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Helen Ellis is funny. This is the code of northern criticism for Do not expect serious tests on pressing topics, but get ready for wacky hilarity.
Southern Lady Code is Ellis's follow up to American housewife, his 2016 news collection, which sparked a rebel and twisted version of domesticity. This first non-fiction book develops its riff on the mores of the South and the "technique by which, if you do not have something nice to say, you say something not so nice beautifully."
Some examples: "An" archivist "is Southern Lady Code for slob "; "" If this happens, it happens ": Southern Lady Code for we do not want children " (a choice made by Ellis and her husband); "Early-develop" is the Southern Lady Code for face brace and hat B. "
Helen Ellis, grafted from Alabama to the Upper East Side Side of Manhattan, is not just a joke, but a character – which is the code of the Northern Critic Code for his own carefully selected creation. Her breakfast of choice includes Coca-Cola. She loves neighborhood uniforms, her dyed hair and her Burberry trench coat, though she's wearing yoga pants at puzzle parties; another puzzle player is wearing a cardigan, "what we, the ladies of the south, regard as a sports outfit". She launches: "My idea of laying the child squats at the top of a box."
Ellis, whose Twitter account is @WhatIDoAllDay, defines his lifestyle as "writing, poker, puzzles, movies, dinner with friends, housework, naps". She comments with a typical self-disparaging spirit: "If they were clues about The pyramid of $ 100,000, the answer would be: "What you do in a retirement home!"
Self-satire is the key to his humor. In an article about her feeling of concern that she mistakenly took another woman's trench coat, she made a distinction between "rich people's problems" and the real problems. "I'm lucky to have life that I have, so my motto is: Oh, that's fine," she wrote. She says she's the kind not to "send food back to a restaurant unless you put a finger in. It never contains a finger, so I do not return food."
Regarding real problems, she cites some of the problems she and her husband have faced, including the deaths of several families. To this list, Ellis casually adds a shocker: "I've been raped". This is not something you can lightly lay down like a trench coat on a bed and you expect readers to ignore it. We are waiting for her to repeat it, perhaps in the context of personal stories about deflecting attackers with hairspray or returning home to find a "fun-loving" construction worker (more from Southern Lady Code) in her room. But it seems that Marie-Kondoed was the victim of this assault, as well as all that did not cause joy in his closet. Naturally. To mention it, however, calls for a discussion.
Comic essayists generally have their pitfalls: David Sedaris has Hugh and his sisters; Ellis has her beloved husband, Mr. Haris, and his outspoken mother, who attended law school at age 40. She writes, "All my life, my mother has taught me to be polite in extreme situations. Teach your children to say "Yes, ma'am" and "No, sir," and to chew your mouth shut and blow your noses privately that's for the amateurs. My mother is an Emily Post for Revelation. Example: "Helen Michelle, if you are going to commit suicide, you go to a fully clothed bath." Why? Good manners: it makes cleaning easier and no one should see you "nekkid".
As with Sedaris, it's sometimes hard to say Ellis is a fiction drawn from his fiction. In both genres, she is more gifted with half-length quotation marks rather than going deeper. Several pieces in Southern Lady Code give advice, invariably unsolicited and in Southern Lady mode. In "Young Women, Listen to Me", she admits, "If you can not afford to buy pearls, red nail polish is your best accessory … Flip flops are not shoes. leggings are not pants … two forks, you eat too much. "
In the midst of discussions about the importance of thank you notes and a hilarious description of a mammogram ("Picture, place a hot air balloon between two coffee table books made from taxis and flatten it until it explodes "), Ellis sometimes adventure into a heavier territory. She denounces the effrontery of porn on Twitter. His account of a farce his father played at his 13th birthday party – for which he hired an actor claiming to be a deadly intruder waving a real gun – let him go easily for a waterfall that terrorized his friends and raised more than eyebrows. aujourd & # 39; hui. Needless to ask where Ellis draws his sense of subversive and Gothic humor.
Southern Lady Code goes into a darker key with "Serious Women," Ellis' report on a horrific murder lawsuit pursued by a friend. Just as she recognizes the difference between luxury issues and real-life issues, Ellis also recognizes the distinction between the Bronx's deputy attorney's serious job and her own profession: "I write silly stories for the future." money, "she says.
Do not hit the spirit. Southern Lady Code Helen Ellis is fun – like the Nutter Butter Snowmen that she serves at her retro Christmas parties. This is the code of northern criticism for Make yourself happy.
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