The gayest and most cheerful novel about Americans in Paris I have read...a dazzling performance--as light as a champagne bubble, as continuously attention-getting as a juggler keeping seven swords in the air at the same time." -- The New York Times The Dud Avocado opens with our beautiful and hapless heroine--imagine the panache of Holly Golightly crossed with the naive knowingness of Holden Caulfield--wandering one September morning through Paris in an evening dress." -- Boston Globe When we first make her acquaintance she is still wearing her evening dress in the morning, from the night before, Larry another American she meets is a friend/ lover?, but so is Teddy, who takes her to the Ritz, all dolled up in fancy jewellery, which somehow she manages to miss place. As a gesture of good will Teddy invites both Sally and Larry to a dinner party where he introduces Larry to the Contessa, his mistress. To Sally Jay's horror this thwarts her attempts to seduce Larry for herself. Eventually Larry and Sally Jay make plans to connect on opening night, but after a wild night they are too drunk to consummate their relationship. Larry briefly disappears from Sally Jay's life and she does some minor modelling work for Jim Breit, an American artist nearer her own age with whom she eventually has a relationship. As things with Jim start to become more serious, Larry reappears in her life, urging her to join him on the Côte d'Argent where Baxter, a Canadian fan of Sally Jay's, and Missy, Baxter's friend and Larry's latest girlfriend, are going for a trip.

Elaine Dundy knows how to capture a scene. The parts of the book where something is actually happening work like gangbusters. The dialogue is clever but realistic. The details are pertinent but also hilarious. Most of the first chapter is a really long scene between the narrator and her new crush as they chat at a Paris café. If you are anything like me, this scene will pull you in. And you’ll assume that the rest of the book will continue in this fashion. But the book has other plans.

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One of the funniest books I’ve ever read; it should be subtitled Daisy Miller’s Revenge.”–Gore Vidal Wolcott, James (December 6, 2001). "Critical condition: Kenneth Tynan's diaries". The Guardian . Retrieved May 14, 2021. Reprinted from Wolcott, James (December 3, 2001). "Skating Charm". London Review of Books. Vol.23, no.24 . Retrieved May 14, 2001. The vehemence of my moral indignation surprised me. Was I beginning to have standards and principles, and, oh dear, scruples? What were they, and what would I do with them, and how much were they going to get in my way?”

In October 1993, seven years after Private Eye had pointed out the similarities, Jilly Cooper admitted that sections of her first two novels, Emily and Bella, were plagiarised from The Dud Avocado, but said that it was not deliberate. [3] Summary [ edit ]The sensation of being so close to another human being with whom I had not one single sensation in common left me speechless.”

A photographer does a session with Sally Jay as a model. He is searching for a word to describe her. He finally comes up with 'questing'. Maybe she is and maybe she isn't. But maybe you are. I reflected wearily that it was not easy to be a Woman in these stirring times. I said it then and I say it now: it just isn’t our century.”Once upon a time, Sally Jay Gorce kept running away from home. Trouble usually followed, without any consequences or remorse. She has a rich-as-Midas uncle who tells her if she goes to college, really goes to college, and finishes, she can go to France for two years. He will bankroll her. She can do whatever she wants. No rules. He doesn't even want to hear from her for two years. And so we meet her, with pink hair and a hangover, drifting down the boulevard St. Michel. Will we like her? Well, no...and, yes. She seems.....not deep. She is not there to paint or write. Nothing about her is self-sufficient. Today, we would call her a drama queen. Ifirstread thisin 1961, perhaps the very copy I still have in my possession. At the time I thought it was risqué, funny, modern, definitely the voice of youth.Nowwith a rereadit feels dated,and I have to admit that I was a little bored at times. Too many evenings in the bars and nightclubs, pursued by men, following her dream of becoming an actress and hooking up with Larry Keevil.(Really, the name should have been the clue.) I had to tell someone how much I enjoyed The Dud Avocado. It made me laugh, scream, and guffaw (which, incidentally, is a great name for a law firm).” –Groucho Marx I only did it,' I said, 'now this is going to be the truth, Teddy, I only did it because it seemed to be the glamorous thing to do at the time. It was my ideal of glamour.”

Grimes, William (10 May 2008). "Elaine Dundy, Author of 'The Dud Avocado,' Is Dead at 86". The New York Times . Retrieved 17 December 2020. Simon in Tredynas Days, in May 2018, found that it was best to read the novel in small doses, to appreciate its qualities, like savouring chocolates in a box. Hereare his comments in full.

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Kellaway, Kate (June 24, 2021). "With friends like these..." The Observer . Retrieved May 14, 2021.