Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady

I'm not sure what marketing genius decided to saddle this book with a pink floral cover. It's unfortunate and misleading. Once I recommended this book to a soccer-mom type looking for something for her Southern Writers Book Club. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Possibly I was only remembering how hilarious this book is, and how I actually cry with laughing every time I read it (and I'm up to my tenth rereading at this point). Or maybe I remembered the inspirational coming-of-age aspects. I thi [...]

I read this book at thirteen, and my world fell into place. No longer did I have to wonder why my loved ones annoyed me, why I didn't want to hang out with friends past a certain point, why I couldn't wrap my mind around the concept of solitary confinement as a punishment. I read "Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady" and realized I was a misanthrope. I've gone on to read everything else published by Florence King, but this book holds a special place. At once an autobiography, a comedy of error [...]

I LOVED Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady! I seriously considered giving this one five stars -- this was one of those rare instances when half-star ratings would have come in really handy.So I differ from Florence King philosophically on several points (e.g. I'm neither a Monarchist nor a Republican), but you don't necessarily have to agree with someone to appreciate her, right?King is one of the most hilarious and titillating authors I have ever read, and she is unapologetic about her femin [...]

To this day, I am liable to call a boring, conventional lady a 'malkin' in my head or to think 'those who study Greek must take pains with dress' when I'm at a library convention. Thanks for keeping it real, Florence!

This book is a testament to why we need to have shops. I know it’s so much easier to buy a book with one click on but you can never replace the joy of perusing a book shop’s crammed shelves and coming across a book that you had not heard of. The cover and the testimonials sell it to you, this is what happened to me, whilst checking out the books in our fav book shop, ‘Gays The Word’ in Russell Square I came across this classic.Yesterday I spent pretty much the whole day devouring it, al [...]

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir by King. I laughed so hard at Granny and Jensy's descriptions of obstetrical hell that I nearly wet myself. Having lived a good portion of my early life in the south I am completely familiar with the phenomena of people coming to "stay awhile" and not departing for months/years so that also rang very true for me as well. Thanks for the opportunity to read this kaytersI really enjyed it.

I can't do this book justice in an off-the-cuff review. It is too perfect. Maybe when I have more time. Buy an old (first published 1985, I think) copy if possible, as the cover will be one of several delightfully sleazy-looking designs, and everyone on the train will think you are reading a harlequin romance novel.

Florence gives us a picture of growing up in the south (well, in Virginia near D.C.) that's kind of funny and gets more interesting as the book progresses. But Flarnz (as it's pronounced in the deep south) really gets on a roll when she goes to grad school at U. of Mississippi. The monlogues of southern women, with appropriate pronounciations, are hilarious and so true to life that one laughs out loudd is irresisitably drawn to share them with others.On a slightly more serious side, King's depic [...]

This is one of the most brilliant and funniest books ever written about being a southern woman. It is purportedly the autobiography of Florence King. I say purportedly because who knows how accurate the details are. It doesn't matter because the truth is in the telling. There are so many great one liners in it that it's impossible to have a favorite although I'd say that "Like charity, schizophrenia begins at home," is a pretty good start. I bought a paperback edition in London when I was dealin [...]

I am forever grateful to Beth Flood, who handed me this and "Southern Ladies and Gentlemen" when I first moved to Nashville from LA and told me I'd learn more about my new culture and home from them than I'd learn in a hundred years by myself. These books have saved me from abject humiliation on more than one occasion, and been a light in the darkness on many others.

I read this book in college, and even though I'm not a Southern lady, King's story of coming of age and coming into her identity as a lesbian in the South in the 1940's and 50's is so roll-on-the-floor hilarious that I related to every page. This book is a triumphant shout out to being who you really are, despite having a crazy family.

I'm loathe to admit how much I enjoyed this, seeing that Southern humor is something I actively avoid. Somehow, though, King won me over. She manages to paint the lives of herself and those around her in a way that employs a certain element of caricature without becoming schtick or saccharine.

My favorite misanthrope and southern cultural anthropologist. Many years ago, my west coast born husband, out of sheer boredom, plucked King's Southern Ladies and Gentlemen from my collection. Two days later, he closed the book, gave me a long look, and said, "This explains everything." By "everything," he meant my sister's convoluted and hyperventilating conversations, stories I'd told him about growing up in the south, certain cultural references that he felt required translation, and various [...]

One of the funniest, laugh out loud books I have ever read. When I read I like to mark the funny or interesting quotes I find, and by the end of the novel I had bookmarks everywhere, like I was studying it. Ms. King's ability to describe the Southern experience is like no other. Her point of view from being an outsider, raised in a household which was unconventional at the time, and growing up only around adults provides such a unique perspective. Her trying to find her place in a world in which [...]

When Florence King is funny, she's hysterically funny. There are places (the scene where she gets her diaphragm, for instance) where I had to put down the book because I was laughing so hard. She doesn't always reach that level of hilariousness, and sometimes I found myself wondering if she weren't exaggerating the Southern Gothic characters around her for effect (I must confess here that I've never lived farther south than Washington, D.C so perhaps I'm reading this as a Yankee and would recogn [...]

I just re-read this book after first encountering it in my Southern Women Writers course. In one sentence, I'd say this book is about Florence King's experience becoming her own woman in a culture that has a lot of expectations about what a woman should be. If I had another sentence, I'd add that this book is hilarious and bawdy and perfect for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.The first time around, the hilarious descriptions of Southern culture struck me most. This time, I still laughe [...]

I usually avoid autobiographies and memoirs -- something about the ego involved in writing one puts me off. This book is an exception, perhaps it is as much about the women in Ms. King's life as it is about the author. The book is humorous, many of the stories have the tone and timing of often-told oral tales. The last quarter of the book focuses on King's coming out, which is handled with the same tone (but perhaps less) humor than the rest of the book. Her exploration of the "Southern lady" ta [...]

Amazing book. I must have some notes, probably in an (unindexed!) paper journal. Remember those? How did we live without computers?A good preview:“No matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street”― Florence King, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady I wish I could find the one about the lady who came to call, Flo offered wine-in-a-box. Lady turns up nose. Momma said, if the hostess offers gall & wormwood, by God you drink it!

What did I not think about this book? At times offended by the crude subject matter, at other times shocked by the complete lack of thoughts concerning God and ease of sexuality, I spent the entire read completely convulsed in giggles. This book is refreshingly real and an interesting view of growing up before the glass ceiling was broken. I learned a lot.How funny is this book? I took to reading sections to friends every chance I got.

Some interesting insights, and I appreciate the candour at least. It just left me cold in the end, nowhere near as witty as was billed on the front cover. Might have smirked a couple of times but certainly didn't laugh out loud (and in broad terms it is my kind of humour). Maybe I missed something by not being American, or of that era; but good writing should trancend that.

Andy Ferguson was right about Florence King: "She put sentences on the page the way a gifted gymnast swings her body over a pommel horse or along the parallel bars: invisible effort in service of sheer delight." Also this book is filthy and funny as hell.

Florence King is funny. Blunt. A razor sharp writer. Read her! Start with this memoir -- you won't be disappointed. (One caveat: her sexual situations are x-rated, but I think that's a good thing.)

An opprobriously funny -- and occasionally poignant -- memoir with some some of the most effective characterizations I've ever read.

Loved it! This is a book to be read again and again - too funny! "Wasp Where is Thy Sting" is another of King's books that should not be passed by.

Witty, fast-paced and laugh out loud funny. You wonder where it's going and then Flo's sexuality raises its head (!)

If you like to laugh out loud as you read, this book is for you

Florence King’s Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady is not for the swear word squeamish. She can be very blunt on the subject of sex and upfront about her personal flexibility with regards to her sexual activity. That said Ms King writes in her voice and in her style and is every bit her own woman. I am glad I read this book and can recommend it to anyone with the gumption to share a book with an independent mind with a sharp pen. That said I get the feeling she does not like many people and [...]

I love book group. Not only do I get to hang out with a bunch of people I like and talk about books, I get to read books that I never would have picked up on my own. Welcome to Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady. I read a lot of memoirs, but this one never would have stood out for me. I didn’t know anything about Florence King, so when this was chosen for our September meeting, I was looking forward to something new. (Yes, September book group. If you’re also behind on book reviews, let� [...]

Reasons to read this book: "If any of us had heard the word 'feminist' we would have thought it meant a girl who wore too much makeup, but we were, without knowing it, feminists ourselves, bound together by the freemasonry that exists among intelligent women who know they are intelligent. It is the only kind of female bonding that works, which is why most men do not like intelligent women. They don't mind one female brain if they can enjoy it privately; it's the idea of two or more on the loose [...]

While the book started out slow, perhaps a symptom of the Southern author, it picked up in the middle. Interesting relationships, wild stories, and colorful imagery.I was particularly drawn into the multi-generational household full charismatic characters connfidently striding through life blind to societal expectations and focusing on just being themselves.