Book Review: Suck Your Stomach In & Put Some Color On!

Title: Suck Your Stomach In & Put Some Color On! (What Southern Mama's Tell Their Daughters That the Rest of Y'all Should Know Too)

Author: Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

Category: Self-Help

 Summary: "In this humorous, feisty guide to life, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, host of All Things Southern, reveals the all-important lessons Southern Mamas teach their daughters.  Readers will discover why low-rise jeans are trashy and learn to interpret regional dialect like the Southern Mama APB, a bulletin translated on Southern streets as "Give your heart to Jesus, girl, because your butt is all mine!"  Shellie carefully breaks down the teachings behind those famous manners and social graces through her firsthand observations and dry wit.  Here's everything you need to know from coping with the unexpected, competing in the Mr. Right Game Show, and raising children - to how to keep that marriage knot tied tight over time.  Chock-full of Southern wit and wisdom, woven with quotes from real Southern Mamas, and sprinkled with recipes and other Southern secrets, this book's a bona fide celebration of all things south of the Mason-Dixon Line."

Favorite quote:   "When a single woman is pregnant and doesn't want to be, she has no good options left.  It doesn't matter if she's fourteen or forty.  She can have an abortion and live with that; give the baby up for adoption and always wonder; or try to raise the child alone." (Liz Fisher)

The review: Okay, back of book; No.  No.  Wrong.  Shellie does not break anything down about these teachings in anything less than an Amelia Bedelia literal translation.  She rarely actually pulls into the true meaning of a statement.  Maybe that's the dry wit part.  Maybe I don't get this book because I'm not a true southern gal.  Maybe I don't get this book because it's written for an older generation of southern woman.  Or maybe, the author didn't do so well at whatever it was that she was trying to accomplish in this book.  There's recipes in this book and not a one that I'd actually cook.  The sidebar quotes from people are great.  More of those and less Shellie next time.  

Would I recommend this book for read: No.  If you'd like to read a self-help with tidbits on raising children, try Growing Up by Marilyn vos Savant.