PDF Southern Lady Code Essays Helen Ellis 9780385543897 Books
Download As PDF : Southern Lady Code Essays Helen Ellis 9780385543897 Books
"I loved it." —Ann Patchett
The bestselling author of American Housewife ("Dark, deadpan and truly inventive." --The New York Times Book Review) is back with a fiercely funny collection of essays on marriage and manners, thank-you notes and three-ways, ghosts, gunshots, gynecology, and the Calgon-scented, onion-dipped, monogrammed art of living as a Southern Lady.
Helen Ellis has a mantra "If you don't have something nice to say, say something not-so-nice in a nice way." Say "weathered" instead of "she looks like a cake left out in the rain." Say "early-developed" instead of "brace face and B cups." And for the love of Coke Salad, always say "Sorry you saw something that offended you" instead of "Get that stick out of your butt, Miss Prissy Pants." In these twenty-three raucous essays Ellis transforms herself into a dominatrix Donna Reed to save her marriage, inadvertently steals a $795 Burberry trench coat, witnesses a man fake his own death at a party, avoids a neck lift, and finds a black-tie gown that gives her the confidence of a drag queen. While she may have left her home in Alabama, married a New Yorker, forgotten how to drive, and abandoned the puffy headbands of her youth, Helen Ellis is clinging to her Southern accent like mayonnaise to white bread, and offering readers a hilarious, completely singular view on womanhood for both sides of the Mason-Dixon.
PDF Southern Lady Code Essays Helen Ellis 9780385543897 Books
"This was absolutely terrible and not funny and not interesting. Yuck"
Product details
|
Tags : Southern Lady Code Essays [Helen Ellis] on . <b><b> I loved it. —Ann Patchett </i></b> The bestselling author of American Housewife </i>( Dark,Helen Ellis,Southern Lady Code Essays,Doubleday,0385543891,Courtesy,Man-woman relationships - Southern states,Man-woman relationships;Southern states.,Women - Southern States - Conduct of life,Women - Southern States - Social life and customs,Women;Southern States;Conduct of life.,Women;Southern States;Social life and customs.,AMERICAN SATIRE AND HUMOR,Essays,FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS / Marriage Long-Term Relationships,Family Relationships/Marriage Long Term Relationships,GENERAL,General Adult,HUMOR / Form / Essays,HUMOR / Topic / Marriage Family,Humor,Humor/Form - Essays,Literary Collections/Essays,Non-Fiction,United States,WOMEN IN THE U.S.,bridal shower gifts;engagement gifts;southern gifts;mothers day gifts for grandma;grandmother gifts;grandma gifts;gifts for grandma;mom gifts;mothers day gift;gifts for mom;gifts for women;bride gifts for wedding day;mother of bride gift;funny wedding gifts;mother of the bride gifts;wedding gifts for the couple;mothers day gifts;mothers day books;mothers day;humor;book club gifts;helen ellis;manners;southern charm;southern women;marriage;essay collection;essays;new mom gift;expectant mom gifts,mothers day gifts; mothers day books; mothers day; humor; book club gifts; helen ellis; manners; southern charm; southern women; marriage; essay collection; essays; bridal shower gifts; engagement gifts; southern gifts; mothers day gifts for grandma; grandmother gifts; grandma gifts; gifts for grandma; mom gifts; mothers day gift; gifts for mom; gifts for women; bride gifts for wedding day; mother of bride gift; funny wedding gifts; mother of the bride gifts; wedding gifts for the couple; new mom gift; expectant mom gifts
Southern Lady Code Essays Helen Ellis 9780385543897 Books Reviews :
Southern Lady Code Essays Helen Ellis 9780385543897 Books Reviews
- This was absolutely terrible and not funny and not interesting. Yuck
- This book had me in stitches from page one. It’s a collection of short essays and the content rings true for anyone who has experienced this thing called life. The author is a modern day Erma Bombeck. I learned so many Southern Lady codes that I fear I’m becoming a Southerner - not a bad thing!
- A fun book of amusing essays, many of which I could relate to on multiple levels. Beneath the humor, there’s a sense of a warm, caring woman who knows who she is and what she wants. This is a woman who’d be fun to have as a friend. Easy read.
- I would read a shopping list if Helen Ellis wrote it. I loved this book.
- Everything my momma taught me, explained in the funniest and most honest way possible! You won't be disappointed with this book.
- Fabulous read!
- Helen Ellis makes me laugh out loud. If you can use some of that, you may want to read this book. Thanks go to Doubleday and Net Galley for the review copy.
Southern Lady Code is a title that carries a code of its own. Some people use the word “lady†to describe European royalty; some to describe a courteous woman, which is what I anticipated here; and some use it to describe a well-mannered woman with a very comfortable income, which appears to be the author’s operating definition. In terms of the “code,†I thought I’d be reading straight satire, but discovered that she has provided a combination of self-help tips and searing, sometimes raucous humor. It works surprisingly well.
I have never made a cheese log before or wanted one, but Ellis’s recipe sounds so persuasively delicious that I may try it. That said, my favorite essays were short on advice and long on humor. I nearly hurt myself laughing over the construction man she found masturbating in her bedroom—did I mention that she gets a little edgy here? And “The Ghost Experience†is massively entertaining. There’s a lot of good material. Though at times her outlook is a little more conservative than my own, I like the things she says in support of gay and trans friends.
Ultimately, I suspect that I am not the target audience for Ellis, who in her middle-aged years is dispensing life skills wrapped in bountiful amounts of humorous anecdotes. She is writing to her peers and to those women younger than herself. I am ten or twenty years older than this woman, but I still came away impressed. So, ladies and women, if you can look past the assumption of a greater-than-average income, you’ll have a good time here, and if you can’t, try to get this collection at the library and read selectively, because more of these essays will resonate than not, for all of us.
I rate this book four giggles, and it will be available to the public tomorrow, April 16, 2019. - If I've said it once, I've said it a million times - any book that can make me laugh out loud immediately wins its place on my metaphorical shelf of books worth reading.
Southern Lady Code is a short, snappy book full of hilarious essays by Helen Ellis about her life as a woman who grew up in the South. Interestingly enough, I'm not sure I would call this a "southern" work in the way that books by Joshilyn Jackson or William Faulkner are absolutely steeped in southern culture and setting. Ellis has spent a large part of her adult life in New York, and a lot of the stories are very "upper crust NYC" in their sensibilities. The title comes into play as she examines all of the different experiences she has in her life through the lens of this "code" that she learned from growing up in the south. The code is in her own words - "a technique by which, if you don't have something nice to say, you say something not-so-nice in a nice way." As someone who has spent her whole life in the South, I can confirm that almost everything she says is true - it is (unfortunately) not some over-exaggeration of the characteristics of a "southern lady."
Despite this, I don't think that someone would need to be from the south to enjoy this collection - I think it has something to appeal to all women, as it's really about life as a modern American woman. She holds absolutely nothing back, and shares anecdotes that will have you barking with laughter.
