The New Southern Gentleman (Paperback)

~ Jim Booth (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Wexford College Press (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972178600
• ISBN-13: 978-0972178600
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,816,942 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The New South, October 23, 2002

By A Customer

I've been waiting for this book's release for awhile, having seen a draft copy of it some time back. Imagine if Fitzgerald were Southern, lived now, and had approached Gatsby from a slightly different perspective. That's sort of what Booth's satire, the NEW SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN, is like.

The focal characters, two law students born into once-proud families with good Southern pedigrees that have fallen upon less favorable times, swing back and forth between self-indulgent and loathesome, all the while playing at honor without really understanding the first thing about it.

The picture Booth paints is not a flattering one, and you're advised to come to the book with a healthy sense of humor.

There's a pretty good interview with Booth on The Lullaby Pit.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Southern Honor Tested, May 21, 2003

By A Customer

Meet Dan and Alex, two southern law students who don't have a clue about honor, but who clumsily wrap themselves in its protection by providing lip service to it...and like the effect of a news report covering a horrific event, sensibilities are offended, but the public craves more.

Evelyn and Alicia--two young women who stir in emotional and sexual ingredients, offend the senses a little less, but just a little less. Their ingrained pragmaticism--simply because they are female--prompts them to simply do whatever they feel they must to get along with the men they're presented with. It's the old, but thriving dilemma: "Men--can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em, can't shoot 'em."

The only true to one's self character found in this wryly humorous work is Jason; a truly repulsive frat cat with few, if any, scruples--but at least he knows he is unscrupulous and makes no attempt to play at being a gentleman. Neither Dan nor Alex have a clue about what really drives them--they hide behind what is best termed southern historical gentlemanliness only to be exposed as self-ingratiating clods; whereas Jason, a rebel of expected norms, has no reason to hide.

The characters living in this novel will drive a true loyalist to romantic southern mannerisms mad for the mostpart, whereas the storyline will grab them and have them examining their own southern ideals.

The New Southern Gentleman pricks the intellect with its edginess. Readers will shake their heads, laugh out loud, and ultimately applaud this Jim Booth treasure.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When is the sequel coming out?, December 18, 2002

By	A southern girl (Jacksonville, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

Reading this was a great joy. There are many of us who have waited a long time to read a published piece of work from Jim Booth - it was well worth the wait.

The main characters play both sides of the fence - you love them one minute, loathe them the next. I could not wait to turn the page to see what they would do next.

The book makes this southern girl wonder if there are still good ol' southern gentlemen out there.