Back to the early ‘80s for the next two entries in my ongoing ‘80s film festival: Tootsie, from 1982, and 9 to 5, from 1980. Both are comedies that ask questions about women and what they’re up against. And both movies feature Dabney Coleman as villain—in Tootsie, Coleman plays the asshole soap opera director who’s going out with Jessica Lange’s character, and in 9 to 5, he’s the obnoxious sexual-harassing boss.
Tootsie sets out to charm, with the sweet Stephen Bishop theme song/love song (“Something’s telling me it might be you, all of my life”), its stacked cast, and its springtime/summertime-in-Manhattan setting. Main character Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is a committed but pain-in-the-butt actor who can’t land a role, who also treats women, including his good friend Sandy (Terri Garr), as less than full people. When Sandy runs lines with him to get ready to audition for a role on a soap, Michael coaches her, and he tries out a Southern schoolmarm-yet-take-no-prisoners voice. Which in turn leads Michael to try out for the very same role, and, miraculously, to win the role.
Is Tootsie still funny? Yes, but: Yes, Dustin Hoffman is funny as Dorothy, the way Dorothy responds to a lecherous older actor, and to the predatory Dabney Coleman, and stands up for other women, but Hoffman’s Michael has to stomp all over Sandy to get and keep the role. Yes, but: Jessica Lange’s character feels so undeveloped, hardly more than the object of Michael’s/Dorothy’s lust. Yes, but: I wanted more of Bill Murray and the wonderful Terri Garr.
And 9 to 5 may be supremely silly (and yes, still funny), but it makes so many good points about that era’s strictures on women’s lives, while skewering corporate nonsense. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton are perfect together, and it’s fun to see Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin paired for the first time, Fonda playing a timid, scared divorcée, and Tomlin as the uber-competent administrator (and mom) who keeps getting passed over for promotions. And Dolly Parton plays the secretary who Dabney Coleman will not leave alone, and the whole office judges her (rather than him) for it.
When the three get the chance to right some wrongs and punish Dabney Coleman, they do so, inventively. Worth a rewatch.
Summer reading
What does “summer book” mean to you? To me, it’s a big novel that I can sink into and live inside for a while, reading in the afternoons and late at night. Past summer favorites include Britt Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, and Alice Elliott Dark’s Fellowship Point. Here are some more big novels for this summer:
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. A reworking of David Copperfield set in southwestern Virginia/Appalachia. Kingsolver nails the voice, the setting, the time—it’s remarkable.
Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano. Another novel about grief and reconnection from the author of Dear Edward. Hello Beautiful is the story of four Italian-American sisters in Chicago and the man that two of them love, spanning forty years. It’s also partly a reworking of Little Women.
The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese. The new novel from the author of Cutting for Stone, another big multi-generational family saga. I haven’t read it yet, but at 736 pages, it fits my definition of a summer book.
A few more that aren’t doorstoppers but still good summer reads:
Tom Lake, Ann Patchett (out August 1). A dual-timeline family story set partly during the pandemic summer of 2020 and partly in the ‘80s. Main character Lara Nelson, mom of three young women and farmer, spins out the story of the summer she played Emily in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, and went out with Peter Duke, a young actor who later became a major movie star.
In the Face of the Sun, Denny Bryce. (Out now.) Dual-timeline novel set in 1928 Los Angeles and 1968 Chicago, the story of two women, Daisy and Frankie, a mystery from 1920s-era Black Hollywood and Civil-Rights-era Chicago.
The Rachel Incident, Caroline O’Donoghue (out this month). An Irish coming-of-age story set mostly during the financial crisis of 2008-2009, with a present-day frame story. A cross between Bridget Jones’ comic voice and Sally Rooney’s preoccupations.
Let me know if you have a summer book going, or if you have a favorite summer read!
BookTrib feature: Women overcoming barriers, plus book giveaway in The Forest
I forgot to mention this BookTrib piece from April about novels that feature women overcoming barriers in the 20th century, and it includes The Wrong Kind of Woman. Thank you, BookTrib!
Also, this weekend I’m taking part in The Forest’s summer book bash (The Forest is a Facebook/online reader community), and giving away two copies of The Wrong Kind of Woman. Joining The Forest is simple, or if you’d like to enter the giveaway but aren’t on Facebook, reply to this newsletter.
Writer resource
I love Joy Baglio’s Substack essay about the power of the literary shoe horn. “In the same way an actual shoe horn helps get the shoe on your foot, yet doesn’t remain, the literary shoe horn can help us get into flow or voice or to the heart of an idea, and can (if you deem it best) be cut afterward,” she writes.
Literary shoe horns are phrases you can use when you’re feeling stuck, or just getting started, like “what I need to tell you is…” or “what she couldn’t remember….” or “I’ve never told anyone this, but…,” phrases that let you begin to enter a world, explore voice, etc. Check out the post for more examples and inspiration.
Until next time! Before I go, here are some peonies from my garden.
Now I want to watch those classic films - I remember loving Tootsie; would I still?!) I want to read all of your summer books. I’m reading Yellowface and have many thoughts (and trying not to hate the world of publishing after the author’s many on-point descriptions….)