Product Description

"Florence King wields the sharpest blade in America. Her cuts are so swift that the smiles are still on the faces when she displays the heads on her trophy wall."--Washington Post. Finally in trade paperback, here is the latest volume of stiletto essats from the author of Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye and Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2510564 in Books
• Published on: 1990-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 181 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Opinionated and entertaining, King ( Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye ) here discourses widely and vigorously on American ways. Little escapes her stiletto wit: the prevalence of the "slangy suffix, -istok?/not sure what you've done, but given that it is you who has done it, I'm sure it is ok.gs "; the best 15 years of a woman's life, "from 50 to Social Security"; the "graves of academe" where college professors masquerade as teachers; fellow countrymen whom she divides into "whatters" and "whyers." Personal agitations to which King also applies her nonconformist slant include traditional southern values and book reviewing, the latter topic evoking a tart acknowledgment of being wrong in her judgments once in a while. These scattershot essays reach their targets.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Clever and observant, King is a professional Southerner. Here she describes only the lowest common denominator of Southern culture--misogyny, narcissism, incoherence--and so is as much a national commentator as a regional one. While the industry standard for such a book is Nora Ephron's Crazy Salad (LJ 8/75), these ramblings essays are more like a Joan Rivers monolog: King proudly and half-accurately describes herself as "a mean lady." At its worst, the book tries to wring a laugh out of the Howard Beach tragedy; at its best it describes the dreariness of reviewing books written by popular female authors.
- Molly McCluer, Alameda Cty. Law Lib., Oakland
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Not for the narrow-of-mind or faint-of-heart
I loved Florence Kings 'Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady'. It was wildly funny and right on target for those of us who grew up in the South. 'Lump it or Leave it' has its moments but this time King's cutting humor goes to the bone. Sometimes funny, sometimes mean spirited. I think Ms. King is a brilliant story teller and I'd love to see more of that as opposed to her railings on random topics. Of course, Ms. King probably doesn't give a fuzzy rats butt what I or anyone else thinks anyway!

FUNNY & THOUGHT PROVOKING
The essays cover a variety of topics and are excellent entertainment. I especially enjoyed her thoughts about the awful books that get published.