Young, In Paris and In Love!- The Dud Avocado, a Virago Modern Classic by Elaine Dundy
60Bohemian Jewish Heiresses: Who Is Sally Jay Gorce?
Do you like boho novels set in 50s Paris, with lackadaisical Jewish actress heiress heroines getting in with a bad crowd? Hey, me too! This book was made for you!
The Dud Avocado is one of those ‘cult’ novels that almost no-one you mention it to has ever heard of. It has gone in and out of vogue for years – decades – now, but the cognoscenti who really know it, they really love it – truly love it. And for true lovers, The Dud Avocado is never out of vogue.
It was Elaine Dundy’s first novel, and a huge success immediately upon publication. (Which allegedly infuriated her theatre critic husband of the time, Kenneth Tynan.) The Dud Avocado follows the adventures of Sally Jay as she runs off to Paris to escape post-college tedium. She takes an aristocratic Italian lover, finds an artistic crowd to hang out with and falls in love with a red-haired puppet-theatre obsessed bad hat.
The thread of the tale of Sally Jay’s European adventures may seem disjointed and even pointless, but to think so is to miss the point. The journey itself is the destination for Sally Jay, and for us the benefits are wonderfully funny and romantic, both. She gets lost in Europe and her own life with total joie de vivre, simultaneously knowingly aware and open to the wonder of life. This is summed up for me by a couple of lines early on in the book: “I find I always have to write something on a steamed mirror. … So I just wrote my own name, over and over again.”
What could be more beautiful? The Dud Avocado, one of the most beautiful books ever written. Go get lost in it.
Romance, Decadence and Disillusionment In 50s Paris
None of this turns out well: she winds up one quarter of a house-party in Spain, working as a extra on location. The bad hat and his Southern belle girlfriend are half of the equation, and Sally Jay’s rich artist boyfriend makes up the quartet.
But Sally Jay has a relentless desire for excitement and novelty, and real life continually frustrates and disappoints her. She loses her passport, becomes disillusioned with her companions and is distressed by the illness of a young friend. Finally Paris itself loses its charm for her and she wishes to return home (although without a passport this takes some doing.)
Her tale ends with a touch of romance that is drily amusing to any-one who knows something of the history of Dundy’s marriage and who Sally Jay’s final suitor is based upon.
