Ruby Pearl’s book is, typically, the story of her life: school, work, friends. It has been a long strange trip. A wild sixties girl, Ruby Pearl married four times, with varying degrees of success, the worst being to an Alabama politician who was a lousy husband in every respect, while at home and when away. Second Sluthood: A Manifesto for the Post-Menopausal, Pre-Senilic Matriarch. Ruby Pearl Saffire. River City Publishing, 2009. By Don Noble. Writing comic fiction is hard, a rare art, especially extended, novel-length comic fiction. We enjoy the work of Dave Barry or the late Lewis Grizzard, but those pieces are 500 words long and if you don't like it there will be another one tomorrow. I have always thought the Brits do the comic novel better. Evelyn Waugh, Kingsley Amis, Tom Sharpe, David Lodge, Malcolm Bradbury and the exquisitely funny P.G. Wodehouse, author of the Wooster and Jeeves books, have no equals in the U.S. It is still a good thing to try, however, and deserves our attention.
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