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Gods in Alabama
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| List Price: | £6.99 |
| Price: | £2.46 |
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Product Description
When Lena Fleet goes to college, she makes three promises to God: she will stop fornicating with every boy she meets; never tell another lie and never, ever go back to her hometown of Possett, Alabama. All she wants from God in return is that He makes sure the body is never found…
But ten years later, it looks like God's going back on His deal. Lena's high school archenemy appears on her doorstep, looking for the golden haired football god who disappeared during their senior year. To make matters worse, her African American boyfriend has issued her with an ultimatum – introduce him to her lily-white family or he’s gone…
While she would rather burn in a fire than let him meet her steel magnolia Aunt Florence, her half-mad Mama, her sweet-as-pecan-pie cousin Clarice and the rest of her eccentric and racist family, Lena realises it is time to go home to Alabama and confront the past once and for all…
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #153211 in Books
- Published on: 2005-08-15
- Original language: English
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
Editorial Reviews
ADRIANA TRIGIANI, 2005
'What a storyteller! What a new, original voice!'
Review
‘Joshilyn Jackson’s stellar debut has all the elements of great southern fiction, a plucky heroine with a sense of humour, a gripping tale and a mysterious dead body that needs explanation. Arlene Fleet, with a crystal clear voice and purpose takes the reader on a wild ride of despair, hope and redemption that no reader is likely to ever forget. What a storyteller! What a new, original voice!’ Adriana Trigiani, author of Lucia, Lucia
'Now there's a new Southern talent and Jackson's debut is a startling page turner... This is a beautifully crafted, sassy novel, where nothing is quite as it seems, and the way the final pieces of the jigsaw slot together... should surprise even the most jaded of readers.' (Glamour )
‘This winning novel is the kind that readers crave: you can’t stop turning the pages, but you wish it would never end. If Gods in Alabama becomes a best-seller, I won’t be a bit surprised’ Christina Schwarz, author of Drowning Ruth
‘If you’re looking for a lively, fun, yet compelling read, you’ve come to the right place!’ (Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife )
‘I couldn’t put this book down. From the first chapter, the plot leaps forward, and it doesn’t stop twisting and turning until the last page . . . Funky and cool’ (Melanie Sumner, author of The School of Beauty )
'GODS IN ALABAMA is a compelling, darkly humorous read that kept me turning the pages’ (Haywood Smith, author of The Red Hats Ride Agai )
Glamour Magazine, August 2005
'Jackson's debut is a startling page turner... This is a beautifully crafted, sassy novel, where nothing's quite as it seems...'
Customer Reviews
I want more!
5 stars, because I was completely gripped while reading it and it stayed with me after I'd put it down. I love the way Joshilyn Jackson writes - funny and quirky, but not in a forced and OTT Diablo Cody way. It was too long since I read a novel with a charismatic and witty narrator! Lena/Arlene is no smart alec, though; her character and her relationship with her family develop into something multi-layered and touching.
As for the plot, it worked both backwards, with the mystery of what led Arlene to kill Jim Beverly, and forward, with the suspense of whether she'd be found out, and what Lena/Arlene begins to find out about the night of Jim's death.
My only criticism is that sometimes passages went right over my head and I was left re-reading them and wondering what I'd missed, when the information needed to understand was only given later. So I spent a bit of time flipping back and forth filling myself in on what I'd missed. Actually, there is still one detail of the plot I don't get... but maybe that's just me; I wouldn't want to give the impression that Gods in Alabama was a slog to get through, because although it's cleverly written, it was a really enjoyable and smooth read, and not too long either - the perfect length for a long rainy evening.
Good tale, well told
This is the best personal story novel I've read since Q & A. Recommended.
Be sure your sins will catch up with you
I subscribe to a new books magazine and this was a book recommended by the magazine. I am delighted I took up their recommendation. I enjoyed this story immensley. It is on the whole a story I think we could all relate to for at least a good part of the story. It is a story of a young girl,who is white, living with her partner,who is not white,and who has not been home to her family in Alabama in some time.Her partner thinks the reason for that is to do with the difference of their skin tones. He is wrong the reason is more serious than that. The book is only two hundred and seventy five pages long, is easy to read and keeps moving along at a steady pace. It is a good story that in real life may well have happened to any of us. Good for a long bus ,train or plane journey or as a stocking filler at Christmas.
