©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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Gracefully introduced by the writer who made her famous, Chablis continues where Midnight left off-in the midst of a black society debutante ball, gate-crashed by Chablis as only Chablis can. In fact, scene stealing is what she does best.
To describe The Lady Chablis as merely a drag queen is to minimize her talents somehow-she's blessed with a gift of the gab the likes of which you might not have encountered lately in print. This entertaining combination of tongue-in-cheek parable and straight autobiography candidly chronicles her childhood, adolescent angst, and self-acceptance.
Like the stage on which she has performed most of her life, this book is a platform for Chablis's devastating personality and unmatched wit. Written in a style that provides rich local color, the book plays up her Southern milieu and African American heritage. Provided as addenda are a lexicon of camp terminology, recipes, makeup tips, and an index outlining the author's associations and summarizing her personal relationships-again, written with sass. Robin Bowman's original photographs capture Chablis in all her many moods, allowing her star quality to radiate.
Chablis's gratitude for others, evident throughout the book and comprising the whole of the epilogue, is never cloying, but instead reveals the sensitivity of the author herself. The whole is punctuated by euphemism and an at-times startling in-your-face attitude-a coping mechanism that has served Chablis, twice marginalized on account of both her race and gender. The narrative and author herself are occasionally abrasive, at once endearing.
Jayne Plymale-Jackson is a freelance writer in Athens, Georgia.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.