diff --git a/novaclient/shell.py b/novaclient/shell.py
index 93f7bbe0a..583cddb66 100644
--- a/novaclient/shell.py
+++ b/novaclient/shell.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ from keystoneclient import session as ksession
 from oslo_utils import encodeutils
 from oslo_utils import importutils
 from oslo_utils import strutils
-import six
 
 HAS_KEYRING = False
 all_errors = ValueError
@@ -897,12 +896,11 @@ def main():
     try:
         argv = [encodeutils.safe_decode(a) for a in sys.argv[1:]]
         OpenStackComputeShell().main(argv)
-
-    except Exception as e:
-        logger.debug(e, exc_info=1)
-        details = {'name': encodeutils.safe_encode(e.__class__.__name__),
-                   'msg': encodeutils.safe_encode(six.text_type(e))}
-        print("ERROR (%(name)s): %(msg)s" % details,
+    except Exception as exc:
+        logger.debug(exc, exc_info=1)
+        print("ERROR (%s): %s"
+              % (exc.__class__.__name__,
+                 encodeutils.exception_to_unicode(exc)),
               file=sys.stderr)
         sys.exit(1)
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
diff --git a/novaclient/tests/unit/test_shell.py b/novaclient/tests/unit/test_shell.py
index 844306fc1..a2c86b6d0 100644
--- a/novaclient/tests/unit/test_shell.py
+++ b/novaclient/tests/unit/test_shell.py
@@ -521,6 +521,16 @@ class ShellTest(utils.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(password, 'password')
         self.assertIs(client_kwargs['session'], None)
 
+    @mock.patch.object(novaclient.shell.OpenStackComputeShell, 'main')
+    def test_main_error_handling(self, mock_compute_shell):
+        class MyException(Exception):
+            pass
+        with mock.patch('sys.stderr', six.StringIO()):
+            mock_compute_shell.side_effect = MyException('message')
+            self.assertRaises(SystemExit, novaclient.shell.main)
+            err = sys.stderr.getvalue()
+        self.assertEqual(err, 'ERROR (MyException): message\n')
+
 
 class TestLoadVersionedActions(utils.TestCase):