Reviews
Richard Morrison, The London Times Summer Reading Choices July 27 2001 "Summer reading should be like summer wines; light , refreshing, insouciant. Life Itself! is all that and more. Written by a woman who had the good fortune to mingle with the most outrageous figures in 1950s theatreland; and the misfortune to marry one of them (the critic Kenneth Tynan), it with will rank as one of the most perceptive Showbiz memoirs penned. Monroe and Miller, Olivier and Leigh, Hemingway and Welles all are presented in pungent vignettes. "
India Knight, London Sunday Times June 24th 2001 "Elaine Dundy, the author of The Dud Avocado has written her autobiography. It's an absolute treat, by turns jaunty, pleasingly self-knowing and unexpectedly moving. The Tynans' tragicomic, delirious union, makes for gripping reading."
Lynn Barber, London Daily Telegraph, June 2001, "The author is so amiable with her bounce, her enthusiasm and her optimism but what makes this book such a breath of fresh air is its complete lack of self pity."
Kate Kellaway, London Observer, June 2001 "Dundy has a superb memory for detail, "
Patrick Skene Catling, Irish Times June 23rd 2001 "A wonderfully entertaining confession. Her autobiography depicts her life with unflinching candor"
Jeremy Lewis, Literary Review June 2001A memoir that is "fast moving, unaffected," and "immensely likable"
Christopher Downes, Camden New Journal July 12 200l " "Often down but never out, it's Dundy's resilience and humor which are so irresistible.
In July 2001, Life Itself! was also on the You Must Read, London Sunday Times list. It was the London Daily Mail Critic's Choice, and on the London Evening Standard London bestseller list.