With a wit as sharp as a vodka stinger and a heart as free as her spirit, Auntie Mame burst onto the literary scene in 1955 — and today remains one of the most unforgettable characters in contemporary fiction.
Wildly successful when it was first published in 1955, Patrick Dennis’ Auntie Mame sold over two million copies and stayed put on the New York Times bestseller list for 112 weeks. It was … list for 112 weeks. It was made into a play, a Broadway as well as a Hollywood musical, and a fabulous movie starring Rosalind Russell. Since then, Mame has taken her rightful place in the pantheon of Great and Important People as the world’s most beloved, madcap, devastatingly sophisticated, and glamorous aunt. She is impossible to resist, and this hilarious story of an orphaned ten-year-old boy sent to live with his aunt is as delicious a read in the twenty-first century as it was in the 1950s.
Follow the rollicking adventures of this unflappable flapper as seen through the wide eyes of her young, impressionable nephew and discover anew or for the first time why Mame has made the world a more wonderful place . . .
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I don’t have any aunts, but if I did, I’d want Mame. What a wonderful character she is!
Let me start by saying that it’s not that I don’t like it, per se – there’s nothing wrong here. I don’t know what it is, exactly, but it’s not holding me like I expected it to… I LOVE the Rosalind Russell movie and flew through the opening couple of chapters, but then it just, well, lost me. I still have no idea how or why, it just did. The …
I’ve read this book three or four times (about once every ten years), and love it anew each time. The characters and story are fascinating. It’s easily read to simply enjoy the surface and wit. If you give thought to the underlying social commentary and personal behaviors, you’ll get even more out of it.
Saw the movies and loved the book
Mame Dennis, Tour de Force. All NYC artsy intellectual bohemian wild thing of a woman inherits her nephew and takes on all stodgy prejudicial pompous comers with her own quite quixotic thinking as she merrily and slyly blows the doors off of society. It’s a period piece and nails the vibe from the Great Depression to the Sixties. When I was 13 …
I’ve been a bit down and picked this up over Christmas at Half-Price Books in Dallas. It’s been done to death with Broadway musicals and movies. Yet in the reading, it’s still fresh and lively 60 years later. Recommended if you need something to cheer you up, a bit of whimsy and escapism.
As entertaining as the movies.
I saw the movies before I read the book (instead of my usual other-way-around), and it was wonderful. I kept seeing the actors from the movies playing out the scenes in the book. And it was fabulous! I have never laughed so hard. This has got to be one of the best books ever.
Meet Mame Dennis, a true American original! This story is told by her nephew, and was the inspiration for the movie “Mame”.
Orphaned at ten, Patrick Dennis was sent to live with his eccentric aunt. His account of his upbringing is simultaneously cautionary and hilarious! Treat yourself!!
It’s worth buying.
I couldn’t finish this book. It was hard to relate to the characters and the story was pretty unbelievable.
Mame was the original.
This book was hilarious, so fun to read!
Super fun story from another time and another place that never really existed but would have been fun to see.