Dorothy Parker is so bitterly funny. She just cracks me up. ( )

Mixed review. The poetry on the whole was terrible. Most poems were very simplistic, lacked depth and as a body of work showed little variation on theme. She wrote endlessly about bad luck with men/love/relationships. There were witty lines here and there, and many oft quoted fragments, ie: "Men rarely make passes at girls who wear glasses" etc., but a huge disappointment overall.
The short stories, however, where much better, and I'm happy to have read them. She definitely comes across as someone it would be fun to go to dinner with (but only if she liked you). ( )

I only wish Dot Parker were still alive to make her cynical, yet comical judgements on the state of men, women and the relationships they attempt to have. Parker can be both dark and divine at the same time. Her irrepressible wit shines through in this collection of both her short stories and poems. Readers will come away with a few choice one-liners worth repeating to their own irreverant female friends.

My rating (3 stars) reflects an attempt to average the very uneven contents. Some very excellent pieces contrast with others that have not aged well. The monologues and soliloquies in particular among the stories read today as rather quaint; far from their contemporary impact as so very original. Some pieces have mainly scholarly interest; fewer hold up to the standard of being entertaining to a modern audience. The poems are more successful in this regard. Although the poems are best sampled in small nibbles as there are very many and by-and-large very much like their fellows. ( )

A delightfully wicked read and reference. ( )