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Dear Dodie
 
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Dear Dodie (Paperback)

by Valerie Grove (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £10.99
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Price For All Three: £17.83

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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Pimlico; New ed edition (6 Jun 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0712607315
  • ISBN-13: 978-0712607315
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 202,059 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'I have nothing but praise for this engrossing book, which on the one hand recreates a recent, but forgotten theatrical age, and on the other should introduce Dodie to a host of new readers.', Antonia Fraser, Literary Review .'Beautifully written, warm and lively, with enough detachment for us to see Dodie for ourselves-Full of life and zip.', Joanna Trollope .'Valerie Grove's vivid biography is a brilliant feat of retrieval - nobody will be glad to finish this book.', John Carey, Sunday Times .'Valerie Grove writes about Dodie with wit and discernment. This is a hugely enjoyable book.', John Mortimer, Mail on Sunday .'A successful portrait of a powerful and original woman of devastating wit and intelligence.', Elspeth Barker, Independent on Sunday


Joanna Trollope

‘Beautifully written, warm and lively, with enough detachment for us to see Dodie for ourselves…Full of life and zip.’
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Dear Dodie
46% buy the item featured on this page:
Dear Dodie 3.3 out of 5 stars (3)
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10% buy
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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Persephone Classics)
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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Persephone Classics) 4.6 out of 5 stars (40)
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The Starlight Barking
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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fascinating, 1 Nov 2002
By Sarah Mackey (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
I can't disagree more with the previous reviewer. I am currently online looking for copies of Dodie Smith's plays and autobiographies because I was inspired by this biography to read them. Valerie Grove faced a daunting task when taking on this challenge - Dodie Smith left thousands of pages of journals, thousands of letters and five large volumes of autobiography. To distill them into 300+ pages without seeming to compromise on detail is an incredible achievement. I was fascinated by Dodie's upbringing, her experiences as a playwright, her relationship with her husband, her attitudes towards sex and her love of dalmations (so cleverly juxtaposed with her obvious and increasing intolerance of humans). The impact of the war on British theatre is described through the experiences of Dodie, as her previously popular style of writing is discarded in favour of 'kitchen sink' drama. As with her other excellent biography (of Laurie Lee), Valerie Grove made me feel that she had known Dodie Smith at all stages of her life, that she had been there observing - not just that she had researched well. I don't read much biography as a rule - having experienced some tediously dry tomes in the past - but I have read both the Grove biographies this year and have loved them both.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Well researched but disappointing., 7 Mar 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Dear Dodie: Life of Dodie Smith (Paperback)
Although the author had access to a fair the amount of information and interviewees, she has not really produced a biography that does justice to Dodie Smith.

Dodie Smith, writer of 101 Dalmatians, its sequel Starlight Barking, and I Capture the Castle was also an extremely successful playwright. The writing style of the biography is not easy to follow, and at times you get the feeling that the author does not like her subject. I found this biography disappointing because there was not much emphasis on Dodie's work or how significant her achievements were. There is a lot of information in the book about Dodie but most of it can be found in Dodie's four-part autobiography (Look Back with Love, Look Back with Mixed Feelings, Look Back with Astonishment, and Look Back with Gratitude).

This book however, does provide the reader with odd snippets of new information, and a different viewpoint on Dodie's life. Although Dodie's memoirs are no longer in print, I would recommend that someone interested in her life look for, and read them BEFORE reading this book.

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4.0 out of 5 stars The life and times of Dodie Smith, 21 Aug 2009
This book is very readable and gives a very full picture of Dodie's life, and it has an excellent index. Dodie Smith was born in 1896 and died in 1990. During her lifetime the world when through enormous changes and numerous wars. This biography not only relates Dodie's life, but is also a record of those years, containing so much about the changing society, culture, values and recalling an unknown (to me at any rate) theatrical age.

She was the author of two classics - I Capture the Castle and The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Those are the two works that I knew before reading this book. She was also an acclaimed playwright and her plays receiving most praise were Autumn Crocus and Dear Octopus. This book has triggered my interest in reading these plays and more of Dodie's books. She wrote millions of words, mostly about herself - in her journals and five volumes of autobiography. She simply loved writing. But at times she became depressed.

One touching note - Dodie's last Dalmatian, Charley, slept on the floor by her side on guard, as it were, during her final days. Dodie left £2000 in her will for `the utmost care and protection of Charley', but three weeks after her departure he died.
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