My Little Blue Dress

First of all, My Little Blue Dress is a great read, fresh, original, and laugh-out-loud funny. Second, it is unquestionably genius, a post-modern antidote to the outdated coming-of-age novel. This wry, perverse little book calls to mind Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise - not because it resembles that [grossly overrated] canon fodder in form, attitude, or the youth of its protagonist, but in the way that it brilliantly chronicles the turbulence of self-creation. Maddox's challenge is far steeper than his predecessors, given an older hero and an era ruled by chaos and chronic self-reinvention, yet he succeeds brilliantly, creating a book that is not only admirable but also a joy to read. Whimsical, farcical, philosophical; in short, creative thinkers will adore this book. Be warned though: if a straight memoir is what you're seeking, you'll definitely want to stick to "Having Our Say"!

Okay, you should know that there are things about this book that you will likely realize only after you finish it so in order to appreciate it, you need to read the whole thing. But it's a short book so get over it. Baby. Maddox brings to life a loathsomely sympathetic character (named Bruno Maddox) as well as a woman who journeys through the 20th century only to be stuck in New York unable to communicate. Along the way, he explores how we relate to culture and the difficulty of being a part of the world you live in.

I just finished reading the reviews posted on the site and I felt they certainly did not do justice to this book. I, for one loved it! I thought it was funny and I read it in one day because I could not put it down. It had one of the best endings in a book I have every read and I would recomend it to anyone who can a appreciate a hillarious book.

As you'll remember, the last hundred years were boutfifully ripe with subjects for satire. Unfortunately, scores of overpaid memoirists have built careers by taking everything so damned seriously -- and we, the reading public, only enabled them with our indulgence.To the rescue comes Maddox's first novel. Mordantly witty, mechanically unique, and -- this is the important part -- entirely NOT BORING, "My Little Blue Dress" delivers a hilarious and transparently fraudulent traipse down one smelly centegenarian's memory lane. After the "true" author is revealed, readers are also treated to a dead-on skewering of present day New York and all its vanities (a delight for anyone who loves, or loves to hate, the city). Along the way Maddox manages to make some insightful cultural commentary; thanfully his playful pacing and style prevent the text from degenerating into another steaming pile of theses. This is a very good book. If enough thoroughly mediocre novels come out, we will one day be calling it a great book, an important book. If enough of us do that, someone will oneday launch a Maddox Studies Program at a small liberal arts college. Hopefully it will happen soon enough that Maddox will be around to make fun of them too.

This is a terrifically ridiculous and clever novel that had me laughing out loud often. The conceit - a barely-managed 'memoir' of someone other than the memoirist - is ingenious. Who hasn't had a great idea that just wouldn't work out? This one, in Maddox's hands, allows for plenty of room for antics on several levels. The narrator is one of those people who has read so much, and thought about a lot of things, and his mind is buzzing. He contrives (at first) to write in a voice not his own. He sustains the invention for brief spates. He can't sustain the voice, and he knows it at times. He collapses, then perseveres. Repeatedly but not tediously, he nearly runs away with himself. Maddox inserts himself into the life span of his not-at-all believable heroine when you would expect it, as well as when you might not. (Think of a puppy who cannot stay away from the action for long.) Since he knows his heroine insufficiently, subplots and diversions intrude. There's a sort of manic braininess here. This is an unpretentious romp, uncynical and a bona fide comic novel. It's utterly original and a lot of fun.