Customer Reviews

The Grits (Girls Raised In The South) Guide to Life

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If I didn't know better, I'd suspect the authors of being Yankee carpetbaggers bent on exploiting the goodwill enjoyed by southern girls and southern culture, because I'm not convinced these ladies get it.

As a daughter of the deep, deep south, I hope I can set a few things straight.

1) "Y'all" is always plural. "Y'all" used in reference to one person is the mark of a bad screenwriter and a bad mimic, neither of whom has ever ventured below the Mason-Dixon line. Sometimes you may hear someone say to another, "I hope y'all can make it to the party," or "How are y'all enjoying the new lake house?" in which case it means "you and yours (not present)." If a lone Southern neighbor drops by for a visit on a Sunday afternoon, don't say, "Y'all come on in" unless you want your neighbor to suspect you're already in your cups and seeing double.

2) The expression is "A whistling woman and a crowing hen never come to a good end." This book records it as "A whistling woman and a crowing him...." As if that means anything at all.

3) "it's" = "it + is" while "its" = "that which belongs to it"
If these "GRITS" don't know the difference or can't find an editor who does, they should get in touch with me. I know several, in Alabama, no less. The authors aren't perpetuating the myth of southern charm; they're perpetuating the myth of southern ignorance.

Truly, if you want the mysteries of southern charm revealed, stick to King's Southern Ladies and Gentlemen or Rich's What Southern Women Know.

I was raised in the South in the fifties and I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this book nor have I laughed so much in a long time. My daughter gave it to me and I told her she should read it so she could understand her Southern bred Mother better. A truly wonderful read for any woman, anywhere.

I read The GRITS (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life and can certainly recommend this book. I really enjoyed it! There is some good advice for everyone in this gem of the hills book on how to be a Southern belle.
The book is very well designed, illustrated and well organized. There are section on: The Basic Ingredients, Southern Style, Southern Hospitality, Strick'ly Southern and Southern Family. You'll get tips on everything from how to mix a Mint Julep to how to flirt Southern style. Plus Deborah has some good tips on how to succeed in life and reach your dreams.
I liked GRITS as it made the perfect Mother's Day present! Also it gave me some insight into the feminine mystique of what it means to be a Southern belle. That's good to know if you live in the South and wonder what makes these charming, well cultured pearls, these women born, bred and reared in the South, tick!
Deborah's book is a joyful, often humorous read. It will leave you feeling refreshed and inspired! I hope everyone enjoys The GRITS Guide to Life as much as I did! It is a pure delight!

Deborah Ford has outdone herself! This book is entertaining, comical, refreshing, and a must have on every southern woman's coffee table. Deborah makes me proud to be a Girl Raised in the South and embodies everything one should be!

Thank you, Deborah!!! I've lived in the South since 1989 and consider it my adopted homeland...I'm honored and humbled to know that I, too, can be a GRITS! (see Introduction pg. xix) I'm only half way through my copy of this delightful book and I'm already planning to read it again and again. I also plan to keep my copy on the bookshelf in my office for a quick refresher course on "magnolias, iron skillets, and pearls" and to remind myself to remember (among many other oh-so-true things) - "Pearl of Wisdom #37...The cream always rises to the top, so quit being the milkmaid. There's more to life than calluses, darlin'!"

Wonderful book full of Southern wisdom and practicality. If you're not from God's country (the South) and would love to learn more about being a Southern girl, then this is the book for you. Girls raised in the south have impeccable manners and never say bad things about Yankee reviewers...bless your heart. ;-)

This book was refreshing, comical, and portrayed southern women perfectly.

I saw Deborah Ford on TV the other day and had to run out and buy her boook. I'm so glad I did! She collected stories and sayings and quotes and recipes from her "Southern Sisters" and brought them all together to show what it's really like to grow up a woman in the South. There's something that rings true on every page for me. I laughed so hard I cried at one of the stories of a Southern beauty queen! I recommend this for any woman who's proud of her heritage as a Girl Raised in the South.

I spent half my childhood in Texas and the other half in Tennessee so I figured it would be an amusing read. It was comically pathetic. There were some cute comments and quotes that brought a laugh, but it was still utterly ridiculous. I felt as though I was reading a book written by someone who couldn't possibly be southern, yet wanted so desperately to be that they made up a bunch of nonsense to make themselves feel more like a "GRIT" (girl raised in the south).

The author doesn't even know how to properly use southern words as simple as ya'll. Ya'll is ALWAYS plural and you are not from the south if you don't know that. She said that ya'll was a singular term and ya'lls was plural!? Bless her poor ignorant little heart! YA'LLS is used as a possessive term when speaking of something belonging to more than one person. Jokes told in the north may refer to us using ya'll as singular term but that's not true. I'll have you know that southern country people aren't as ignorant as some would have them sound or as this book would have them sound.

This woman author who I think must have set out to make southerners look stupid, seems to me quite an airhead herself. She speaks in the book of changing husbands almost as often as changing clothing and acts like that's a perfectly normal southern activity. Sounds pretty flaky to me, and the good southern girls that are famous for their charm and hospitality are strong enough to stand by their man and not make a commitment they don't intend to keep.

She had her history completely screwed up and she contradicts herself on various occasions. I could go on and on with the book's failings. Don't waste your money. Ya'll(as in 'all you readers'. See? Plural.) would be must better off with a different book such as "What Southern Women Know; And Every Woman Should"

Deborah Ford's GRITS primer is a sweet little read that can't quite make its mind up as to whether it wants to be a primer or a memoir when it grows up, but is certainly on a literary path that could have been finessed with much better style given an hour or two with a Southern editor. This particular romp isn't nearly as breathtakingly funny as the 'Sweet Potato Queens' series nor anywhere as acerbic as anything from Florence King, Fannie Flagg's hilarious foreword to the contrary.