Today’s question
August 16th, 2010
I run a reader question every Monday on my boston.com blog, and I’ve got to say I’m a little bit in love with today’s question. Go read.
The writing style of it reminds me exactly of this fantastic short story by Dorothy Parker, “From the Diary of a New York Lady During Days of Horror, Despair, and World Change.” Go read that, too. It’s quite short, and could have been written yesterday.
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9 Responses to “Today’s question”
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That’s always been my absolute favorite Dorothy Parker story! I first read her when I was in about 8th grade, and was blown away.
Yes, me too. Although I think I’d have to pick “Big Blonde” as my favorite.
I feel that the LW could have ended her letter at “I always have a great time.” No advice needed!
That Parker story sounds like a literal Hell to me.
*Damn* Miss Rose.
DON’T send somebody off to read a story when the end is not included!! Couldn’t be worse!!
Seriously, that’s a dirty trick to play on a reader.
The entire story is there, Nancy — I just checked. It’s pages 191-194. Very short.
OK, so now I have to go to the library and get that book of short stories so I can re-read “Big Blonde” in its entirety (along with everything else in it). Tough assignment, huh?
FWIW, the catalog at my library lists the subject of this book as “United States — Social life and customs — 20th century — Fiction.” Appropriate indeed for your line of work, Robin (except for the “fiction” part).
I loved the Parker story, and I hadn’t seen it before, so thanks! I’ll have to check out Big Blonde — till now I’ve only read Parker’s poetry. She does so well at describing the unthinking waste of a life, and yet it’s incredibly entertaining at the same time. I especially love the title, the way it concisely points out the littleness of the character’s world.
Page 194 was there when I was at work; now when I’m at home it’s “not available”. Maybe it’s a function of the viewer’s IP address?
Couldn’t find it printed elsewhere online, though it looks like you might be able to listen to it on last.fm.
Robin – when I pull up Google Books, it tells me “Pages 194 to 195 are not shown in this preview” – hence, no end of story. I don’t know why it would be different for you than me.
njg