Gods in Alabama

I had never read a Joshilyn Jackson book until I came across Gods in Alabama and now I’m looking forward to reading more. I was hooked by the first paragraph, (“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.”) and made it to the end in record time.

It is the story of Arlene Fleet, who left Alabama ten years ago to move to Chicago with her secrets. When she left, she struck a deal with God: she would never tell another lie, she would stop having sex, and she would never return to Alabama. All she asked of God was that He keep the body of the high school jock she murdered from show more being discovered. And for the past ten years, she has kept up her end of the bargain (although her version of “not telling a lie” is a bit stretched at times) and God has kept up His….until her past shows up at her front door and she has no choice but to return to Possett.

Arlene has a new life in the north with a great teaching job, a perfect boyfriend, and weekly phone conversations with her insane family back home, but the story is peppered with flashbacks of her childhood and teen years in Alabama. Through these, she slowly dishes out the reasons for the crime she committed so many years ago.

The characters are fantastic (I fell in love with Arlene as soon as she climbed a tree on campus to escape an unpleasant conversation) and the storyline is spellbinding. Her writing style reminded me of Heather Gudenkauf (another author I love), with the way the narration jumped between present to past, and the author’s ability to write in many voices, including that of a young girl. I was definitely pleasantly surprised when I found this book and I can’t wait to dig into another of Ms. Jackson’s. show less

Not sure why it took me sooooo long to review this book. I am sorry I waited because now I'm already forgetting why I liked it so much exactly.

The story just fascinated me. It's a literary mystery with a Southern sensibility. But at it's heart, it is the story of mother/daughter love (albeit not between a real mother/daughter), and I found it to be suspenseful throughout with a very satisfying ending. Jackson weaves together big themes (racism, love) while keeping the reader totally engaged. She writes with wit and a unique voice. The story is easy reading, but still has impact.

It's really everything I like fiction to be and everything it can be without even a hint of pretentiousness. Deserves a place on the TBR for sure.

gods in Alabama tells the story of Arlene Fleet, who is living, happily enough, in Chicago having made a deal with God that if one event is kept a secret then she'll always tell the truth, give up fornication and never return to Possett, Alabama. When an old schoolmate shows up at her door, asking the wrong questions, Arlene figures all promises are broken and she heads south with her boyfriend to fix what needs repair.

Jackson is both a Southern writer and a very funny one as she casts a familiar eye over small town Alabama life. From a disapproval of Arlene's church-going habits -- she's attending a Baptist church but not a Southern Baptist church, leaving serious questions to be asked about her spiritual health, to her family's show more consternation at her boyfriend being African American -- as Arlene tells Burr, "They aren't like Ku Kluxy, but…", to the woman next door who has an odd relationship with her pet chicken, Jackson's novel is funny, even as she guides the reader through some very tough situations. show less

Lena Fleet left her small town home in Alabama after high school and never looked back. After a horrible thing happens to her as a teen, she makes a promise to God and she believes that if she holds up her end of the deal He will too. Lena lives in Chicago and the story of her past is slowly revealed throughout the book as she journeys back to Alabama with her African American fiancée.

I was so impressed with Jackson’s ability to deal with heavy subject matter; racism, rape, jealousy, abuse, and regret and yet maintain a sense of humor throughout the book. Lena’s relationship with her aunt and her farfetched reasoning behind some of her actions work well because we feel like we know her. We make allowances for people in our lives show more because we understand that everyone is flawed. Lena is the same, we take her actions with a grain of salt, understanding all the while that there is a bigger story that we don’t understand yet.

Burr, Lena’s boyfriend, is one of my favorite characters in the story. He knows how to push her just far enough without making her shut down. He wants what’s best for her, but he has priorities too and he won’t let me get away with as much as others will. Her Aunt Florence is the same; both individuals are good for Lena because they love her enough to push her.

BOTTOM LINE: I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It’s a great piece of southern fiction, entertaining, with well written characters and a fast-moving plot. It reminded me quite a bit of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

“God gave us crying so other folks could see when we needed help, and help us.” show less

I almost stopped reading this. The very beginning of this book seemed clever but maybe a little too lightweight, until I got to page 25. Then I knew I had misjudged, and that this was a book I wanted to finish. And I was so pleased I did!

Arlene (or “Lena”) Fleet, age 27, hasn’t been back to Possett, Alabama in ten years, since she graduated from high school. She always had some excuse to stay in Chicago, but the real reason was that she had made a pact with God. In exchange for never lying, never fornicating, and never going back to Possett, she asked God to keep her safe from the repercussions of something bad that happened in Possett when she was fifteen.

But now, her African-American boyfriend Burr wants her to demonstrate her show more commitment by taking him to meet her family in Possett. And her life in Alabama is catching up with her in other ways, too, when an old friend comes looking for her. So she and Burr make the trip, and Lena is forced to confront not only her past, but her present, what with bringing a black boyfriend to meet her unsuspecting, very racist family. Somehow in the midst of all this, Lena must find redemption. And in the process, she learns secrets about herself even she didn’t know.

Evaluation: This book manages to be fun in spite of tackling serious subjects like lingering Southern racism, rape, depression, alcoholism, and abuse. These issues are blended into the story so well that you never feel like some author has come up with a weak plot just to be able to palm off social lessons on you. Moreover, the characters are treated with respect, and if they seem caricatured or stereotypical at first, it is only because the author has not yet revealed their depth to you. I am impressed with Jackson: it’s a very good book, and manages to be funny and suspenseful as well as having important messages to convey. show less

A mother-daughter story about two women who are neither to each other. I'm a little perplexed that I liked a book about a pathological liar and a borderline sociopath who is all steel and no magnolia. But Joshilyn Jackson managed to weave this tale and keep me reading. Her characters are quirky, flawed, and unbelievably believable. There's always something beyond the boundaries of "normal" and something else that is so piercingly real. I was glad it was a rainy day so I had the excuse to finish the book in one day.

Arlene Fleet is heading back home to her wildly dysfunctional family in Possett, Alabama after having fled to Chicago ten years ago. This was prompted by the sudden appearance of a high school rival for the affections of the golden boy quarterback from those days, who disappeared in their senior year. En route with her, at his insistence, is her black boyfriend Burr (one of the more admirable and original characters I have read), who has thrown Arlene an ultimatum to finally introduce him to her eccentric and racist extended family. This is an absorbing, intelligent, moving story with deeply witty dialogue that Garson Kanin would have been proud of. And we learn that although Alabama does have its gods ("Jack Daniels, high school show more quarterbacks, trucks, big tits and also Jesus"), this is trumped by blood, as in family. A fine first novel by the author who later wrote the even better "Between, Georgia". show less