Crazy Salad and Scribble Scribble

I was scrolling through Libby, an app that puts your library in your purse when I came across Crazy Salad and Scribble Scribble. This was just after watching When Harry Met Sally on the big screen. I checked it out because of the title, I think you probably guessed that and because Nora Ephron wrote it. If she helped bring to life so many classic movies, her other writings had to be just as worthwhile.

I was not disappointed. Although I was at a slight disadvantage when reading the second half of the book. I’ll get to that in a minute.

As the title suggests, the collection of essays found within the cover, or in my case audio files, is a combination of two works. Crazy Salad was initially published in 1975. Scribble Scribble debited in 1978. While the subjects between the two halves differ, they come together to showcase Ephron’s writing, observations, and wit.

How would I be at a disadvantage? The original publication dates should give you a clue. I had an easier time in the first half of the book recognizing names and events. During the second part of the book, I paused here and there to look up the subject of her essays.

I didn’t live through the sixties and seventies. And when I was in school, the history curriculum stopped just after World War Two, treating anything beyond that as current events. I hope that’s changed since I left school, but something tells me it probably hasn’t. Reference checks aside, the overall themes in many of her essays are hyper-relevant to today.

She opens Crazy Salad with an honest confession on her struggles with fitting into the girl gender box. Stuffing her bra, the extreme jealousy of friends who had the breasts she wanted, the overwhelming insecurities that plague teenage girls. She was bringing us back to the ’50s, except she wasn’t. She was talking about a timeless struggle.

Ephron lamented about not having big enough breasts. I would have traded with her a heartbeat. They were the absolute last thing I wanted. Ephron might class me as full of shit, but it’s true. I don’t think I had it worse than she did, though. She is bringing to life one side of a Goldilocks problem. Except with breasts, there is no “just right” solution.

From there, the essays weaved through different aspects of her own life, vignettes on the Feminist Movement, office dynamics, and much more. In her writing, there was always this tone of inspection and reflection. There were times where she would come out and call bullshit to genuinely bullshit things. She was looking to get to the bottom of things and understand them.

This might just be me. Or it could have been something the reader of the audiobook was picking up on. But, on more than one occasion, bits and pieces of Carrie Bradshaw’s narration style was popping through. It made me wonder if the career part of Carrie was loosely based upon Ephron.

Probably not since Candace Bushnell herself was the most likely inspiration for the well-loved Bradshaw. What I picked up on was most likely me superimposing pop culture onto something much better than that.

The questions she’s losing with this collection of essays are poignant, thought-provoking, and frustrating. This compilation was published in 1975. Many of the same issues and problems are still on the table for debate. It’s 2020. Are we there yet?

Like most parents having to answer that question, with a heavy sigh, not yet. But that’s how I feel about it. Ephron often leaves the decision up to the reader, and I like that.

This approach fits in well with the subjects of Scribble Scribble. The observations in these essays are targeted at the media and politics. Here too readers are treated to questions asked in the 70s and are still circulating today.

She doesn’t limit herself to big media. Ephron talks about a condo newsletter. There was an extremely high water bill that came in and was announced to residents via the newsletter. In the end, the bill was not a result of one resident or a few residents with plumbing issues or strange water habits.

The meter had been malfunctioning, which resulted in that bill. But instead, the residents received a passive-aggressive accusation. An investigation was not the first reaction to the problem. Accusation was.

This was a fascinating read on many levels. We lost a gem when she passed in 2012. After reading this book, I have a better understanding of Ephron and how she was able to create characters like Sally Albright, who feel so real. She has an honest and questioning way with her writing. It makes getting into her head inviting and extremely relatable. She pours herself into her essays and work.