Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9503310099
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: G-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY MARGIE FISHER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Florence King's wit ... is not for the tender-hearted. Those who prefer satirists who practice random acts of kindness had best stick with P.J. O'Rourke, or even Molly Ivans - both of whom have been known to slip up and make nice about someone or something occasionally.
Not so King - at least not in my recollection of her writings, and I've tried to read everything she has written since her celebrated ``Southern Ladies and Gentlemen,'' first published in 1975.
King spares no one and nothing. Targets for her tyranny are everyone, but most especially Southerners, who've ever shown a foolish, pompous, persnickety, politically correct streak- basically all of us. From Bubbas to WASPs, from ``self-rejuvenating virgins'' to little old ladies with blue hair, from ``damn yuppies'' to ``town fairies,'' from evangelical nonsmokers to vegetarians, she punctures, skins us alive, skewers and roasts us on her saucy spit. I, for one, love it - having read few other authors who makes me laugh and gasp out loud, all in the same breath.
As noted on the cover flap of her latest book, ``The Florence King Reader'', descriptions such as ``unreconstructed Southerner, gun-toting ring-wing feminist, high-church Episcopal atheist, postmenopausal misanthropic monarchist'' fail to convey the full scope of King's savvy but pitiless persona.
To appreciate it, you have to subject yourself to her wicked ways with words. For those who've been stuck in an elevator or something for the many years she's been writing books, newspaper columns, magazine essays, etc., ``The Florence King Reader'' is a good place to start catching up on her work.
The anthology - which King put together herself, with update notes on most of its inclusions - would be almost worth the price for no other reason than it includes King's only novel, ``When Sisterhood Was in Flower,'' in its entirety. ``Sisterhood,'' long out of print, is a really hilarious look at the birthing of the modern feminist movement Sure, it's a put-down, as are some of her more recent dissections of FemSpeak, also included in ``Reader.''
But King is an equal-opportunity saboteuse. Thus, the collection also contains ``He: An Irreverent Look at the American Male,'' with descriptions of good ol' boys so offensive (and so alive and thriving yet today) that young women will be left wondering why the feminist movement was necessary in the first place.
King also dutifully includes selections from ``Southern Ladies and Gentlemen,'' and her classic memoir of growing up in an eccentric Southern family,``Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady.''
Not the best-possible selections in these troves of belly laughs, in my opinion. Don't, for instance, look for a full accounting of the above-mentioned ``self-rejuvenating virgin.'' For that you will need to read the chapter titled ``Would you all excuse me while I have an identity crisis?'' in ``Southern Ladies,'' which has also been harder to find than a nickel cup of coffee for many years. Fortunately, it has just been reissued in paperback (St. Martin's Press, $10.95).
As for ``Confessions,'' it is truly King's masterpiece. I might even advise readers of ``Reader'' to skip the mere samplings and beg, borrow or steal a copy of the full ``Confessions,'' which is simply too good not to experience in the whole.
Otherwise, ``Reader'' is a delight. And for all that some might like to indict King for character assassination, she has, in fact, preserved here many of the wonderful characters among us. Just be sure, as the cover flap cautions, to handle the book with care, because it indeed has sharp edges.
Margie Fisher writes editorials for this paper.
by CNB