Product Description

In this collection of essays, Florence King confirms her position as one of the wittiest social critics now writing-and certainly the most uninhibited. Nothing escapes her withering gaze, from our greatest national institution ("Democrazy"), to the cult of Helpism ("Does Your Child Taste Salty?"), to the rules of historical romance writing ("Sex and the Saxon Churl"). If caring 'n' compassion are getting you down, open this book for a refreshing whiff of vitriol.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #305140 in Books
• Published on: 1990-02-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 198 pages

From Publishers Weekly
King expresses her opinions with the subtletyand effectivenessof a flamethrower in her savagely funny look at American life. Whether taking aim at an institution (marriage), a movement ("Helpism") or an individual (John Updike), she is seldom off-target and never conciliatory: "I'd rather be a human mine sweeper in the Strait of Hormuz than read John Updike" leaves little room for backpedaling. Even if King ( Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady ) were not funny herself, her ability to spot the ludicrous statements of others (a flight attendant after a hijacking attempt: "He was very cooperative, he's almost a model hijacker") would make her a top-of-the-line satirist. King's wit and intelligence complement a refreshing angle of attack that allows her to strike at Phyllis Schlafly and Betty Friedan with equal vigor. While readers will be alternately offended and delighted by her barbs, they will not be bored.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
To say that King is just a mite critical of the American way of life would be putting it mildly indeed. As she writes in her first chapter, ". . . life in America has the same effect on me as The Morton Downey, Jr., Show ." Her zingers are memorable: "If we want to regain the respect of the world," she writes, "we should begin by announcing that children have no business expressing opinions on anything except 'Do you have enough room in the toes?"' King weaves her Southern upbringing throughout her narrative, often through reminiscences of her family and life in the South. Blount also tackles the social fabric of America--and himself--from the point of view of a Southerner. He talks about the New South, giving up dirt eating in the South, Southern politicians, and how to walk in New York (as opposed to other regional pedestrian styles, such as lolly-gagging, traipsing, gallivanting, and slow-loping). Wonder where he gets his ideas? Just lucky, he says: "It was not my idea, in the first place, to be the kind of person to whom ideas come. Some people get eczema, I get ideas." Blount's humor elicits more grins and snickers than does King's, which is more cynical (well, she warned us in her title, didn't she?). Both offer a look at modern-day America through uniquely Southern eyes, one from the male, the other the female perspective. They are both worth reading and deserve places on the shelves of public libraries. You may even find yourself agreeing with what they have written . . . even if you're not a Southerner yourself.
- Carol Spielman Lezak, General Learning Corp., Northbrook, Ill.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"One of the most exhilarating essayists alive: occasionally raunchy but always full of high humor, casually erudite, animated by an original and constantly surprising turn of mind." --Andrew Ferguson, The American Spectator

"Not many [authors] are worth dropping everything you're doing to read his or her new book. One of the few who makes it worthwhile is Florence King...Her essays might make you angry, but they'll also make you laugh." --Jay Strafford, Richmond News-Leader

"King is exactly on target...One of the few contemporary American essayists of sufficient pungency and wit as to be almost always worth reading." --Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

"To say that Florence King doesn't suffer fools gladly is an understatement akin to suggesting that Fred Astaire could maneuver quite nicely on the dance floor." --Joanne Kaufman, People
-- Review

Customer Reviews

the marvelous misanthrope
Florence King has a winning way with words and a rapier sharp wit; a rare soul who lives and writes by her own set of rules, few subjects are spared her criticism, as she pokes holes in the politically correct culture of the day.
Following in the tradition of her mother who was a "muleskinner cusser", Miss King decries the "decline and fall of profanity" which has dwindled down to a few meager 4 letter words. She also has much to say about the pandering of the "Helpists", "personality over character", her aversion to children, and more.

Being one myself, I thoroughly enjoyed Chapter 4, "Spinsterhood is Powerful". She says in this chapter: "I am often accused of being an anti-feminist, and my name is mud at Ms. Magazine, but in truth my whole life has been a feminist statement. The conflict lies not in my outlook and attitudes but in the definition of feminism that has been foisted on America in the late twentieth century".
Chapter 16, about her foray into the lusty romance novel genre (which she wrote under the pseudonym of Laura Buchanan) is hilarious, as are her efforts to write a magazine piece on the work of John Updike.

This collection of 18 essays was originally published in '89, and is a good example of her cynical but humorous viewpoint. Though dreadfully missed as a contributor to National Review Magazine, where she has recently taken her leave (her "Misanthrope's Corner" had graced the back page for decades), her books will continue to delight me, in their uniqueness and passionate spirit of independence.

A purely superb book- straight shots of wit throughout
This is simply a fine book. There exists not another fine wit like this anywhere, now that Mencken is dead.

George Will wrote of Miss King- "If Mencken were alive, he would be her". This is the highest praise imagineable, and well deserved.

Miss King is to prose as Elton John is to rock piano. Do not overlook this book.

You'll laugh till you hurt and think until you cry
Simply put, Florence King is one of two people that I consider the best American essayists and writers of our modern era. Her writing has always been concise - Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye shows that talent in its highest art form.

From her chapter on writing a romance novel to her chapter on John Updike, King nails her points to the door of thought and reason and lays it all out for everyone to read. While some of the material is dated (you had to live through the Reagan era to see the brilliance of her take on his style of communication) it is well worth diving into.

King is a true Conservative. However, unlike people today who run around and scream that they are conservatives (case intentional) and base their conservatism on type of Medieval thinking that pushed monks up into monasteries to protect knowledge, King embraces learning, in herself and she expects it of her readers. If you are going to read King and get what she is saying, you the reader will need to be prepared to think for self.

The simple truth is that King has never received the type of critical acclaim that she has deserved. Had she, "Florence King" would be a household name, and she deserves that place in our collective minds.