Wallflower at the Orgy

bet a lot of people 's jaws dropped down to their chins when this was published, back in the late 60's. This was by the same lady who made You got Mail,Michael and Sleepless and Seattle,but you can hardly tell in some parts this is the same person. A lot of these essays where written when she was in her early 20's, when she was a reporter for the New York Post. You can tell the person writing this is really gutsy,a little naive and full of strong opinions.You will also notice she is wise behind her years and trying to find out were she fits in this world.She writes and pokes fun at just about everything, food, her favorite books and movies, feminism, Mike Nichols and how stupid Women's Wear magazine is.She gives wry explanations of what her essays are about which I thought was a nice touch. My favorite essay is called Makeover - When our tomboyish, fashion-impaired heroine is made over as part as an assignment for a newspaper she is writing for.It ends up being an extremely uncomfortable ordeal. First off,these two flamboyant fashionistas that are doing the makeover panic when they see her because they have never done a makeover on a average looking person(They are used to making over super models) They argue about what to do with her and eventually cover her long face in three pounds of pancake makeup and make her look like a old lady.... Another good one is Beach Wife's which is actually a short story about a lawyer's wife vacationing in the South Hampton's with her two young children,while her husband works on a big case over the summer.She has a great summer but misses her old life and can't wait to get back to it.. What you may not like about it The author likes to talk about her sexual fetishes a lot, some of them may make you uncomfortable. She has a self depreciating sense of humor and tries too hard to be funny some times. She has a hard time writing in first person. A few of them are written like a high school student's history report. The one about Ayn Rand is a good example of this. This little girl has gone far far away and I miss her : I hope she writes something like this soon. Most of the movies she writes/directs are way too gooey for me. I like a little bit of ironic black humor now and then. I like people to give their opinions on things even if I think are wrong.It makes them interesting and worth investing time in. I also liked it because, it is about an era that I have heard a lot about from middleaged people's perspectives. This book is a nice twist because it is told from a young woman's perspective who is living through it all.