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meganpareja 's review for:
Gods in Alabama
by Joshilyn Jackson
You can find more of my reviews at meganpareja.com.
Joshilyn Jackson has a really offbeat, quirky way of writing (thinking?) that really appealed to me in this book, and made the story seem a bit more interesting than it actually was, upon reflection. Actually, I think it was a pretty interesting story, and I might have liked it in the end even more if it hadn’t felt so disjointed and confusing in some parts. The writing felt a little manipulative at some points, in that it was deliberately jumbled to confuse the reader and make the truth more dramatic.
The story is about an adult woman, Arlene, who fled her deep Southern hometown a decade ago for Chicago and hasn’t returned, despite her family’s pleading. Something bad went down that caused her to flee, and we find out pretty early on what that was. But of course, there’s more to the story, and if Arlene (“Lena”) is going to go through any sort of interesting character arc, she’s going to have to get back home and face her demons.
One thing I loved about this book was the relationship between Lena and her boyfriend, Burr. Actually, it wasn’t the relationship, necessarily, because I thought that was a little messed up. I kept wondering why Burr stuck around so long to deal with Lena’s constantly keeping him at arm’s length. But it gave me a lot to think about in terms of the way people in different regions of the country address race. Burr was black, and Lena was white, and while this was mostly a non-issue within their circle at home, it became a topic only when the couple decided to return to Lena’s hometown.
In terms of the central mystery, there’s a lot to unravel before we get to the truth, even though it seems pretty straightforward at first. Instead, the twists turn up something a lot less plausible, but I still enjoyed reading through them, nonetheless. I didn’t love this novel, and I didn’t hate it. I enjoyed it as I was reading, expected perhaps a little more from it (I’d heard such great things), and probably won’t remember much about it a couple months down the road.
Joshilyn Jackson has a really offbeat, quirky way of writing (thinking?) that really appealed to me in this book, and made the story seem a bit more interesting than it actually was, upon reflection. Actually, I think it was a pretty interesting story, and I might have liked it in the end even more if it hadn’t felt so disjointed and confusing in some parts. The writing felt a little manipulative at some points, in that it was deliberately jumbled to confuse the reader and make the truth more dramatic.
The story is about an adult woman, Arlene, who fled her deep Southern hometown a decade ago for Chicago and hasn’t returned, despite her family’s pleading. Something bad went down that caused her to flee, and we find out pretty early on what that was. But of course, there’s more to the story, and if Arlene (“Lena”) is going to go through any sort of interesting character arc, she’s going to have to get back home and face her demons.
One thing I loved about this book was the relationship between Lena and her boyfriend, Burr. Actually, it wasn’t the relationship, necessarily, because I thought that was a little messed up. I kept wondering why Burr stuck around so long to deal with Lena’s constantly keeping him at arm’s length. But it gave me a lot to think about in terms of the way people in different regions of the country address race. Burr was black, and Lena was white, and while this was mostly a non-issue within their circle at home, it became a topic only when the couple decided to return to Lena’s hometown.
In terms of the central mystery, there’s a lot to unravel before we get to the truth, even though it seems pretty straightforward at first. Instead, the twists turn up something a lot less plausible, but I still enjoyed reading through them, nonetheless. I didn’t love this novel, and I didn’t hate it. I enjoyed it as I was reading, expected perhaps a little more from it (I’d heard such great things), and probably won’t remember much about it a couple months down the road.