Intrigued by Dorothy

I was only vaguely familiar with Dorothy Parker as a personality from the past. Quotes of hers would regularly pop up in my Facebook feed– witticisms that always seemed to hit home with a sarcasm that sparkled. Along came the new biography, "Dorothy Parker in Hollywood,” and I grabbed the opportunity to satisfy my curiosity.

What a fascinating woman. She was an award-winning writer of short stories, poetry, plays, and screenplays… including the original “A Star is Born” script. She was socially very active to the point of being trailed by the FBI and blacklisted by the studios. This was an era where she was a trailblazer for women writers. Counted among her social circle were Scott Fitzgerald, Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammet, Orson Welles, Fredric March, and Ernest Hemingway. At her death she left her estate to Martin Luther King and, later, the NAACP.

On the flip side, many aspects of her life were a trainwreck. She was a chronic alcoholic. A reputation flourished as someone who would often cruelly backstab people the moment they left the room. She claimed to hate Hollywood, drawn only by the financial benefits it offered. Suicide was attempted a number of times, whether or not these were considered serious by her friends.

There are self-admitted holes in this profile. The author frequently points out huge blank spots in time, where nothing is known and where there is no documentation. There are no journals or revelatory correspondences unearthed to illuminate an insight into the woman behind the public persona. 1951 through 1961 is a black hole, a substantial gap for a biography of a woman on a downward spiral.

I appreciate the intriguing Dorothy Parker presented here. There just seems to be more.

She:
“If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me.”
“If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He gives it to.”
“Honesty means nothing until you are tested under circumstances where you are sure you could get away with dishonesty.”
“If all the young ladies who attended the Yale promenade dance were laid end to end, no one would be the least surprised.”

In conclusion, maybe I should read more Dorothy Parker and less about her.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Even if you know a lot about Dorothy Parker, you will likely learn something new in this book. As the title suggests, it focuses on her time in Hollywood as a film script writer (including for A Star is Born)—and frequently, a script fixer. As one might imagine, she had a love-hate relationship with Hollywood, but it was the locus and focus of much more of her career than generally assumed of this quintessential New Yorker. The book is not limited to her Hollywood work, though. In addition to treating her well-known vocation and avocation as a poet, theater and book critic, magazine writer, and member of the Algonquin Round Table, it gives an excellent and engaging account of her childhood (which explains a lot that would follow), marriages (including a troublesome mother-in-law), friendships, mental health and alcohol issues, the alienating and charming aspects of her personality, fortunes made and lost, political activities, and other areas of her life. I was most surprised to learn more about her time spent in rural Pennsylvania, where she seemed to embrace pastoral life. The book is well-researched and engagingly written and is worth a read, whether you are a longtime follower of Parker or new to her life and work.

I loved this book and, for those that know and love Dorothy Parker already, there is a lot to love in simply getting to spend time with her in these pages that chronicle her life. But at the same time, it's a truly sad, and difficult story. Gail Crowther's history is elegant and full of insights drawn from thoughtful research but the picture she paints is relentlessly unhappy. Dorothy Parker was unarguably a lightning bolt; a well of talent, an unrivaled wit, and a fierce advocate and champion of civil and human rights who did, in her life, move the needle. She was also flawed, and struggled with the work of living. I wrestled with some of the conclusions presented in this book, with whether I believed that Dorothy Parker was hopelessly unhappy and that the story of her flaws outweighed the stories of the light she shown. But I think that wrestling is important, and intentional in Gail Crowther's retelling. So many of the people around her fell victim to Dorothy Parker's glamor, charmed by her talent and her presence, unwilling or unable to acknowledge the pain of someone suffering. What can't be denied however, is the conclusion drawn in the epilogue, that Dorothy Parker deserves remembering, and her work celebrated.