Viva la Repartee: Clever Comebacks and Witty Retorts from History's Great Wits and Wordsmiths,   ISBN:9780060789480

Customer Rating: 

As one reviewer of this book wrote:"This book isn't guaranteed to make you more clever, but it certainly can't hurt." This book is ingeniously written. Don't be alarmed if you find yourself laughing aloud. This book will keep you engaged from beginning to end. I have recommended it to several friends already.

Customer Rating: 

one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, book i have ever read. replete with smart and ingenious comeback with full story behind it, unlike many other books that merely quote the retorts.

Customer Rating: 

An absolute joy.

Mardy Grothe's "Viva La Repartee" is a carefully edited collection of stories, excerpts, salient snippets that all fall under the heading of "Gee, I wish I'd said that..." An absolute joy from the first page (Winston Churchill's rejoinder to Lady Astor) to the the last page (Mae West's caustic aside in the film Myra Breckenridge).

Customer Rating: 

This is a lovely collection of wonderful replies, retorts, Bon Mots et. al. It is fun to read and is full of historical allusions that make the journey all the more delightful. It is a great gift for the writer in your life, even if the writer is you.

Customer Rating: 

Entertaining little book packed full of examples of great comebacks and wit from a variety of different times, different people, and different circumstances. The book is broken down into chapters focusing on a specific type of repartee, such as "Classic Quips," "Laconic Repartee," "Stage & Screen Repartee," and "Inadvertent Repartee" (as well as many others). Some of them made me laugh out loud, and usually those were coming from the same three people: Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, and Dorothy Parker. But there were a gazillion I'd never heard of that were pretty hilarious as well. This is an engaging, funny, and educational (really, it is!) book that I enjoyed reading quite a bit. Great for when you only have time for short snatches of reading. I've learned a lot of slammin' comebacks I hope to have a chance to use soon!

My one complaint about the book, though, is that it was missing the best witty laconic (extremely brief) response of all time. During the Battle of the Bulge in WWII, the Germans sent a message to the American army demanding our unconditional surrender, or else we'd be annihilated. General McAuliffe's one word response? "Nuts!" Damn, I just love that one. Recommended!