Southern Lady Code (Ellis) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Helen Ellis returns with an essay collection about shifting moral codes as seen through the lens of her Southern upbringing.… [Her] sense of humor and honesty never fail to charm.
Wall Street Journal


Prepare yourself for some off-the-wall hilarity… Ellis is fun—like the Nutter Butter snowmen she serves at her retro holiday parties.
NPR


Good advice and great reading.… Ellis kills, whether on the page or at the poker table.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch


Expecting out-of-town guests who need schooling in the ways of the South? Hand them a copy of Southern Lady Code by Helen Ellis.
Augusta Chronicle


With a voice that’s equal parts Nora Ephron and David Sedaris, this Alabama-raised, NYC-honed author should be your new woman crush.… Full of piss and vinegar and hilarious one-liners that beg to be read aloud. Best of all, Ellis—a woman of spiky, unrepentant complexity—makes the case for living according to no one’s rules but your own.
Family Circle


It’s hard to adequately describe these delightful autobiographical essays. Maybe that’s because Alabama-born Ellis’s take on Southern manners and mores is a unique blend of sardonic and sincere. More likely because it’s difficult to formulate sentences when you’re laughing this hard.
People


A vibrant storyteller with a penchant for the perverse… Ellis shares her mother’s etiquette advice for handling street crime… and tells of her father staging pretend gun violence to liven up a birthday party. Ellis is a strong, vivid writer—and this book is gut-busting funny.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) By turns lighthearted and heart-wrenching.… Reminiscent of each character from the TV sitcom Designing Women, Ellis’s wonderfully amusing writing is hard to put down, and this book is no exception.
Library Journal


Ellis is a hoot and a half, which, as she might say, is Southern Lady Code for "laughing 'til the tears flow" funny. In nearly two-dozen essays filled with belly laughs and bits of hard-won wisdom, Ellis’ self-deprecating wit and tongue-in-cheek charm provide the perfect antidote to bad-hair, or bad-news, days.
Booklist


Humorous essays from a sassy Southern gal.… The author's brand of humor is subtle and mostly unforced. Her one-liners… and consistently droll remarks keep the amusement factor high and the pages turning. Feisty, funny, lightweight observations on life Southern-style.
Kirkus Reviews