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The Old Man And Me (1964)

by Elaine Dundy(Favorite Author)

3.7 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1590173171 (ISBN13: 9781590173176)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

NYRB Classics

review 1: I love Dundy's use of words and writing style. She perfectly captures the flippant and emotionally immature persona of the protagonist in the process of telling a very interesting story about a young woman who feels cheated out of her inheritance and the lengths she is willing to go to get what's hers.Among other things, this work provokes deeper thought and exploration of the ennui and excesses of both the wealthy and youth, the need to recapture one's lost youth as we age, power dynamics between sexes in different types of relationships, and how far people are willing to go to get what they believe they deserve or should have.What makes this novel work so well is that it skewers all parties involved. Everyone is self-interested, a bit silly and actively invested in maint... moreaining a giant farcical facade. It feels like a very honest portrayal and worst of all one that is still regularly maintained today.Few fun reading this work!
review 2: It looked like ordinary satire - young American girl crosses the pond, attempts to seduce and fake her way through London literary scene, etc. I was wrong. Dundy's main character is a monster of appetites and hatreds, a truly terrible person who manages to be a delightful narrator. The blackest and (eventually) bleakest of black comedies. The early sections read a little like Waugh with added vitriol, but it rises to a pretty frightening crack-up, and a nicely disquieting end. less

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