3.79 AVERAGE


[71] In my quest to read all things @Joshilyn_Jackson, she does NOT disappoint. This is my third read of hers this year and another great story about the particular social norms and familial expectations of folks in the South. Explorations of family loyalty and telling the truth and building and rebuilding your life around what matters most. Dealing with some heavy topics (sexual assault, murder, racism, mental illness) in gentle ways. I did have to go look up the main characters in #TheAlmostSisters (White woman Leia and Black man Birch) because the main characters in #GodsInAlabama are White woman Lena and Black man Burr. While the stories have some similarities (including a set of almost sisters in GIA!), there’s also a lot unique. And goodness knows I’m rooting for each one of these characters to find what they need. Love that title - in a #ModernMrsDarcy interview she talked about her struggles with titles for each of her books and I don’t remember what she said about this one. I’ll have to go back and listen, because I think it’s a great title. #WhatShouldIReadNext #JoshilynJackson #SouthernLiteraryFiction

Though it seems that this book must be for the Oprah-crowd (a crowd I occasionally find myself among, to my embarassed delight), it's really crazy smart and run through with Joshilyn Jackson's dark sensibility and humor.

I chose this book because I loved listening to Backseat Saints. That audiobook ended with an excerpt from the beginning of this book and it intrigued me. The books are related, with the storylines weaving into each other a couple of times, each told from the point of view of a different woman. This one is told from the point of view of Arlene Fleet. Arlene lives in Chicago, after running away from Alabama twelve years earlier. Arlene's encounter with Rose Mae (of Backseat Saints) a girl from her past leads her to return to Alabama. Arlene's aunt has been trying to get her to come back for years. Arlene made a deal with God. She would never lie or fornicate nor return home if the body of Jim Beverly would never surface. Arlene had hit him in the head with a bottle and hid his body at the end of her second last year of high school. She has concentrated on her grades and her career since then, but her boyfriend Burr is getting impatient with her pushing him away and worries about her manipulation of the truth as she works to keep her word to God. There are many barriers to Arlene going home, just one of which is Burr's race. We see the workings of Arlene's mind and how she is tied to her roots for life.

A good southern tale. If you live in the south you know these folks. Well done without too much being over done on the stereotypes. Slightly unbelievable at times.

I had a great time reading this. I was hooked by the very first sentence and I'll let you judge yourself:
"There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus. I left one back there myself, back in Possett. I kicked it under the kudzu and left it to the roaches."

The story's told backwards, you first learn that Arlene has killed a "God from Alabama" then the rest of the novel slowly leads you to the motive and circumstances of that murder... it reminded me of old Columbo episodes and for that only, I would have liked the book :D.

This is a lovely mix of heavy, heavy topics with a very witty humor and tons of Southern quirks (can't judge of the accuracy but it's entertaining to read, that's for sure).

Loved the opening line and the set up of the story - the surprise of discovering that the narrator was a murderer and then trying to figure out the why and the how. Some of the narrator's interactions with her boyfriend didn't ring true and/or troubled me, but then again I'm not a white woman returning to the south with a black boyfriend after a self-imposed exile of ten years, still afraid of being found out for a murder I committed as a teenager. There were enough twists and turns to keep me interested and I confess to not seeing the final resolution coming.

My mother gave me this book years ago and I finally got around to it this summer. I asked her why she had it at all since this was not her usual read. Apparently she bought it at the Philadelphia Seminary and therefore thought I needed to read it. Not much of this makes sense given the book. However, I'm recording all this so I remember why I picked this up at all.

Not that this novel was boring or bad. I found the story interesting and well worth reading. I am just not sure I would have picked it up without a nudge.

Jackson is a good writer; her first sentence is a winner and the story spills out in an intriguing way. I got caught up and had no trouble continuing to read along. Towards the end, I had figured out where we were headed, but I definitely enjoyed the ride.

I recommend this book to readers of Southern fiction, to folks who enjoy the promise of a well written first novel and even to mystery readers, although the mystery is very small.

Very tough narrator, but a compelling story in the end. This was not my favorite of her books, but astonishingly complex for a first novel. Yes, read it!

Although it looks like Joshilyn Jackson is an experienced writer, this was her first published novel and it is well done. She slowly reveals the past that informs the present from the POV of a young woman, Arlene, who has suffered a number of traumas in her childhood.
I have a hard time believing any child is as perfect as Arlene's cousin, Clarice, but that could just be Arlene's perception.
This is a book about family love, mother's love and sister's love. Outside of Arlene's boy friend, Burr, the family men fade into the background.

I found these characters really engrossing.