Not a Dud

There's a lovely obituary of Elaine Dundy in the Guardian; she died this week of a heart attack. She led quite the life apparently, hobnobbing with the good and the great and the famous, including Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Tennessee Williams, Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal.

Dundy's semi-autobigraphical novel of expat life in Paris The Dud Avocado, first published in 1958, is one of the better-selling titles New York Review of Books' great series of reprints of underappreciated classics. To be honest, I knew nothing about the title six months ago. But now the Los Angeles Times has posted an excerpt, and I've read it. It's short, but winning, and it makes me want to read the whole book. It's further evidence that the NYRB editors really know how to pick them.--David E