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grytev's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
bluestarfish's review against another edition
4.0
Sally Jay Gorce is an American in Paris in the 1950s and having finally run away from home, with the help of a generous uncle, she is a woman hellbent on living. Sally Jay is a force of nature with her pink hair, curiosity, and three looks in clothes, non of which seem to be right for any given moment she finds her in. When we first meet her she's in an evening dress as everything else she has is at the laundry's.
This is not a book with a plot as such, it is mostly following the exuberance of Sally Jay's exploring life and having fun and drinking champagne cocktails as a young woman. Sally Jay almost gets caught in a domestic cage despite being in Paris, and there's a searingly funny jab at women's role in dinner parties and having to pay "Homage to the Household Gods", but manages to escape for a little longer. Elaine Dundy created a very unique voice, you really don't encounter screwball comedy on the page very often and especially not from the female perspective.
This is not a book with a plot as such, it is mostly following the exuberance of Sally Jay's exploring life and having fun and drinking champagne cocktails as a young woman. Sally Jay almost gets caught in a domestic cage despite being in Paris, and there's a searingly funny jab at women's role in dinner parties and having to pay "Homage to the Household Gods", but manages to escape for a little longer. Elaine Dundy created a very unique voice, you really don't encounter screwball comedy on the page very often and especially not from the female perspective.
tiffbish's review against another edition
2.0
I think I had read this book before. I guess it didn't leave much of an impression. Now I remember why.
a_copp's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
For readers of LA Woman by Eve Babitz and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
I hate to be this person, but I often find myself forgetting that women in the 50s could have wit and be free. This book was so funny, I found myself reading lines out to my boyfriend each time I sat down with it.
I hate to be this person, but I often find myself forgetting that women in the 50s could have wit and be free. This book was so funny, I found myself reading lines out to my boyfriend each time I sat down with it.
awhittz's review against another edition
4.5
What an absolute hoot of a book - a coming of age story with plenty of drama and scandal, set in 1950s Paris with the most enjoyably shameless and quite hilarious protagonist. Superb!
moominlove's review against another edition
4.0
Fun read! I really liked the second half. Sally Jay is funny and young and dumb and knows she's being ridiculous but just can't help it. The letter from her uncle towards the end was funny. Sometimes I lost track of the days/plot but overall I really enjoyed. I need to go to Paris so I can hate it and get out of it.
lavrendy's review against another edition
2.0
this was a pretty infuriating read to be honest! the occasional good line or scene did not make up for the countless pages of Sally Jay trying to convince you of how kooky and impulsive she is
kerensa2108's review against another edition
2.0
I’m really not sure where to start with my review! This was a book club choice, otherwise I wouldn’t even have considered picking it up. Based on the blurb and other reviews, it’s simply not my thing. A number of other members of my book club read it before I did, and didn’t have much to say about it that was positive. But I felt I really should give it a go, so I plunged in - trying to keep an open mind…
Firstly, a note on the introduction (the introduction in my copy is by Rachel Cooke in 2011). That wasn’t a good start - far too much information about the author’s husband’s sexual fetishes (completely unnecessary and rather distasteful) and his treatment of her, as well
as comments like “we have all…woken up in the bed of the wrong man with panda eyes…”. No we haven’t! Then, Sally Jay is deemed funnier than Anne Welles, Jennifer North, Isadora Wing and Carrie Bradshaw - that in itself was off-putting (I don’t know the other characters but CB is really not funny and Sex In The City made me cringe), and on reading this book I found Sally Jay not in the slightest bit funny - she’s rather sad, in a way, like Carrie Bradshaw. Anyway, on to the book itself.
Initially I really didn’t like it! Sally Jay comes across as spoiled, self-absorbed and insensitive, and more than a little bit pretentious. Sadly, she reminds me of myself at about that age - not in terms of the things she gets up to (most of which I’d never have dared to do!), but the way she expresses herself (I found my diaries from my university stint in Russia in 1993 a few months back, peppered with words in Cyrillic, just like the way Sally Jay’s narrative is peppered with French words and expressions). Cringe!
But at the same time, I began to find her situation strangely poignant and touching - the hints that her parents neglected her emotionally (hence the repeated running away) and her clear lack of understanding about the darker side of life - she’s quite a romantic, in a way, and very naive. Her self-absorption (like mine, at that age) isn’t malicious and you can tell that she just needs to grow up a bit - she’s well-intentioned at heart, and seems to be able to learn from her mistakes.
I stuck with it, despite not really liking Sally Jay at all initially, because I found myself wanting to know what happens to her (a bit like a train wreck!) But then I started to enjoy the book - I was still finding her self-absorbed, annoying and childish, but was beginning to understand her a little better and see her good points. I also liked the author’s use of language and there are some lovely descriptions of some of the characters (my favourite is the description of Sally Jay’s cousin John: “John was a real, earnest, enthusiastic, gee-whiz tail-wagging prig of an American, with the shortest crew-cut and the thickest horn-rims ever to accompany their owner through four ceaselessly interrogating years of Harvard.” Brilliant!)
The story takes us from Paris to Biarritz, back to Paris and then back to the US, at which point it starts to feel slightly rushed, as if the author was bored with Sally Jay’s shenanigans and wanted to get her settled down. I found the ending a little disappointing, and I also have unanswered questions about how Sally Jay suddenly cottoned on to what Larry was up to - maybe I missed something really subtle but it’s not clear! I’d also like to have had some more details about Judy and Jim, and how Sally Jay’s relationship with them developed after Judy’s operation (maybe it didn’t, maybe they lost touch, but it would be nice to know). I liked both Judy and Jim and would love to have known more about them as a couple. Although I guess the fact that we don’t is a reflection of Sally Jay’s level of self-absorption - it would be uncharacteristic of her to expand on that narrative.
So, I’m not sure whether to keep this book and read it again - I think I might, because having read to the end, I have a little more insight into Sally Jay’s background and character and I think that would help to understand her a bit better, earlier on. Also the title - that is explained towards the end of the book, and it would be good if it had come up earlier (and been elaborated on, a bit) as the explanation is very sketchy but does provide some insight.
Two stars as it wasn’t my favourite read but I kind-of quite enjoyed some aspects of it.
Firstly, a note on the introduction (the introduction in my copy is by Rachel Cooke in 2011). That wasn’t a good start - far too much information about the author’s husband’s sexual fetishes (completely unnecessary and rather distasteful) and his treatment of her, as well
as comments like “we have all…woken up in the bed of the wrong man with panda eyes…”. No we haven’t! Then, Sally Jay is deemed funnier than Anne Welles, Jennifer North, Isadora Wing and Carrie Bradshaw - that in itself was off-putting (I don’t know the other characters but CB is really not funny and Sex In The City made me cringe), and on reading this book I found Sally Jay not in the slightest bit funny - she’s rather sad, in a way, like Carrie Bradshaw. Anyway, on to the book itself.
Initially I really didn’t like it! Sally Jay comes across as spoiled, self-absorbed and insensitive, and more than a little bit pretentious. Sadly, she reminds me of myself at about that age - not in terms of the things she gets up to (most of which I’d never have dared to do!), but the way she expresses herself (I found my diaries from my university stint in Russia in 1993 a few months back, peppered with words in Cyrillic, just like the way Sally Jay’s narrative is peppered with French words and expressions). Cringe!
But at the same time, I began to find her situation strangely poignant and touching - the hints that her parents neglected her emotionally (hence the repeated running away) and her clear lack of understanding about the darker side of life - she’s quite a romantic, in a way, and very naive. Her self-absorption (like mine, at that age) isn’t malicious and you can tell that she just needs to grow up a bit - she’s well-intentioned at heart, and seems to be able to learn from her mistakes.
I stuck with it, despite not really liking Sally Jay at all initially, because I found myself wanting to know what happens to her (a bit like a train wreck!) But then I started to enjoy the book - I was still finding her self-absorbed, annoying and childish, but was beginning to understand her a little better and see her good points. I also liked the author’s use of language and there are some lovely descriptions of some of the characters (my favourite is the description of Sally Jay’s cousin John: “John was a real, earnest, enthusiastic, gee-whiz tail-wagging prig of an American, with the shortest crew-cut and the thickest horn-rims ever to accompany their owner through four ceaselessly interrogating years of Harvard.” Brilliant!)
The story takes us from Paris to Biarritz, back to Paris and then back to the US, at which point it starts to feel slightly rushed, as if the author was bored with Sally Jay’s shenanigans and wanted to get her settled down. I found the ending a little disappointing, and I also have unanswered questions about how Sally Jay suddenly cottoned on to what Larry was up to - maybe I missed something really subtle but it’s not clear! I’d also like to have had some more details about Judy and Jim, and how Sally Jay’s relationship with them developed after Judy’s operation (maybe it didn’t, maybe they lost touch, but it would be nice to know). I liked both Judy and Jim and would love to have known more about them as a couple. Although I guess the fact that we don’t is a reflection of Sally Jay’s level of self-absorption - it would be uncharacteristic of her to expand on that narrative.
So, I’m not sure whether to keep this book and read it again - I think I might, because having read to the end, I have a little more insight into Sally Jay’s background and character and I think that would help to understand her a bit better, earlier on. Also the title - that is explained towards the end of the book, and it would be good if it had come up earlier (and been elaborated on, a bit) as the explanation is very sketchy but does provide some insight.
Two stars as it wasn’t my favourite read but I kind-of quite enjoyed some aspects of it.
aleffert's review against another edition
4.0
Enormously charming and utterly low stakes. This is basically a screwball comedy with a narrative voice to match. Perfectly balances a fundamental ditziness with self-aware commentary that had me chuckling the entire time. Glamorous and tawdry, it does get kind of dark at the end in a way that the material doesn't really handle (or maybe just aged very oddly), but it's not enough to ruin the pleasures of this little romp.