Auntie Mame

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Summary: Everyone Should Have an Auntie Mame!
Review: Auntie Mame is just the sort of novel that leaves you dancing for more. I was first introduced to Auntie Mame through the Rosalind Russell film, which is just wonderful. You can imagine how pleased I was to find this book and to know that the adventures went even further than the film. After reading this book, I became so attached to Mame and Patrick that I felt like they were old freinds and I carried the book around with me at all times. They were there when ever I needed to be cheered up or simply bored and there was no one to talk to. Auntie Mame's exploits while extreme are totally believable and you get a distinct feeling for the time period and how it was a time of innocence and innovation. Patrick Dennis has gained a prominent place on my bookshelf.

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Summary: AUNTIE MAME is still a MUST READ!
Review: If you haven't read this, for heaven's sake do so immediately. Yes, you may know the wonderful movie with Roz Russell or the delightful stage musical (we'll pass over the movie version with Lucille Ball), but the original novel offers unique pleasures you should not miss. I don't know another book that remains as fresh and funny, reading after reading, as AUNTIE MAME does. It's a book I return to every year, and I always wind up laughing again, as if seeing the text for the first time. Over 40 years have done practically nothing to diminish the gloriously intelligent humor in this timeless comedy. With the exception of it's delicious sequel (TRAVELS WITH AUNTIE MAME), there's nothing even remotely like it. And yes, its true -- this book will make you laugh out loud, even in public. If that might embarass you, read it privately at home. Better yet, read it in public anyway. Some people need to be reminded that there can be joy and laughter, even in public places!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: What a funny book! I just read it for the first time (after letting it languish on my bookshelf for something like 2 years) and couldn't put it down. I hesitate to give away any of the plot - it's best read for yourself - but trust me, it's HILARIOUS! The only drawback is that the writing seems sort of overwraught in places (i.e. descriptions of people yelling and screaming at each other when it seems only a small tiff might have transpired in real life) but it hardly matters. It's a fun read.

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Summary: Pure Entertainment -- and more.
Review: When I was twelve I fell under the spell of this marvelous woman, and I'm still hooked. I estimate I've read the book and its equally charming sequel about sixteen times apiece and will undoubtedly do so again. Mame Dennis Burnside is as good as real, believe me. Few literary characters burn quite so brightly. She taught me very early that mild eccentricity is valuable, that small-mindedness is to be fought tooth and nail. In white-bread Oklahoma I knew few Jewish people, and in the chapter on the Upsons I learned a priceless lesson when I was confronted for the first time by anti- semitism, even if it was only in a book. When I got out into the world, I saw that Mame's tolerance was right and just. And if the lessons of the book weren't enough, it is screamingly funny. I couldn't call it great literature, but this delicious novel is probably as valuable a guide as any to personal integrity. Buy the book, read it and pass the word. This one is the real, right thing.