Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady

 Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady by Florence King
1990
Weight: 12 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

This book.  The reviews crack me up because so many people are hung up on the descriptions of lesbian sex, the fact that she sleeps with and uses men, the vulgarity of her language.  It is telling to me that these are the things that really disturb people.  I give props to this person who said the lesbian sex was repulsive to her and yet she gave the book 5 stars.  Kudos to her for sticking with something outside her comfort zone and still finding the beauty!

I, for one, loved to listen to her talk about sex, sexuality, and gender roles!

What shocks me is that no one seems to be talking about how she writes about race and racism in the book.  It seems to me that she is very much of the mindset that the South is the South and you just have to work with it.  You are a friend of black people if you work within the system to help 1 or 2 of them you know personally, but you would never try to dismantle that system, or actually get to know any of them in any real way.  She talks about racism from the edge of it, just taking a peek inside, and then running away from it full force.  It did not impact her life so much as it was happening around her.  It just totally took me out of the book.  

I know that literature can be mired in the timeframe it was written, but that does not make me love it anymore.  I just kept thinking about how it made me feel and then wondering how it might make others feel.  It just was not great.