Reviews

Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson

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liliakwolf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

what??? actually only got halfway through this book and then was so confused as to how i felt that i looked through the reviews to see it was not worth finishing, but i put too much time into it not to count it towards my goal lol. anyways, just a very confusing book that had flat characters with frustratingly no character development for the mc. just so frustrating to read.

finneas's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

extremely frustrating read. could've been so good but alas

ginger_curmudgeon's review against another edition

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3.75

I have mixed feelings about Boys of Alabama. The story has a lot of potential. I was invested in Max and his family. There are moments where Pan is likable, but overall he’s not a likable person.

I can’t tell if Max is finding himself, or just going along with everything to be liked. He comments about wanting to fit in, but he goes along with EVERYTHING. Granted, he is also new to the US.

I thought we were going to get some sort of comeuppance for the Judge or maybe for any of the boys, but we don’t.

At times the whole “did it really happen?” vibe annoys me, particularly as it relates to the camp scenes. Speaking of the camp, I don’t like that Max’s power disappeared after, only to come back at a crucial moment. It feels like there’s an implication that the religious zealotry is valid and not the evil that the book sets it up to be.

From the camp scenes to the end, Hudson lost me. There is more happening off page in this part of the book than the rest of the book, which says a lot. The end particularly frustrated me because it basically ends with nothing resolved in the middle of things happening. Almost worse than wrapping things up neatly.

Generally, I enjoy Hudson’s writing style. I just wish the ending parts of the story (camp onward) had more to it. Another 20 - 30 pages would have probably done been enough to flesh it out more.

thelibrarian390's review against another edition

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2.0

I don't remember what made me read this book, probably a recommendation from a podcast. I LOVE magical realism, and I do know that that was part of he description. The magic was a central character but also a peripheral character at the same time. It was... weird. The main character was trying to navigate a new country, new friends, new feelings and that was interesting. I could have read a few more chapters following Max's dealings with those things. The ending was very... cliffhanger-y. I didn't like it. I wished the magic was a little more obvious/important.