Whenever I saw Elaine Dundy’s The Dud Avocado in the lists of “books to read”, I wrote it down but forgot about it many times. Once I finally read it, I realized once again that these lists are there for a good reason.
The Dud Avocado tells the romantic and funny story of a young American who went to Paris in the late 1950s. I think there could not be a book that better describes the need for rapid growth. It is a must-read book, especially for young women. I should also mention that it became a cult book after its publication.
Elaine Dundy is a great storyteller; she describes being a woman in the world of men very realistically and with excellent humour. You will immediately sympathise with all the experiences, from the torture of food parties to the job hunts. You’ll learn things together with the main character SJ. There will be times you won’t agree on everything, that is where you’ll find yourselves. Enjoy!
The Dud Avocado
Sally Jay Gorce is a woman with a mission. It’s the 1950s, she’s young, and she’s in Paris. Having dyed her hair pink, she wears evening dresses in the daytime and vows to go native in a way not even the natives can manage. Embarking on an educational programme that includes an affair with a married man (which fizzles out when she realises he’s single and wants to marry her); nights in cabarets and jazz clubs in the company of assorted “citizens of the world”; an entanglement with a charming psychopath; and a bit part in a film financed by a famous matador. But an education like this doesn’t come cheap. Will our heroine be forced back to the States to fulfill her destiny as a librarian, or can she keep up her whirlwind Parisian existence?
Elaine Dundy
Elaine Dundy was an American novelist, biographer, journalist, actress and playwright.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
