Selected Readings from the Portable Dorothy Parker by Marion Meade (2007, MP3 CD)

Once the toast of the New York intellectual scene, Dorothy Parker is remembered today primarily for a handful of witty epigrams and acerbic one-liners which have been quoted so frequently that they have lost much of their sting. Parker had, however, an enormous and richly varied literary output. Her keen eye and sharp tongue are much in evidence in this collection of some of her stories and poetry, which she compiled herself in 1944. Though her typical tone is wry and typical theme, the inconstancy of the human heart, Parker also had a strong moral sensibility. Several tales contrasting the banality of the idle rich with the solidity of the struggling working-class poor, touch us with their sadness.

Many of these selections are very short. Reader Lorna Raver performs each one brilliantly with a new voice and a fresh perspective. If she’s sometimes over the top, it's because so many of Parker’s characters, magnificent in their tunnel-visioned obtuseness, are too. The only thing that mars this exceptional production is that Blackstone has failed to include an index. Anyone hoping to listen to or revisit a specific piece will have to work very hard to find it.