Ellen Meister has written five novels—including Farewell, Dorothy Parker and The Other Life—as well as numerous short stories and essays. She teaches creative writing at Hofstra University Continuing Education, and does public speaking about her books and other writing-related issues. Ellen lives on Long Island with her husband and three children.
Dorothy Parker Drank Here
eBook
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ISBN-13:
9780698137837
- Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
- Publication date: 02/24/2015
- Sold by: Penguin Group
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 336
- Sales rank: 259,980
- File size: 1 MB
- Age Range: 18 Years
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The acid-tongued Dorothy Parker is back and haunting the halls of the Algonquin with her piercing wit, audacious voice, and unexpectedly tender wisdom.
Heavenly peace? No, thank you. Dorothy Parker would rather wander the famous halls of the Algonquin Hotel, drink in hand, searching for someone, anyone, who will keep her company on this side of eternity.
After forty years she thinks she’s 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. Ted, however, might be the only person living or dead who’s 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 Ted’s past that the future changes for all of them.
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Dorothy Parker may be dead, but in Meister’s fifth novel her spirit still hangs around New York City’s famous Algonquin Hotel bar, bumming drinks and cigarettes from unsuspecting mortals. It’s 2007, and Parker is lonely at the Algonquin—all her literary drinking pals from the Algonquin Round Table era are dead and gone. She, however, gets to stay at the hotel because she signed the old hotel manager’s magical guest book, which grants residence after death (and the drinks are free). Now Parker, looking for an afterlife drinking companion, selects a hotel recluse: cantankerous Ted Shriver, a 1970s literary genius disgraced by a plagiarism scandal, who is dying of a brain tumor. She just needs Shriver to sign the guest book before he dies. Shriver is a mean drunk, determined to die alone in his hotel room without ever revealing the truth about the plagiarism scandal. Meanwhile, Norah Wolfe, a young associate producer of a failing TV show, thinks she can advance her career if she can convince Shriver to appear on her show. Eventually, Wolfe and Parker team up to weaken Shriver’s resolve, and they discover Shriver is not who he seems to be. This is a wacky tale with hilarious cameo appearances by some of Dorothy Parker’s favorite dead celebrities—Robert Benchley, Tallulah Bankhead, Groucho Marx, and Lillian Hellman—and liberally sprinkled with Parker’s signature acerbic humor, wisecracks, and put-downs. (Feb.)
“A great comic complement to novels like The Paris Wife and Loving Frank, and if you’re not a fan of Parker’s or Meister’s already, you soon will be.”—Bookreporter.com
“Meister’s Dorothy Parker is just as sharp, witty and pleasantly mean as fans would expect. Her humanity shines through, though, along with her humor...Not even death can keep Dorothy Parker down in this sad and funny story.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Witty…Replete with the celebrated flapper-journalist’s acid wit, sharp tongue and legendary one-liners…[and] illuminates, too, Parker’s wisdom about the human condition.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“[Meister] does a lovely job of imagining the voice of Dorothy Parker with equal parts wit, heartbreak, and practicality.”—Booklist
“A quicky, charming read that will delight Parker fans and stoke the curiosity of those unfamiliar with her great wit.”—Library Journal
“A wacky tale with hilarious cameo appearances...liberally sprinkled with Parker’s signature acerbic humor, wisecracks, and put-downs.”—Publishers Weekly
The ghost of Dorothy Parker meddles with the lives of mortals in this sequel from Meister (Farewell, Dorothy Parker, 2013). In the heyday of her career, Parker signed a guestbook that promised eternity. Against all odds, the claim turned out to be true, and now she haunts the famed Algonquin, greeting her friends after their deaths. They all go on to the afterlife, but not Dorothy. She'd much rather stay right there at the bar—but things are starting to get lonely. That's where Ted Shriver comes in. A writer whose career plummeted after a plagiarism scandal, Ted is now dying of a brain tumor. If only Dorothy can convince him to sign the guestbook, she might just have some company. But things get a bit more complicated than she imagined. Norah Wolfe, an associate producer for a struggling television show, has her own reasons for wanting to talk to Ted. Neither of them will be able to get through to him unless they can help him tie up some loose ends…and maybe clear his name in the process. Meister's Dorothy Parker is just as sharp, witty and pleasantly mean as fans would expect. Her humanity shines through, though, along with her humor. Her obvious loneliness, along with the dilemmas Ted and Norah face, make this a surprisingly emotional novel. Not even death can keep Dorothy Parker down in this sad and funny story.