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poppymaeve 's review for:
The Dud Avocado
by Elaine Dundy
I have to admit that I initially put this on my to-read list because it had "avocado" in the title. I don't think I even really knew what it was about when I bought it but avocados are one of my favourite foods. Really sensible reasons to buy a book.
"The Dud Avocado" is a witty and light-hearted read. It's fanatically visual, and I really don't understand why there hasn't been a film made of it. It's like an Audrey Hepburn film, but instead of being an outsider witnessing the life of the perhaps whimsical character (like Holly Golightly), in this novel you get an in-depth narrative of her life.
Sally is a flighty 21 year old who travels to Paris to try and make it as an actress. She's kind of a stereotypical character who naïvely travels abroad to experience the culture, to try and make it there. Sally is very...she's an interesting character. She's likeable for her naïvety, but you do often wander why she is thinking certain things. She has a string of men that she adores and who adore her throughout the novel; some of them treat her badly, as would be expected from this kind of novel, but she also does her fair share of mistreatment of these men.
I wouldn't say that Sally is entirely likeable. She can be frustrating, but it's very interesting to read from the point of view of a character like her. She's certainly not an original character, but you don't often get to read a first person narrative from the point of view of someone like her. In fact, no one in this book is that likeable, besides perhaps one or two background characters. But somehow it works.
Dundy's writing is very easy to read and enjoyable. She's very descriptive, but not in overwhelming ways; there aren't paragraphs and paragraphs of descriptions about characters or places, but simply sentences here and there which develop them.
"The Dud Avocado" is a witty and light-hearted read. It's fanatically visual, and I really don't understand why there hasn't been a film made of it. It's like an Audrey Hepburn film, but instead of being an outsider witnessing the life of the perhaps whimsical character (like Holly Golightly), in this novel you get an in-depth narrative of her life.
Sally is a flighty 21 year old who travels to Paris to try and make it as an actress. She's kind of a stereotypical character who naïvely travels abroad to experience the culture, to try and make it there. Sally is very...she's an interesting character. She's likeable for her naïvety, but you do often wander why she is thinking certain things. She has a string of men that she adores and who adore her throughout the novel; some of them treat her badly, as would be expected from this kind of novel, but she also does her fair share of mistreatment of these men.
I wouldn't say that Sally is entirely likeable. She can be frustrating, but it's very interesting to read from the point of view of a character like her. She's certainly not an original character, but you don't often get to read a first person narrative from the point of view of someone like her. In fact, no one in this book is that likeable, besides perhaps one or two background characters. But somehow it works.
Dundy's writing is very easy to read and enjoyable. She's very descriptive, but not in overwhelming ways; there aren't paragraphs and paragraphs of descriptions about characters or places, but simply sentences here and there which develop them.