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I FIRST BECAME FAMILIAR WITH MISS KING'S WRITING VIA THE NATIONAL REVUE MAGAZINE, AND WAS SOON TURNING TO THE BACK OF THE BOOK WHERE HER "MISANTHROPE'S CORNER" WAS LOCATED UPON RECEIVING THE MAGAZINE. SHE COMBINES WIT, CLARITY, AND AN EAR FOR COMPOSITION THAT IS LACKING FROM OTHER MODERN WRITERS. MISS KING IS NOT AFRAID TO ASSAULT THE SACRED COWS AND UNPROVEN "TRUTHS" OF TODAY'S DECLINING AMERICAN CULTURE. FOR EXAMPLE. STATEMENTS SUCH AS "DIVERSITY IS GREAT" OR "PRINCESS DIANA IS A ROLE MODEL FOR US ALL" OR, "WE MUST ALL LOVE EVERYONE" IMPELS MISS KING TO ASK THE SIMPLE QUESTION "WHY?', A QUESTION THAT DARES NOT BE ASKED BY MOST MODERN MILKSOPS, WHO SEEM TO BLINDLY ACCEPT THESE UNORTHODOX LATTER-DAY CREDOS. IN A TIME WHEN WE ARE OVERLOADED WITH THE MOST BIZZARE RIGHTS, AND WHEN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE EXPECTED TO POSSESS A HERD MENTALITY, I FIND THAT MISS KING CHAMPIONS OUR MOST BASIC RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO QUESTION, TO CHOOSE WITH WHOM WE WISH TO ASSOCIATE, AND THE RIGHT TO PURSUE OUR OWN HAPPINESS, EVEN IF DOING SO IS FAR FROM THE ACCEPTED NORMS ESTABLISHED BY POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. AFTER MISS KING CEASED WRITING THE "MISANTHROPE'S CORNER, I FOUND THAT I MISSED HER REFRESHING POINT OF VIEW, AND PURCHASED "STET, DAMMIT", A COMPILATION OF HER "MISANTHROPE'S CORNER" ARTICLES. WHILE READING AND REREADING IT, I FOUND THAT MISS KING, WHILE NO DEMAGOGUE, IMPELS A PERSON TO SHAKE FREE OF THE BONDS OF PRESENT CONVENTIONS, AND MAY ACTUALLY CAUSE HER READER TO BEGIN TO THINK AND QUESTION AGAIN, AND DAMN THE CONSEQUENCES. I MUST ADMIT THAT IT IS DIFFICULT, AND RATHER FRIGHTENING, TO BEGIN TO THINK AS A SEPERATE ORGANISM AGAIN AND DARE TO QUESTION "WHY?" FOR YOURSELF, BUT MISS KING'S WRITINGS HAVE LED ME TO DO SO. IT IS NOT MY INTENTION TO PORTRAY HER AS GURU OF ANY SORT, BUT THROUGH HER WRITINGS SHE PROMULGATES A SENSE OF THE WORTH OF ONE'S SELF, ONE'S THOUGHTS, AND ONE'S MORALS, NO MATTER HOW OUTDATED OR RADICAL THESE CONCEPTS MAY SEEM IN THE PRESENT. I ALSO FIND THAT, FOR A SELF-PROCLAIMED AND PROUD MISANTHROPE, MISS KING ALSO OFFERS NOSTALGIA AND HUMOR. I PARTICULARLY LIKE HER WRITINGS CONCERNING HER EARLY FAMILY LIFE, AND MISS MY GRANDMOTHER'S VIEW OF LIFE,DECENCY, AND PRAGMATISM WHEN I READ OF HER GRANDMOTHER. I REALIZE THAT THE VIEW THAT A GENTLER AGE HAS PASSED WITH THESE PEOPLE IS A MISCONCEPTION, AND THAT A MORE PROPER VIEW IS THAT A MUCH STRONGER AGE DEPARTED WITH THEM. IN "CONFESSIONS" YOU WILL MEET THE PEOPLE AND READ OF THE TIMES THAT INFLUENCED MISS KING, HER FAMILY, CLASSMATES, LOVERS, AND OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND COLLEGES BEFORE THEIR COMPLETE DESTRUCTION AT THE HANDS OF MODERN CONFORMISTS. SHE IS UNSPARING IN HER OPINIONS OF THE PAST AND DOES NOT GLORIFY ANY INSTITUTION OR PERSON, BUT, AFTER READING "CONFESSIONS", I HAD TO LOOK WITH LONGING UPON A VANISHED AMERICA IN WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL MATTERED, AT LEAST TO THEIR SELVES.Read full review
Hilarious and witty. So glad to find this author. Very like Molly Ivins. I will read more by Florence King.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Great book especially if you enjoy the south
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Well-crafted sentences and dead-on sense of timing. I love the "Southernese" that Florence uses, it really puts you right in the deep South! Be warned! You'll laugh out loud with this book.
I read this book years ago and had given it to a friend. I wanted a copy of my own. This book will keep you laughing for start to finish. The writer leaves no holes barred.
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