really irresistibly awful, so awful as to round himself out
into another, epic, dimension, one that somehow safeguarded him from
the censure he’d have provoked if he’d been about half as deplorable
as he was” (108).
“ ‘I want their balls in a nutcracker, and I want it by Christmas’” (123).
“ ‘Her walking on eggs diction got on your nerves. You can’t be happy
with a woman who pronounces both d’s in Wednesday’” (134).
“Dog had a seventh floor flat in a building of which the elevator was
on the blink, so they had to puff on foot up the dimly lighted flights
of stairs, each offering its slight variant of the domestic aroma that
clings forever to the corridors of such habitation—a ‘chord’ of
smells, Daisy often thought, of which the dominant note is human
cooking” (134-135).
“Human nature is pretty shoddy stuff, and we all need forgiveness and
redemption and upward of a thousand second chances” (148).
“Nevertheless, Daisy hesitated to accept a proposal it would have
enraged her not to have had made” (164-165). *Humans are so weird.
“Maybe Christian charity was an infinitesimal aberration in a universe
that gorged itself on violence” (183).
“The Pilbeams were brunch-prone Terre Haute department store owners…” (197).
“…(and pondering the tyranny of headgear in dictating human
appearance)…” (206-207).
“Effie headed for the steps of the shallow end. Descending a stairway
into water always has a faint element of absurdity about it, hardly
mitigated if one is doing it in high dudgeon, and with whatever aspect
of wounded hauteur” (209).
“He removes the cravat for Daisy to slip into her bag and take back to
her office, to try out on it a new spray cleaner, Out Damn Spot!”
(218).
“What a newt pond was the human mind” (221).
“It rained buckets. She had a dream in which she was dancing Swan Lake
in galoshes” (222).
“…a red Bordeaux possessing what Dirk called ‘an exquisite boutique’” (222).
“An insecticide performed sluggishly against its predecessors, and a
vice-president who suggested they change the name to Let Us Spray was
fired” (223).
“The world was not an illusion after all; it only seemed that way” (231).
" 'Oh? And what did you think of it?'
" 'This.' And she smacked him in the face with a recipe for custard pie" (32).
“…and the Diesel was so unsatisfactory in bed that she became known
among local wags as the Lay Miserable” (37).
“She was to be seen on television blowing manageability into her hair,
when not advertising a mattress coming in twenty firmnesses” (62).
“ ‘You know who your friends are when you’ve caught sixty-three fish’” (73).
“And smiled uproariously. Some people can do that” (87).
“Knew she the hammerblows of his sweet nothings?” (99).
“Dolfin blew out a long breath through puffed cheeks that made him
momentarily resemble a wind deity” (103).
“ ‘Love makes the world go round—I guess dot’s why it wobbles on its
axis’” (104).
“He was really irresistibly awful, so awful as to round himself out
into another, epic, dimension, one that somehow safeguarded him from
the censure he’d have provoked if he’d been about half as deplorable
as he was” (108).
“ ‘I want their balls in a nutcracker, and I want it by Christmas’” (123).
“ ‘Her walking on eggs diction got on your nerves. You can’t be happy
with a woman who pronounces both d’s in Wednesday’” (134).
“Dog had a seventh floor flat in a building of which the elevator was
on the blink, so they had to puff on foot up the dimly lighted flights
of stairs, each offering its slight variant of the domestic aroma that
clings forever to the corridors of such habitation—a ‘chord’ of
smells, Daisy often thought, of which the dominant note is human
cooking” (134-135).
“Human nature is pretty shoddy stuff, and we all need forgiveness and
redemption and upward of a thousand second chances” (148).
“Nevertheless, Daisy hesitated to accept a proposal it would have
enraged her not to have had made” (164-165). *Humans are so weird.
“Maybe Christian charity was an infinitesimal aberration in a universe
that gorged itself on violence” (183).
“The Pilbeams were brunch-prone Terre Haute department store owners…” (197).
“…(and pondering the tyranny of headgear in dictating human
appearance)…” (206-207).
“Effie headed for the steps of the shallow end. Descending a stairway
into water always has a faint element of absurdity about it, hardly
mitigated if one is doing it in high dudgeon, and with whatever aspect
of wounded hauteur” (209).
“He removes the cravat for Daisy to slip into her bag and take back to
her office, to try out on it a new spray cleaner, Out Damn Spot!”
(218).
“What a newt pond was the human mind” (221).
“It rained buckets. She had a dream in which she was dancing Swan Lake
in galoshes” (222).
“…a red Bordeaux possessing what Dirk called ‘an exquisite boutique’” (222).
“An insecticide performed sluggishly against its predecessors, and a
vice-president who suggested they change the name to Let Us Spray was
fired” (223).
“The world was not an illusion after all; it only seemed that way” (231).
August 20, 2020
''The world was not an illusion after all; it only seemed that way.''
In DeVries 20th novel, characters are out to expose sexual shenanigans in the workplace. It goes all wrong in the most delightful way, of course. DeVries' acrobatically witty turns of phrase are dense, delighting in the endless confusions and misdirected intentions of colorful literary middle class characters with names like Daisy Dobbin, Effie Sniffen and Bobsy Diesel. This is not a parody of feminism but another romp through the muddles of American society in the late 70's. The story is filled with literary references. As airy as the satire is, it takes concentration to catch all the wit and innuendo.
By the end it didn't completely hold up to the to the promise of the beginning but I'm always admiring of his fabulous imagination - both cutting and kind. I'm ready for more. I wish DeVries was read more often. He plays with American jargon and phraseology like nobody else.
In DeVries 20th novel, characters are out to expose sexual shenanigans in the workplace. It goes all wrong in the most delightful way, of course. DeVries' acrobatically witty turns of phrase are dense, delighting in the endless confusions and misdirected intentions of colorful literary middle class characters with names like Daisy Dobbin, Effie Sniffen and Bobsy Diesel. This is not a parody of feminism but another romp through the muddles of American society in the late 70's. The story is filled with literary references. As airy as the satire is, it takes concentration to catch all the wit and innuendo.
By the end it didn't completely hold up to the to the promise of the beginning but I'm always admiring of his fabulous imagination - both cutting and kind. I'm ready for more. I wish DeVries was read more often. He plays with American jargon and phraseology like nobody else.
November 29, 2021
Another DeVries sampling of wit and great lines - with the usual adultery and free sex tossed in for good measure.
"It reminded Daisy of the time a male dinner companion, who prided himself on his urbanity, had caught her in the eye with a similar spray from a cherry tomato bitten into with his front teeth. The incident had so shattered his aplomb as to be conceivably responsible for his vanishing into a monastery, from which he sent her photographs of himself in hooded vestments that made him look more like a member of the Ku Klux Klan than an ascetic Christian."
"It reminded Daisy of the time a male dinner companion, who prided himself on his urbanity, had caught her in the eye with a similar spray from a cherry tomato bitten into with his front teeth. The incident had so shattered his aplomb as to be conceivably responsible for his vanishing into a monastery, from which he sent her photographs of himself in hooded vestments that made him look more like a member of the Ku Klux Klan than an ascetic Christian."
December 26, 2019
It is an interesting plot because it has an unexpected end and the theme is controverted. Although it is longer than other shortstories that i have read, every action that plays out catches more and more the reader's attention. It is the most fascinating thriller shortstory that i have ever read.
December 9, 2020
It’s good to know that there are others who sprinkle their pillow talk with Arminianism.
July 5, 2013
It pains me to say that, even though I am longtime fan of De Vries, I did not enjoy this book as much as I hoped. My main complaint is that the plot is disjointed, leading off in all directions. And that's odd, because its premise has a precise satiric focus - turning the lens around on feminism. You would think the story would fly to the target and stick there, but it wanders all over, as if the author were uneasy or easily distracted.
The main character is female. I've called De Vries the godfather of boychik lit (a term I coined for male-centered humorous fiction). So perhaps the chick perspective was a problem for him? Difficult to believe in such a perceptive writer, who probably would have earned the label metrosexual if they'd had it back then.
A feminist conspiracy sends Daisy Dobbin, a bright and attractive aspiring journalist, into the New York publishing world to tempt and root out sexist predators. After several mishaps and misunderstandings that don't quite meet the case, she beds the boss and falls in love with him. Except her fondness doesn't seem much like romantic love, more like conquest of easy prey. The story doesn't stop there, ventures into her mother's consumerist campaigning (which presumably has its similarities to her mission?) and then ends on a note dangerously close to middle-aged matrimonial resignation.
My best guess is that the premise was suggested by De Vries' agent or publisher as being topical and commercial, just his thing, and he was never fully enrolled in the task. If you found this a ripping tale, I'd like to know.
The main character is female. I've called De Vries the godfather of boychik lit (a term I coined for male-centered humorous fiction). So perhaps the chick perspective was a problem for him? Difficult to believe in such a perceptive writer, who probably would have earned the label metrosexual if they'd had it back then.
A feminist conspiracy sends Daisy Dobbin, a bright and attractive aspiring journalist, into the New York publishing world to tempt and root out sexist predators. After several mishaps and misunderstandings that don't quite meet the case, she beds the boss and falls in love with him. Except her fondness doesn't seem much like romantic love, more like conquest of easy prey. The story doesn't stop there, ventures into her mother's consumerist campaigning (which presumably has its similarities to her mission?) and then ends on a note dangerously close to middle-aged matrimonial resignation.
My best guess is that the premise was suggested by De Vries' agent or publisher as being topical and commercial, just his thing, and he was never fully enrolled in the task. If you found this a ripping tale, I'd like to know.
May 29, 2015
This is De Vries' take on the extreme feminism of the 70's. He makes his points with his usual humor. While a little dated, a fun read.
July 8, 2010
This book had some biting wit.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews