Georgia Bottoms

Georgia Bottoms may be Six Points, Alabama's finest feature - beautiful, worldly, a splendid cook and faithful churchgoer who cares for her aged mother and sells handmade quilts to her grateful neighbors.

Georgia also has a discreet side business, "entertaining" six local gentlemen at night. Judge Barnett on Sunday, Sheriff Allred on Friday, the doctor on Wednesday (Monday's are Georgia's own). Each gentleman gets a night tailored to his particular tastes, each has been trained to leave a "gift" to help Georgia get by, and each one thinks he is Georgia's only secret lover.

When Preacher Eugene Hendrix (Saturdays) decides he must confess their affair in front of his wife and the entire congregation, Georgia may be able to stop him in show more time. But one pin pulled out of her elaborately protected life may be all it takes to send the whole structure to hell in a hurry. Chin high, posture perfect, her Chanel handbag tucked firmly under her arm, Georgia sets out to save herself, her mama, and her particular notion of virtue from total ruin. Nothing in Six Points will ever be the same. show less

Mark Childress is funny. At least his books suggest that he is because they are chock full of fun and entertainment and I have never finished one of them without a grin on my face. This is not to say that they are shallow or mindless. It's just that they will keep you happily barreling along the pages with his wacky but delightful characters even as they touch on darker concerns; here these concerns are racism and sexuality, complacency and image.

Georgia Bottoms is keeping secrets. Her well-respected family's money long gone, she must support her aging mother and her alcoholic brother who can't seem to stay on the right side of the law as well as send what she can afford to an address out of state for reasons not immediately explained. show more But just how does a charming, ladylike Southern belle can go about this? Why, she discreetly takes on lovers who come to her once a week and leave her monetary "gifts" for the privilege of her company of course. Georgia manages to keep each of her lovers from knowing about the others, hide her trysts from the town and her mother, and keep up the appearance of goodness that she has cultivated for so long until the preacher's wife discovers just exactly where he has been spending his Saturday nights. The trouble headed off at the pass, Georgia resumes her life, influencing town politics from behind the scenes, organising her annual ladies' tea, and struggling against her mother's creeping dementia and increasing racism. But the dam has broken, the world has changed (9/11 happens during the course of the novel), and some of Georgia's best kept secrets are about to be exposed.

Georgia is a performer, acting a role not only with each of her lovers but also acting the role of dutiful daughter, responsible sister, paragon of Southern gentility, pillar of the community, and town darling. She really hasn't had time to figure out who she actually is and it's not until she comes face to face with her past that she has to reach down inside herself and find the kernel of the real person she actually is without regard to what others expect.

The plot here is unique and the characters are wonderful. Georgia is charming and delightful and the reader roots for her the entire story, even when she is being intentionally obtuse. Her heart is generally in the right place and the situations in her life are highly entertaining. The story and everything about it is humorous with just the right amount of sass and verve thrown in to make it incredibly appealing. The story keeps moving at a good, consistent pace and ending is about perfect. I wish we could go along with Geogia and see what's next for her. She is a steel magnolia if ever there was one. Fans of Southern fiction have a gem waiting for them in this one. show less

In essence Georgia Bottoms is certainly not your typical protagonist that a reader would cheer on her successes but I could not help but find her likable. She is a stunningly beautiful thirty something Southern belle who lives by her beauty and sexuality in a small town but no one not even her family knows the "true" Georgia.

She has most of the town believing that she makes hand-made quilts to support her Mother, brother and secret "black son" who lives in New Orleans; the quilts are actually made by a group of black ladies that live far from Six Point (her home town). Georgia's income is made by entertaining gentlemen friends who believe that she is their mistress. She has five drawers in her "workshop" for each of her lovers. She has show more been able to keep each man secret until Eugene's, the Preacher, wife discovers their affair.

Eugene was about to confess his affair when Georgia faints to stop the confession. This action does not stop the Preacher's wife from theatening to expose for the woman that Georgia really is. Georgia has too much at stake to have her income taken away so she call in a favor to have the Preacher transferred. Georgia is so assured that the transfer will take place that she orders a moving van to the Preacher's house.

Following that incident, Georgia's life takes a downhill turn beginning with her yearly ladies brunch which is usually a social calendar must falling on September 11, 2001. As a reader, you can not help from laughing and cheering Georgia on until the last page of the novel which ends in September 2005 on her way to New Orleans...she can not image why everyone is fleeing the city.

If you want a funny summer beach read, this is a book that you will read in one day. show less

Georgia Bottoms is a strong southern woman from Six Points, Alabama. She’s a skilled cook, attends church without fail, dresses fashionably, takes care of her increasingly forgetful mother and feckless brother, and is a beauty. She also has six men that she “entertains,” each on a different night of the week, without any of them knowing about the other. It all works out until the preacher (Saturday) decides he needs to confess his sins to the congregation. Georgia interrupts that potential disaster, but things begin to go downhill and it looks like her secrets might come to light. This is funny, touching novel with great characters and a certain sweetness to it.

In Georgia Bottoms by Mark Childress the title character keeps herself busy trying to support her mother and brother in a small Alabama town. She's a mistress to six men - each one knows nothing about the others. Each man leaves her a little something after their evening is done. And Georgia has another on-going money making scheme. The problem is that Georgia's carefully planned way of life is threatening to fall apart.

Despite the fact that it does have some funny moments, Georgia Bottoms is not hilarious. Although I was interested in seeing her through her various predicaments, Georgia is a shallow and self-centered character. I never felt she was this loveable, quirky character full of Southern charm. Additionally, there are parts show more that could very easily even be offensive to some readers. Examples include Georgia's feelings about religion, her taking advantage of one group of women for profit, the use of the "N" word, the racism, and Georgia's annoyance that 9/11 precludes her ladies luncheon.

Perhaps it is because I'm not at all familiar with small Southern towns, but I actually found it hard to believe this novel was set in recent time, especially with the racism. It felt like it was set earlier. Georgia Bottoms is a quick, easy, and entertaining novel - amusing, but basically forgettable. I do think that Childress is a good writer, which helped elevate the novel to Recommended status for me. http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/

Quotes:
If only Eugene didn't run on so long in his sermons, Georgia thought, a person might not have time to think about how hot it was in this church. opening

She never missed a Sunday in church. There had to be other doubters in the crowd, but Georgia was fairly certain she was the only one who attended every Sunday without believing a single word of it... pg. 6

Members of Georgia's family had sat in this pew for generations, since before her grandmother Big Sue changed the family name from Butts to Bottoms because she thought it sounded more genteel, pg. 7

Eugene in bed was much like Eugene in the pulpit: earnest, sincerely grateful for your attendance, but always wandering off down these unproductive side alleys. pg. 9

She saw how it was going to go. Eugene meant to confess his infidelity right here in front of God and everybody. In front of Brenda and his lovely daughters and the congregation....
What he didn't realize was that he was risking much more than Georgia's reputation. One word could ruin a lot more than that. pg. 12

Georgia made sure she was well into the aisle, clear of the pews on both sides. She didn't want to get hurt. Her eyelids fluttered. Her gaze turned upward. all the muscles in her body went limp. She collapsed into a heap on the carpet - a most convincing and ladylike faint. pg. 13

To Georgia, the silliest argument of all was this endless wrestling match over race. As far back as she could remember, everyone in Alabama had been re-fighting the Civil War, a hundred forty years later. Someone was always trying to send the black man back into slavery, or raise him up higher than he was ready to go. To Georgia, the solution seemed simple: Everybody just forget about it. White people, get used to it. Black people, stop dwelling on it. Let's just pretend we're equal, and get on with our lives. pg. 30

Each man thought he was the only one. That was essential to Georgia's arrangement. She never let herself get cavalier about the details. Only by observing strict rules of separation was she able to keep all these plates spinning on sticks.
It wasn't just for herself that she was doing this. It was for Little Mama, who'd had three husbands but never one who left her a nickel... and for useless Brother... but mainly for someone who waited for a sum of money every fourth Saturday at the Western Union, Poydras Street, New Orleans.
An old debt Georgia was still paying down. pg 38-39 show less

Six Points Alabama is one of those smallest of southern towns, where even in the new century, what you do and say will be examined and remembered forever. It's almost like we as the reader know the joke of Georgia's life before she does. Georgia, famous for her fall luncheon, can't figure out why no one is arriving on time one beautiful fall day in September 2001. Finally, she realizes that movie Mama says is being repeated all day isn't a movie. She has gentleman callers for every night of the week, and they all think they're the only one. Georgia's house of cards threatens to fall when the preacher decides he needs to confess his sins. Parts of this book were truly funny, Georgia is like one of those stalwart Southern heroines, ready show more to tackle any debacle. But, I didn't like that Mama's dementia was a way to trot out every negative Southern stereotype and that really decreased my enjoyment of the book overall. show less

Georgia Bottoms is a Scarlett O'Hara for the 21st Century, moving from one near crisis to another balancing equal parts fiddle-de-dee with big-girl-pants-putting-on, all while juggling the responsibility for her ne'er-do-well brother and Rosa Parks obsessed mother. Like Childress' beloved Crazy in Alabama, Georgia Bottoms delights!