Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady (Paperback)

by Florence King (Author) "My ladylike adventures have taken me from Seattle to Paris, but last year I was carried back to Tidewater Virginia, which my ancestors helped to..." (more)
Key Phrases: watery moles, staying awhile, douche bag, Aunt Nana, Miz Arvella, Ole Miss (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The damndest adventures in autobiography hilarity to come down the pike in recent years...She is a Bombeck with bite, a female Art Bushwald with Southern sass, an A-one original American humorist down to her wicked, wicked bones." --Susan Brownmiller

"An outrageous commentator on men, women, and other sources of amusement, particularly the Southern variety...Florence King never loses her warmth, her humor, or her ability to be delighted by life's inherent contradictions." --Chicago Sun-Time

"Miss King, who lives in Virginia, is among the few writers who can make you laugh and gasp out loud...She is a social commentator who wipes away the thick-as-molasses layers of Southern sham...Write on, Miss King." --Chattanooga Times

"She lesves more Old South traditions in shreds than Gen. William T. Sherman...Confessions of Failed Southern Lady should appeal to all belles, Southern not, failed or not." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Witty, intelligent, freewheeling...Surely the author told these stories before she wrote them, stretching and perfecting them with each telling, mining them for humor." --Newsday
-- Review

Review

"The damndest adventures in autobiography hilarity to come down the pike in recent years...She is a Bombeck with bite, a female Art Bushwald with Southern sass, an A-one original American humorist down to her wicked, wicked bones." --Susan Brownmiller

"An outrageous commentator on men, women, and other sources of amusement, particularly the Southern variety...Florence King never loses her warmth, her humor, or her ability to be delighted by life's inherent contradictions." --Chicago Sun-Time

"Miss King, who lives in Virginia, is among the few writers who can make you laugh and gasp out loud...She is a social commentator who wipes away the thick-as-molasses layers of Southern sham...Write on, Miss King." --Chattanooga Times

"She lesves more Old South traditions in shreds than Gen. William T. Sherman...Confessions of Failed Southern Lady should appeal to all belles, Southern not, failed or not." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Witty, intelligent, freewheeling...Surely the author told these stories before she wrote them, stretching and perfecting them with each telling, mining them for humor." --Newsday

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 278 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; Cover Torn edition (October 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312050631
• ISBN-13: 978-0312050634
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,977 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern classic, December 9, 2001

By	Dean Esmay (Westland, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A bisexual, gun-toting, fiercely southern woman who left the Republican party because they had turned into a bunch of liberal pansies? What's not to love?

This is a hilarious memoir with a lot of insights into both southern culture and the human condition in general.

I live north of the Mason-Dixon line, and everyone I've recommended read this book has looked dubious at the prospect that it would be worth reading. Everyone I actually talked into reading it loved it. Don't doubt it, this book is a real treasure!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful - A unique reading experience, August 28, 2001

By	F. G. Hamer "MadManxMan" (Isle of Man) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Want to know what a Huggybear is? Or a Malkin? Or a Watery Mole? Or a Virago? You'll have to read Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady. Florence King (no relation to Stephen, I would add!) has a uniquely warm humor and a style that she can truly call her own. I roared with laughter in places, I choked back a shiver or two in places, I gurgled with contentment in places, and I reveled in the amazing writing that has become Florence King's trademark. What a remarkable lady. From a Southern family, raised in the racially segregated Washington, D.C. of old, King follows her own life through college, graduation and into adulthood, where she finds she is considerably more attracted to her own sex than the other. Though written in a style that is hilariously funny and relatively light-hearted, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady also deals with deeper issues, like the definition of femininity. This added dimension makes the book all the more interesting, even for a non-female person (maybe ESPECIALLY for a non-female person!), and for those of us who enjoy something a little more cerebral than 'Noddy meets Goldilocks', Florence King's wonderful insights into growing up (and dealing with her sexuality) is a perfect companion to a blazing fire and a glass of good wine.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wicked, hilarious and rings so true, April 3, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Lincolnshire, Illinois) - See all my reviews

Having grown up in Chicago with a Southern mother and a Yankee father, I always wondered why my family and its "rearing" techniques seemed so different from those of my peers. Then I read "Confessions," and everything became wonderfully, wickedly, and deliciously clear. I laughed out loud and exclaimed in recognition throughout the book as I saw my Mamaw in Granny, my mother in Mama, my father in Herb, and myself in Florence. Ms. King is a brilliant writer whose observations are at once devastatingly, uproariously accurate yet lovingly conveyed. Her ability to break your heart and make you guffaw through the tears is unique. I have read this book over and over and have lent it to friends all over the country (sometimes it never comes back). Today I am ordering my third copy. I recommend "Confessions" to every reader with wit, intelligence, and a touch of lunacy. It will bring out the Southern in your soul.