Customer Reviews

Suddenly Southern: A Yankee's Guide to Living in Dixie

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Ah Maureen, I see she's still got the venom flowing, bless her heart...

I remember Maureen well from her days in Raleigh, or H-E-double hockey sticks, as she liked to call it. She became semi-famous for her column criticizing everything southern after she had to move to Raleigh, NC because of her husband's job transfer. For a woman who prided herself on her hyphenated last name & feminist stance, I think it was a bitter pill to swallow.

Of course her editor loved all the responses that flowed in following virtually all of her columns, which were nearly always condescendingly critical of the South in general, and Raleigh in particular. Ms Maureen never bothered to look around with an un-jaundiced (is that a word?) eye long enough to attempt an embrace of her new environment. Need an example? She insisted on returning to Filthydelphia...ERR... Philadelphia to have her hair styled, since 'they just don't understand how to do it down here'.

I could go on providing background as to why this is only yet another condescending slam on all habits Southern pretending to be a 'gently humorous look at the South', but there's enough info provided here already as proof.

Need verification? What other book puts such a huge amount of its' content out for people to 'pre-read' before buying? No, this is like one of those sophomoric comedic movies targeted at the 15-25 yr old male audience, the ones where all the 'funny' stuff is contained in the trailers, you know? Only this targets the folks who live in the North and think everybody in the South either lives in a tar-paper shack or on a plantation.

Northerners who either have never visited the South or who think 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and 'The Dukes of Hazzard' represent Southerners accurately should love this book. No one else will. It's interesting that so many of Maureen's neighbors in North Raleigh found both Raleigh, and North Carolina to be wonderful places to live, and embraced the locals' customs and idiosyncracies. Maureen never bothered with that, instead voicing her complaints about the lack of availability of the regional foods of Philadelphia while disparaging the regional foods of central NC & criticizing people for being 'slow' and 'falsely gracious'. Based on Maureen's hypercritical style, I can perhaps understand why someone meeting her would feel 'forced' to act friendly.

Personally, I found it a waste of paper, and am disappointed any trees had to be sacrificed for her vindictiveness. I don't know if Maureen is happy back in Pa., but I do pity her for wasting the several years she spent in Raleigh and for not having the ability nor desire to objectively view anything outside of her personal cocoon.

While I recognized some of the culture, language and customs in this book, being from Louisiana, I was surprised at how different many customs are from those I grew up with. (I know it's not grammatically correct to end a sentence with a preposition, but I'm just talking here, ok?) This book included some very funny stuff I'd never heard, but it did sort of wear me slick after a while. Perhaps it's because the South is not homogenous, any more than the Northeast is. Imagine grouping people from rural Pennsylvania and New York City together--see how silly that is?

Well, it's like that in the South. There are some commonalities that will make someone Southern, but this writer, like most others, assumes that their own singular Southern experience constitutes the WHOLE of Southern life. I just wish these writers would confine their assessments to the locales they experienced, know what I mean?

Being from Louisiana (LA), I'd feel a little out of my element in the NC world Maureen describes. For that matter, as much time as I've spent in (and love) southern LA, which is the cool part of the state, being from northern LA means that there are several really different worlds just a few hours further south that are almost as foreign to me as NC.

There is also a socio-economic cultural level that is even more critical to one's experience than the geographic location.

To sum it up, Southern humorists appeal MOST to Southerners when they don't generalize too much. I just want to laugh without having every other paragraph make my eyebrows knit up like a dog's. I'm as Southern as it gets and I couldn't tell you one whit about what North Carolina is like.

Y'all Yankees, please don't read this or any other Southern humor book and think we are all LIKE THAT. See where the author lives(ed) and only assume it's true for that state/city/neighborhood, ok?

I find it interesting that the most rave reviews for this book come from those who are Northerners. As a Southerner, I was frankly offended by much of the content of the book. According to this book, we are all narrow-minded, arrogant hicks who don't know anything other than sports and BBQ. This book doesn't teach Northerners how to "survive" in the South, it teaches them how to assume hypocritical stereotypes that cause further misunderstanding and intolerance. I would encourage any Northerner who is planning on moving to the South (good choice) or just visiting to NOT listen to what this author has to say.

This book was a summer breeze to read with a laugh on every page. The author managed to skewer Southerners and Northerners while getting us to laugh at ourselves. I was reading in bed next to my wife who was reading East of Eden until she threw me out for laughing too loudly. This may not beat Steinbeck, but I was having more fun! It's a great book to just open up to any page and get a couple of laughs and some astute observations. I can't wait to head down south and bring along this field guide to help me navigate the terrain.

Oddly, Raleigh residents aren't really that upset about Maureen. She's so ridiculous that we couldn't really take her seriously. (Bless her heart....) Her columns were a source of great amusement for several years, though most of us would have gladly contributed to a fund to buy her a ticket back to Philly.

First. let me note that the title of the book (and her columns) should have been "Suddenly Living In The South," as she was NEVER a Southerner, in birth or spirit. She was always proud of her roots in Philly and very condescending towards true Southerners and all things Southern.

Second, and I say this with some authority, she is not a Yankee. I'm a Yankee...born in Connecticut and transplanted to Raleigh in 1979. (I married into a true Southern family in 1988 and, thanks to God, have become a semi-Southerner over the last 32 years.) As any true Yankee will tell you, you have to be from ABOVE New York City to be a real Yankee...Philly doesn't count, except to Southerners. New England is the only source of genuine Yankees. Unfortunately, most Southerners consider you to be a Yankee if you are from anywhere above the Mason-Dixon Line, which is the ONE Southern failing I've encountered in 32 years.

I have to give at least some credit to Maureen for picking out a few true Southern idiosyncracies, a bit of the vernacular, and some regional color. Unfortunately, she did not do this with any affection whatsoever for the region or the people. Every single column seemed to end with a statement along the lines of "...poor dumb rednecks. In Philly, we actually know the RIGHT and PROPER way to do this [say this]." She didn't want to come to the area, she obviously thought very little of the region and the people, and she made it clear that EVERYTHING is better in Philly.

Now, I can't speak for everyone in the Raleigh area, but I can generalize at least a little bit. Many of us don't think at all about Boston...too far off. New York is exotic, but we certainly understand that there are many exciting things to do there and that it is a cultural and social center. As far as Philly, we simply think of it as a steaming pile of you-know-what. Everyone from Philly seems to have a bad case of New York-envy. I've never met anyone from Philly (and I travel there quite a bit) who has anything positive to say about the South (or about NY for that matter).

So...read this book if you are a "Yankee" and want to learn a little bit about the South, but don't bother if you are a true Southerner. It will just seem like a compendium of condescending comments and not a small amount of bitterness at not having been born a Southerner (as everyone ought to wish to have been).

Y'all take care!

Added a mite later: I almost forgot...

"Hi, y'all!" is only two syllables. If you can't say "y'all" as one syllable, don't say it.

We don't ask if you're from New York because you're direct and to the point...we ask because you have an accent that's pretty darn obvious.

The Raleigh beltline doesn't go North, South, East, or West...it goes around the city. If you get on the Inner Beltline, you're going clockwise. Get on the Outer Beltline and you're going counter-clockwise. Is it really that difficult to understand?

I've never seen a pig-pickin' over an open pit. Might have been done some years ago, but we use a pig-cooker nowadays. Maureen obviously never actually went to one.

Cheese straws? Nope, not at a tailgate party. We might have picked up some corn sticks when we went by the barbecue place.

And NOBODY would ever talk about "BBQ" around here. It's "barbecue" and it's a noun. It's chopped pig with a vinegar (or, in the case of Western North Carolina, a tomato-based) sauce. We don't go out back and "barbecue" on the weekend. We cook out, or grill, some steaks, ribs, hot dogs, or hamburgers. If someone invites you over for barbecue, you're going to get some pig. "BBQ" is a cheap, non-Southern way of describing something else other than the almighty pig.

So, Maureen is still a bit mistaken...bless her heart.

My friend and I visited Raleigh again last summer and she found "Suddenly Southern" in a bookstore at home in Philadelphia. She shared it with me because she knew I'd enjoy the book, particularly the "No Grits, No Glory" chapter. Did I ever! As a Northern, I am always worried about my cholesterol level, but even as a visitor to Southern dining, I threw all my cares out the window. Just like the author, my friend and I so enjoyed dining out in Raleigh and allowing ourselves the guilty pleasures of fried fish, bacon and cheese grits and pie. We experienced many of the situations Duffin-Ward refers to in her book.

The book is full of laughs and tongue-in-cheek observations. Duffin-Ward does not take herself too seriously which is refreshing. The book is fun, but you realize that the author grows to love and appreciate living in the South. She loves Dixie living so much that she had to make a Top 100 list, not a Top 10 list!

Have some pie while you read this book.

I bought this book for a friend that mmoved here from Boston and has a very thick accent. We joke each other all the time and I thought the book was perfect for her. She got a kick out of it.

Originally ordered for a coworker who is reluctantly relocating to Charlotte, I couldn't help but get pulled in by the funny chapter titles. From "No Grits, No Glory" to "My Compliments to the Ref," lots of LOL lines that don't require a move to appreciate. I loved the contrasts of our hoops and football fans, but the Wedding reviews were equally funny. A great little find for anyone on either side of the Mason Dixon Line!

Suddenly Southern is a funny,thorough look at Southern life through a Northerner's eyes. Duffin-Ward spares no punches and gets you ready for any southern situation...from Barb Q's to College Football, from Magazines to hair styles. If you're moving, going for a visit, or have friends who are contemplating such a move, buy this book!

I was so busy laughing at Suddenly Southern on the train platform. I was reading that Spanish and Jewish people get asked so many questions about their heritage, by their new Southern friends, that they have to look up their heritage on the Internet just to get ready for the company picnic. I had to dash past a sign that said NEVER RUN FOR A TRAIN, or I would have missed it.