Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meisterβ 336 pages
Book Blurb:
Heavenly peace? No, thank you. Dorothy Parker would rather wander the famous halls of the Algonquin Hotel, drink in hand, searching for someone,Β anyone, who will keep her company on this side of eternity.
After forty years she thinks sheβs found the perfect candidate in Ted Shriver, a brilliant literary voice of the 1970s, silenced early in a promising career by a devastating plagiarism scandal. Now a prickly recluse, he hides away in the old hotel slowly dying of cancer, which he refuses to treat. If she can just convince him to sign the infamous guestbook of Percy Coates, Dorothy Parker might be able to persuade the jaded writer to spurn the white light with her.Β Ted, however, might be the only person living or dead whoβs more stubborn than Parker, and he rejects her proposal outright.
When a young, ambitious TV producer, Norah Wolfe, enters the hotel in search of Ted Shriver, Parker sees another opportunity to get what she wants. Instead, she and Norah manage to uncover such startling secrets about Tedβs past that the future changes for all of them.
My Review: 3 stars
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How could I resist this title? It’s perfect and so was the infamous Dorothy Parker in her time. ThisΒ book was a quirky and witty fictionalized tale of Dorothy Parker as she, in ghost form, inhabits the Algonquin Hotel in New York, her oldΒ stomping ground. The story revolves around Dorothy as she helpsΒ a young woman reestablish her once successful career while also aidingΒ a famous author clear his name from a plagiarism scandal. Of course these two people are connected, unbeknownst to one of them, and Dorothy helps bring that to fruition as well.
Any book that leads me to learn something new is always a plus for me and in this novel, there was plenty to discover. Not only did I find out more about Dorothy Parkerβs writings and her sassy quotes, but also about the legendary βRound Tableβ of authors, critics and playwrights that dined at the Algonquin every day for ten years.
Had this story had a ghost other than Ms. Parker, it probably wouldnβt have worked. It was her wit and sarcasm that kept you wanting to read more. This is a perfect vacation read…light and fun!
Quotes I liked:
Pornography doesnβt bother me. Mrs. Parker said. There are other things far more obscene β war, politics, the discretion of the English language.β
-βIf people changed, Iβd be impressed. Gadgets merely mark the inevitable march of progress.β
-βAre drunk and happy mutually exclusive?β –βLife and happy are mutually exclusive.β
-βWhen I finish with a book, Iβm done. There is no more than what I wrote. You know as much as about what happens outside those pages as I do.β