Rating: 
Summary: Donleavy's Daring Delight
Review: By far this is one of Donleavy's shortest novels and its succintness is its saving grace. I literally finished it in two nights of light reading and it was a delightful tale from start to finish. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Did not like it
Review: I guess I am the only one here that did not like this book. I thought Jocelyn was a wimp. The characters were never built.
Rating: 
Summary: Like your whiskey straight?
Review: I was enchanted with this book right from the
beginning, perhaps as much for Donleavy's
characterization of the protagonist than for his
use (love?) of the language.
Although Jocelyn Jones' reversals of fortune seem
never-ending, she perseveres with real moxy, even
while contemplating her end. By story's end, the
gods are smiling at her. Or are they smirking?
A brief but memorable novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A true story?
Review: In his recent autobiography, Gardner Botsford tells that the mother of "Punch" Sulzberger of the NY Times experienced the stop in the mortuary rest room followed by the unexpected legacy that forms the climax of Donleavy's novelette.Those who have read "The Ginger Man" will not be surprised by Donleavy's quirky style. Those who have not will find that book to be both much longer and much more rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: A Beaut of a Tale
Review: Just goes to show what imagination and command of the language can do. Truly a book you cannot put down. The ultimate WASP. Probably puts on long kid gloves before applying a condom.
Rating:
Summary: An unconventional yet entertaining read
Review: My book group read this and though it was certainly the shortest book we have read, it led to the longest discussion we've ever had. The protagonist is a women whose husband leaves her for a younger woman. Because of this and some bad decisions on her part she loses her house, country club membership, friends, kids...status in her community and ends up living in a small room in New York, working at a store for minimum wage. She is miserable. Through a very unusual series of events, she regains her wealth only to realize that it's not the money that made her happy, it was her former life and she can not have that back. The ending leaves you thinking for a long, long time. This book is written as the woman thinks and Donleavy's writing style is hard to get used to at first. It is almost as if you are inside her head. This is a book to pass along to friends so that you can talk about it for hours.
Rating:
Summary: Very thought-provoking
Review: My book group read this and though it was certainly the shortest book we have read, it led to the longest discussion we've ever had. The protagonist is a women whose husband leaves her for a younger woman. Because of this and some bad decisions on her part she loses her house, country club membership, friends, kids...status in her community and ends up living in a small room in New York, working at a store for minimum wage. She is miserable. Through a very unusual series of events, she regains her wealth only to realize that it's not the money that made her happy, it was her former life and she can not have that back. The ending leaves you thinking for a long, long time. This book is written as the woman thinks and Donleavy's writing style is hard to get used to at first. It is almost as if you are inside her head. This is a book to pass along to friends so that you can talk about it for hours.
Rating:
Summary: An unconventional yet entertaining read
Review: Our book club chose this book because we all loved the title and could definately relate to the desire to use clean restrooms. This novella traces the ups and downs in Jocelyn's life after her husband leaves her to live with his girlfiend in an apartment on West 67th Street. Jocelyn was educated at Bryn Mawr and lives in a beautiful home on Winnapoopoo Road in Scarsdale, but now her life is about to change dramatically. The book is often sad, sometimes bawdy and always entertaining. I would definately recommend this book and would like to order another by Donleavy.
Rating:
Summary: A true story?
Review: The central twist in this novella---the unforseen consequence of the heroine's trip into the mortuary---is recounted as a true incident by Gardner Botsford in his autobiography, "A Life of Privilege, Mostly," (January, 2003). The woman in Botsford's account is the mother of "Punch" Sulzberger of the NY Times. The peculiar writing style should not surprise one who has read any other of Donleavy's books but it will surprise one who hasn't. Those who want to savor Donleavy should read "The Ginger Man," a substantially longer work that is enormously more rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: Donleavy's pithy chronicle of the downward spiral brilliant
Review: The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Room is Donleavy's second Novella, the first since The Saddest Summer of Samuel S. A marked departure from his earlier works, it features a female protagonist and employs a much more conventional writing style. Few contemporary authors can meld humor and sadness as can Donleavy at his best, and this work ranks among the author's finest work in that regard. Donleavy has long suffered from a fate similar to that of Henry Miller: having first published a huge and controversial best-seller, fresh, shocking, and unforgetable (Miller's Tropic of Cancer; Donleavy's The Ginger Man), too many critics tend to weigh all subsequent works by that achievement. Besides the fact that it's arguable that The Ginger Man outshines any later Donleavy work, those who use his classic first novel as a yard stick for books such as The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms are comparing single malt Isley scotch to vintage champagne. Both fine in of themselves thank you very much.
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