Star-Spangled Manners: In Which Miss Manners Defends American Etiquette (For a Change)

Rating:
Summary: Sound but Stilted
Review: I really love Miss Manners and am a huge fan of her other books. However, as much as I support the basic truisms of what she says in her latest, I can't say that I enjoyed it all that much.

The clue is that I got it two months ago, and I still haven't bothered to finish it.

Miss Manners's previous books were written in a charming half-narrative and half-column style, allowing her to address her readers' concerns and to comment on them concurrently. This book discards readers' letters in lieu of uninterrupted narration. While she retains her whimsical and vaguely remonstrative tone, her characteristically lighthearted approach with this historically intriguing interpretation of American manners feels more like listening, under duress, to inane chitchat for hours and hours.

The conradiction is that what she has to say ISN'T small talk... but with that ongoing, constant, uninterrupted tone and whimsy, it's easy to stop paying attention.

After some of our country's recent tragedies, there has been a resurrection of American pride. Perhaps that resurrection is what inspired Miss Manners to support of her country and its culture by chronicling the evolution and justifications for the American lifestyle. She delineates a sound historical diatribe. Somehow, the "Miss Manners" persona to this particular chronicle doesn't jibe, in my opinion.

I wish, almost, that Judith Martin wrote this book AS Judith Martin, and that "Miss Manners" had less to do with it. A more-serious approach -- not one without ANY humor or lightheartedness, but one with the dignity of her goal -- might have suited this subject better and allowed me to remain engaged long enough to actually finish those last two chapters.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy This One; Re-Read One Of Her Other Books Instead
Review: I was ready to love this book, as I have loved Judith Martin's other Miss Manners books. As I began reading, I expected to find the same combination of sophisticated social consciousness, wicked yet gentle wit, and sparkling prose that make her other books so wonderful. But, alas, it seems even Miss Manners has to lay an egg once in a while. This book was not a bit funny; In fact, it seemed almost mean-spirited and sarcastic at times. It isn't quite rude, of course, but just the same, it lacks the lively spirit of cheerful helpfulness, and the brilliant intellect, that is present in her other books. Sorry, Ms. Martin.

Rating:
Summary: thought-provoking but a trial to read
Review: Miss Manners' discussion of American etiquette - by which she means everything from the way we dress and talk and wed to the way we see the world and our place in it - should have been so much better than this. It's certainly ambitious enough, tackling as it does a swath of American culture wide enough to encompass colonial history as well as the modern entertainment industry. Its thesis - that American etiquette, with its emphasis on simplicity and equality, has transformed the world for the better and could continue to do so if it were not hindered by our fascination with show business and popularity and our modern discounting of the communal and familial in favor of the individual - is compelling and well-tuned to the advice Miss Manners gives in her columns.

But something is off about this book. Miss Manners' trademark acerbic tone is replaced by a more serious tenor, perhaps to advance these more serious ideas. The change is not a positive one, as it robs the material of needed zest. Worse, the text is unorganized and often confusing to read. Chapters are quite long, and are divided into page-long sections that often seem unrelated. The book takes no clear trajectory; instead, it constantly jumps around. Its end does not seem like a conclusion, but just the place where Miss Manners grew tired of penning an increasingly unwieldy, uninspiring manuscript and turned her quick wit and intelligent ideas to worthier prospects.

Rating:
Summary: equality and etiquette
Review: The delightful Miss Manners, Judith Martin, delivers another highly entertaining, slyly witty book which combines present-day etiquette dilemmas with a history of American etiquette and sociological commentary on "re-inventing ourselves".

The book reads easily, but don't be deceived into speeding through. Each articulately written paragraph can be savored and will be food for thought.

Martin's historical perspective may open your eyes to such observations as that of Charles Dickens, who noted that southern ladies spoke like their black nurses. Martin notes that the slaves may have been well-mannered aristocrats in their own African societies, while the plantation owners may have come from lowly origins.

She also writes of the task the Founding Fathers undertook: In setting up a new, democratic nation, of necessity they had to set up a new system of etiquette, one suited for a nation of equals. American etiquette is still evolving, as we live in a nation where every person is free to "make something of oneself",
instead of being locked into a stagnant system of codes and behavior related to rigid economic class. American virtues, like enterprise, frankness, and friendliness, sometimes can present challenges to the polite restraint necessary to civilized behavior. Even the essential ideas of etiquette--being thoughtful of others and according them respect---can require careful calibration in such matters as being asked to buy an item you don't want just because a friend's child is selling it to benefit an organization.

Kudoes to Judith Martin for another enlightening and fascinating book! Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Academic and boring. A disappointment.
Review: This book, to put it plainly, is not at all fun to read. Ir reminded me of college text books: plodding, pedantic, and dull. The language is unnecessarily complex, and the writing is as dense as my Uncle Lou's cheese cake. I couldn't get through a whole chapter without losing my concentration.

This book shouldn't be associated with the Miss Manners name. I wouldn't have bought it had I known that it would be wholly different from all of her other books, which are the most worn members of my bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: Miss Manners: who knew?
Review: This is the best accounting of who we Americans are and why that is I've ever read. Considering the competition, that's saying something.

It's also the most entertaining. She has an ingenious thesis, a comprehensive knowledge base, and a wit sharper than Mark Twain's (That's also saying something.).

All this from, of all people, Miss Manners. Who knew?