Crazy in Alabama

Crazy in Alabama is a book of split personalities. Set in the 1960s, one half of the narration is dedicated to Lucille's escapades in California. She's seeking fame and fortune as a wannabe actress while on the run from the law with her husband's decapitated head in a Tupperware container. The other half of the narration is from the perspective of Lucille's nephew Peter Joseph (Peejoe). He's in racially torn Alabama witnessing violence and civil unrest at its worst. While Lucille's side of the story is insanely surreal, Peejoe's is intensely serious. The disconnect between the two voices created a divide almost too big to ignore. Luckily, Childress pulls them together and makes the entire plot work.

How can a novel about murder and racism in Alabama be both funny and moving? It takes a writer with talent and a deft touch! Orphaned Peejoe is living with his loving Meemaw when his Aunt Lucille decides to murder her husband and head to LA to audition for the Beverley Hillbillies. Sent to stay with his Uncle Dove, a funeral home owner and the County coroner, Peejoe finds himself in the middle of the Civil Rights movement when the town's Black residents try to desegregate the new swimming pool.
Alternating chapters present PeeJoe's point of view as well as Aunt Lucille's. Lucille is a hoot, Peejoe is just trying to figure out what is going on and how he feels about it all. While the chapters describing the horrible acts of racism are show more disturbing (though historically accurate) it is how the people in Peejoe's life respond that provides insight and raise thought provoking questions. Excellent read! show less

This book is nutty.
For all intents and purposes you're reading about a highly unstable and demented woman (Helllo. Driving cross country with your husband's decapitated head in a hat box...please pass the valium).
However, Childress' character depiction is such that Lucille appears zany if not mildly schizophrenic. It's because of this that I was honestly more drawn to her story as opposed to Peejoe's. In my case, the dual storylines just created an overall dragging reading experience.
In any case, if you're in the market for something a little quirky, this is worth the read.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Suggested With: Sweet Tea

I picked this up because I met the author and he is such a terrifically nice guy. It’s a fine read, and I went on to read another of his shortly thereafter: (Tender). Funny, touching, with a distinctly Southern flavor that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s a coming of age story that deals with race issues in the 60’s, but it follows a parallel story line about a woman who beheads her husband and heads to LA to become a movie star. I didn’t enjoy the starlet plot thread as much, but all-in-all I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and will remember it for a long time. Childress has a gift for clever but readable writing. He creates Technicolor characters through snappy and original plots, while saying something important about America and its show more people. show less

Great story, absolutly funny in a dark humor kind of way. Part coming of age, this book is narrated by a young boy who tells a tale of the racially divided time bomb of the 1950's-60's, as well as the story of his aunt who has killed her husband and taken off to Hollywood to be a movie star- but brings along her husbands head in a tupperware bowl. If you ever saw the horrible movie based on this book, forget it. The book is unbelievably better.

I picked this book up in a second hand book store in Fairhope, Alabama. I had heard of the book and decided to give it a try. The story of a murder, and a small boy growing up in Alabama, set to the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement. Lucille has killed her husband in a particularly gruesome way, and is on the run from the law, while her nephew, Peejoe, comes of age in a town struggling with integration. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, sometimes deadly serious, Childress has written a wonderful story. I would highly recommend it.

This book was fairly decent all the way up until the end. In the last ten pages or so, the book really falls apart. However, for most of the book, it was interesting, and I found the dual stories to build off of one another and complement each other nicely. The story of Lucille is a story of wife oppression, and the story of Peejoe is a story of racial oppression. The characters are likable no matter how insanely flawed they are, and despite the crazy story line, Childress keeps the story reigned in pretty well so that it is almost believable.