GOD SAVE THE SWEET POTATO QUEENS sounded like it was going to be a funny novel about Southern women, kind of like a book version of Steel Magnolias. But I did not get what I bargained for --- with chapter titles like "Sex, Fritos and the Talking Vagina," I was in for something very, very different.

If you always wanted to know what it was like to be, or how to become, a loud-talking, big-haired, long-nailed, hard-drinking, party-loving, parade-walking, sequined-tushed, bodacious tata-growing Southern belle, this book is for you. If that's not exactly the personality or lifestyle you would like, this book is not for you. GOD SAVE THE SWEET POTATO QUEENS is actually a follow-up to an earlier how-to book called THE SWEET POTATO QUEENS' BOOK OF LOVE, in which the ladies spelled out for you the whys and wherefores of mating rituals, marriage procedures, divorce-table conversations, and their kind of Southern gal's cohabitation preferences. I did not know of this book and so was, as evidenced by my lead sentence, completely unaware of the success the ladies have had with the public and how many other ladies out there, including the wondrous novelist Kaye Gibbons, wanted to be in on the joke --- even though it wasn't really a joke.

The picture of the Queens on the front cover tells you everything you need to know --- these women are brash and funny and love life. However, I didn't find any of their rather archaic attitudes about women's roles in relationships and the world-at-large very meaningful --- and with their giant red wigs and green-sequined, pink-caped get-ups, I couldn't imagine anyone taking them very seriously. But according to the author, someone does, so we will just have to allow those folks to enjoy the book and the rest of us will move on to something else.

Is there any way to revive the ERA movement and make that fun again for the rest of us? If you think so, give me a call.