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Crazy in Alabama
Family tumult and nationwide social unrest converge to shake the world of 12-year-old orphan Peejoe Bullis in the summer of 1965, "when everybody went crazy in Alabama.''
This wise, funny novel by the author of Tender opens as Peejoe's relatively tranquil life with his grandmother is jolted by the arrival of his Aunt Lucille, who is on her way to Hollywood to become a star after poisoning her husband (in the first of the book's many violent images, she pulls the dead man's severed head out of a tupperware container). Peejoe and his older brother Wiley move on to their Uncle Dove's home in Industry, Ala., where racial conflict brings frightening bloodshed as well as oratory from George Wallace and Martin Luther King Jr. Meanwhile, on the road and in California, the newly emancipated Lucille brings every ounce of her desirability and determination to bear on her quest for stardom.
Childress tells his story through the masterfully crafted voice of the adult Peejoe reminiscing from his home in present-day San Francisco. He depicts each character with convincing detail and all the vividness of childhood memory; there is magic in his mixture of humor and pathos, boyish candor and time-earned understanding. The narrative has a unique gentleness that tempers even the most extreme horrific or comic events without dismissing or oversimplifying them. Terrible crimes go unpunished, and good people face tragedy--not always nobly--but this remains a tale of laughter and great hope, one not easily forgotten.
This wise, funny novel by the author of Tender opens as Peejoe's relatively tranquil life with his grandmother is jolted by the arrival of his Aunt Lucille, who is on her way to Hollywood to become a star after poisoning her husband (in the first of the book's many violent images, she pulls the dead man's severed head out of a tupperware container). Peejoe and his older brother Wiley move on to their Uncle Dove's home in Industry, Ala., where racial conflict brings frightening bloodshed as well as oratory from George Wallace and Martin Luther King Jr. Meanwhile, on the road and in California, the newly emancipated Lucille brings every ounce of her desirability and determination to bear on her quest for stardom.
Childress tells his story through the masterfully crafted voice of the adult Peejoe reminiscing from his home in present-day San Francisco. He depicts each character with convincing detail and all the vividness of childhood memory; there is magic in his mixture of humor and pathos, boyish candor and time-earned understanding. The narrative has a unique gentleness that tempers even the most extreme horrific or comic events without dismissing or oversimplifying them. Terrible crimes go unpunished, and good people face tragedy--not always nobly--but this remains a tale of laughter and great hope, one not easily forgotten.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Mark Childress
38 books226 followersMark Childress was born in Monroeville, Alabama. He is the author of the novels A WORLD MADE OF FIRE, V FOR VICTOR, TENDER, CRAZY IN ALABAMA, GONE FOR GOOD, ONE MISSISSIPPI, and GEORGIA BOTTOMS. Childress has received the Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Author, Thomas Wolfe Award, the University of Alabama's Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Alabama Library Association's Writer of the Year. He is a staff member and a director of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. He has lived in Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, California, Costa Rica, and currently lives in Key West, Florida, where he is writing his eighth novel and a film script.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 326 reviews
February 6, 2017
This is my second reading of this book, the first being many years ago. Of course, I remembered the Tupperware container, and I remembered the swimming pool integration and all it entailed, but for the life of me, I could not remember the ending. I was a little disappointed in the Judge at Lucille's trial, but all in all, pretty satisfying.
Long story short, Lucille feeds her husband rat poison, cuts off his head, puts it in a green Tupperware Lettuce Keeper (you know, the one with the burp and seal top.). She drops her six kids at her mother's and takes off for Hollywood to get a role on "The Beverly Hillbillies" . That's where the outrageous humor in this book begins.
Her story is juxtaposed against that of her nephew, twelve year old Peejoe, who witnesses first hand the awful hypocrisy and cruelty of 1965 Alabama and the Civil Rights movement that changes his perception of right and wrong.
This is a fast paced novel that will have you laughing and crying in equal measure. I enjoyed every word. But I do wonder if the Tupperware Company had anything to say about how well it's freshness seal actually worked.
Long story short, Lucille feeds her husband rat poison, cuts off his head, puts it in a green Tupperware Lettuce Keeper (you know, the one with the burp and seal top.). She drops her six kids at her mother's and takes off for Hollywood to get a role on "The Beverly Hillbillies" . That's where the outrageous humor in this book begins.
Her story is juxtaposed against that of her nephew, twelve year old Peejoe, who witnesses first hand the awful hypocrisy and cruelty of 1965 Alabama and the Civil Rights movement that changes his perception of right and wrong.
This is a fast paced novel that will have you laughing and crying in equal measure. I enjoyed every word. But I do wonder if the Tupperware Company had anything to say about how well it's freshness seal actually worked.
August 6, 2017
Mark Childress does a really nice balancing act between two threads and settings. Serious conversations and events surrounding civil rights infractions are juxtaposed against bubbly, absurd, but dark comedy. He did the same type of thing in One Mississippi to similarly great effect. Both of these books are on my Favorites shelf.
One of the little parallels I appreciated was that the pool scene in Alabama - where people of color are not welcome - has a contrast with another poolside vignette that takes place in mid-century Beverly Hills. The scenes are not simultaneous on his timeline - that would be too blatant a device for Childress - but I noted them. For a writer who can make his readers actually guffaw out loud, this guy is subtle enough that you may not even see it.
Some aspects of his comedic relief here are not altogether believable, but that comes from me who is one of the rare readers that dislikes most magical realism. Basically, I have the imagination of an aircraft carrier - it's gray and sturdy.
Childress' writing, however, lets me enjoy the frothiness. When reading about dark aspects of history, even when contained in "just" a fictional story, a little dose of laughter is like a spoonful of sherbet. Cleanses the palate and allows you to appreciate the rich taste of the main course.
This will make you squirm and smile, both.
One of the little parallels I appreciated was that the pool scene in Alabama - where people of color are not welcome - has a contrast with another poolside vignette that takes place in mid-century Beverly Hills. The scenes are not simultaneous on his timeline - that would be too blatant a device for Childress - but I noted them. For a writer who can make his readers actually guffaw out loud, this guy is subtle enough that you may not even see it.
Some aspects of his comedic relief here are not altogether believable, but that comes from me who is one of the rare readers that dislikes most magical realism. Basically, I have the imagination of an aircraft carrier - it's gray and sturdy.
Childress' writing, however, lets me enjoy the frothiness. When reading about dark aspects of history, even when contained in "just" a fictional story, a little dose of laughter is like a spoonful of sherbet. Cleanses the palate and allows you to appreciate the rich taste of the main course.
This will make you squirm and smile, both.
February 19, 2017
Darkest humor and cannily written. And it is hilariously funny in spots. It reminds me of a cutting and yet spot on era work of Stephen King. It's not horror, but yet it is.
The first half I enjoyed far more than the second. And not because of the tension within the horrific events in town over the swimming pool integration, nor even with the macabre details of the Tupperware container's innards or the escapades they traveled. It was something else that made me completely uneasy. Whatever that something is (for a feeling descriptive word)- it is nearly identical to what I felt when I read Stephen King's IT. It was way too over the top nasty in base imagination for me. Funny to a point, and then all of a sudden, not at all funny. Not at all funny enough to give me a stomachache.
Most of these characters are extremely well drawn. As is the town and the funeral home arrangements for precision detailing. Poor Mabel! Both Dove and Chester, completely of that time. As were the kids all around. Some of their amusements and habits absolutely authentic. You did not need to be in Alabama to harness bugs. It wasn't my habit, but my brother did it all the time. I recall having a son with an attached caterpillar "train" once, too. Boys.
But most of Lucille's story that occurred on the road after New Mexico? That "men met and used" made me queasy, rather than made me laugh. And the ending for her was not what I expected. For me it lost at least 1/2 a star. Meemaw's and Peejoe's stories were the best parts of the book. At least a 4 star.
But the shootings, the fire, the riot, and Milton! All of that, it brought back very bad memories. Riots are not funny. When an author makes them funny, something in me just cringes.
I've been there with Peter, and it sure isn't a laugh. That someone CAN laugh about the entire in such a way, so much later? If you are in a safe place where difference doesn't often entail some form of baiting or violence encouraged, I guess it's altered? And that kind of "make believe" can seem far more funny to read about. Particularly shooting through walls or kicking people when they are down.
The first half I enjoyed far more than the second. And not because of the tension within the horrific events in town over the swimming pool integration, nor even with the macabre details of the Tupperware container's innards or the escapades they traveled. It was something else that made me completely uneasy. Whatever that something is (for a feeling descriptive word)- it is nearly identical to what I felt when I read Stephen King's IT. It was way too over the top nasty in base imagination for me. Funny to a point, and then all of a sudden, not at all funny. Not at all funny enough to give me a stomachache.
Most of these characters are extremely well drawn. As is the town and the funeral home arrangements for precision detailing. Poor Mabel! Both Dove and Chester, completely of that time. As were the kids all around. Some of their amusements and habits absolutely authentic. You did not need to be in Alabama to harness bugs. It wasn't my habit, but my brother did it all the time. I recall having a son with an attached caterpillar "train" once, too. Boys.
But most of Lucille's story that occurred on the road after New Mexico? That "men met and used" made me queasy, rather than made me laugh. And the ending for her was not what I expected. For me it lost at least 1/2 a star. Meemaw's and Peejoe's stories were the best parts of the book. At least a 4 star.
But the shootings, the fire, the riot, and Milton! All of that, it brought back very bad memories. Riots are not funny. When an author makes them funny, something in me just cringes.
I've been there with Peter, and it sure isn't a laugh. That someone CAN laugh about the entire in such a way, so much later? If you are in a safe place where difference doesn't often entail some form of baiting or violence encouraged, I guess it's altered? And that kind of "make believe" can seem far more funny to read about. Particularly shooting through walls or kicking people when they are down.
July 19, 2011
A flood of emotion overswept me after reading this rather strange novel. I immediately checked out Mark Childress on wikipedia to see where this guy presently lives For someone who was born and raised in Alabama (according to the book's profile blurb), Mr. Childress must certainly have hated living here, because with the exception of one of his protagonists, nearly all of the characters in "Crazy In Alabama" come off as either racist buffoons or homicidal maniacs (or, in a few instances, racist homicidal buffoons).
Set in 1965 in Industry, AL (pronounced in-DUST-ree, thank you very much) it follows two plot threads in a headache-inducing fashion: Lucille, amother of six kids, kills her husband, then high-tails it to Hollywood to become an actress. At fhe same time she is on the lam, her nephews Peejoe (nyuk nyuk...crazy Alabamian shorthand for Phillip Joseph) and Wiley are shipped off to live with their funeral home director uncle, at the very same time a Selma-esque race war breaks out in Industry. Here's whence the headache ensues: half of the novel (the "Auntie's Gone Crazy" part) is a lighthearted romp (or at least farcical in the extreme), the other half depicts an extremely somber, totally serious civil rights struggle. The reader (certainly THIS reader, anyway) doesn't know whether to chuckle at Aunt Lucille's cornpone antics or be utterly appalled at rednecks beating up blacks wanting to swim in a community pool (with the seeming aegis and sanction of notorious former Alabama governor George Wallace).
This overall story is an implausible mess, chockablock with puerile dialog and perpetuated stereotypes; its 2-star rating is only merited by the overall strength of the story, which is (after shaking off the headache) is compulsively readable, if only in a train-wreck sorta way.
(A parenthetical aside to Mr. Childress, who evidently no longer lives in Alabama: Did you hate Alabama THAT bad that you had to make it seem like everyone there is a big ol' dummy?? While the civil rights movement brought the attention of the whole world to Alabama in the '60s, it's a stigma that the state has tried hard to overcome...and...I got news for you...racism exists today in the 21st century...even in Florida, where you live. Ever look at the racial demographics for states like Montana? North/South Dakota? Idaho?There's a reason black folks don't live there...yet no one's writing books (or screenplays for really bad movies) like "Crazy In South Dakota". Racism is not unique to Alabama...turning your recollections of life in Alabama into a circus freakshow does everyone in Alabama a disservice.)
Set in 1965 in Industry, AL (pronounced in-DUST-ree, thank you very much) it follows two plot threads in a headache-inducing fashion: Lucille, amother of six kids, kills her husband, then high-tails it to Hollywood to become an actress. At fhe same time she is on the lam, her nephews Peejoe (nyuk nyuk...crazy Alabamian shorthand for Phillip Joseph) and Wiley are shipped off to live with their funeral home director uncle, at the very same time a Selma-esque race war breaks out in Industry. Here's whence the headache ensues: half of the novel (the "Auntie's Gone Crazy" part) is a lighthearted romp (or at least farcical in the extreme), the other half depicts an extremely somber, totally serious civil rights struggle. The reader (certainly THIS reader, anyway) doesn't know whether to chuckle at Aunt Lucille's cornpone antics or be utterly appalled at rednecks beating up blacks wanting to swim in a community pool (with the seeming aegis and sanction of notorious former Alabama governor George Wallace).
This overall story is an implausible mess, chockablock with puerile dialog and perpetuated stereotypes; its 2-star rating is only merited by the overall strength of the story, which is (after shaking off the headache) is compulsively readable, if only in a train-wreck sorta way.
(A parenthetical aside to Mr. Childress, who evidently no longer lives in Alabama: Did you hate Alabama THAT bad that you had to make it seem like everyone there is a big ol' dummy?? While the civil rights movement brought the attention of the whole world to Alabama in the '60s, it's a stigma that the state has tried hard to overcome...and...I got news for you...racism exists today in the 21st century...even in Florida, where you live. Ever look at the racial demographics for states like Montana? North/South Dakota? Idaho?There's a reason black folks don't live there...yet no one's writing books (or screenplays for really bad movies) like "Crazy In South Dakota". Racism is not unique to Alabama...turning your recollections of life in Alabama into a circus freakshow does everyone in Alabama a disservice.)
February 7, 2017
Mark Childress , an author I've not read before , can write a pretty darn entertaining book ! This one alternates between the world of 12 year old orphan Peter Joseph ( Peejoe) (along with older brother Wiley) and their crazy Aunt Lucille. As the boys grow up boarded by their Uncle Dove who inadvertently gets them involved in the racial disputes of Alabama's mid 1960's by attending to black bodies at his " all white" funeral home, Lucille has dumped her kids nearby with MeMaw and fled a crime scene with her "Tupperware bowl surprise." While Lucille enjoying her new found freedom heads for California to become a star on the Beverley Hillbilly Show and enjoy her new male admirers, Peejoes's left to find out about life and injustice the hard way. The combination of situations here range from very sad and serious to just plain silly, nevertheless , I found it a different and enjoyable read!! 4 stars - Read for On The Southern Literary Trail, Feb Selection.
June 12, 2022
I have those secondhand books I don't remember where they came from, all well worn, not from reading but from time. It seems they grow old on my shelves from not reading them sooner. They are not that known, usually read by around 5000 people tops. I am not that concerned about the wellbeing of those books. They could have stayed under the rain, it would be added to their free spirited character!
I read those books slowly, when I have a very short time and am out of home waiting, sitting... They all surprisingly have that easy and rememberable plot, so you don't have any problem trying to remember who was who and what happened.
This book was all over my house. It took me more than a year to read this.
At the beginning it has the drive of the Postman Always Rings Twice (with a look on my face - what just happened? Why? What?). So, I quite enjoyed it. However, that slowly died at the end. It really annoyed me - the five stars slowly fades into three. Pity.
Maybe I am more annoyed that I didn't take another book, because I finished this and still need to sit here for a while. The benefit of all this is - at least I wrote a review.
I read those books slowly, when I have a very short time and am out of home waiting, sitting... They all surprisingly have that easy and rememberable plot, so you don't have any problem trying to remember who was who and what happened.
This book was all over my house. It took me more than a year to read this.
At the beginning it has the drive of the Postman Always Rings Twice (with a look on my face - what just happened? Why? What?). So, I quite enjoyed it. However, that slowly died at the end. It really annoyed me - the five stars slowly fades into three. Pity.
Maybe I am more annoyed that I didn't take another book, because I finished this and still need to sit here for a while. The benefit of all this is - at least I wrote a review.
March 15, 2012
As one born and raised in Alabama I can relate to much of this hilarious story of one crazy Bama Belle. This twist and turns in Mr. Childress book will leave you wanting more.
Lucille starts in a little town of Industry, AL, yes I know where it is and have relatives there to this day, and winds up in LA, not Lower Alabama but LA as in Los Angeles, California. Follow her trip through crazy ideas and hilarious doings with Peejoe, her poor nephew.
I promise you'll laugh yourself silly and never look at Tupperware the same again.
God bless from the Deep South ; )
Lucille starts in a little town of Industry, AL, yes I know where it is and have relatives there to this day, and winds up in LA, not Lower Alabama but LA as in Los Angeles, California. Follow her trip through crazy ideas and hilarious doings with Peejoe, her poor nephew.
I promise you'll laugh yourself silly and never look at Tupperware the same again.
God bless from the Deep South ; )
October 23, 2016
Wiley and Peejo (short for Peter Joseph) are living with their grandmother, Meemaw during the sixties because they loss their parents in a car crash. Everything is going smoothly until Lucille, their aunt pays a visit with her six kids and informs them that she's killed her husband, Chester. They don't believe her until she pulls his head out of a Tupperware container. She takes off for Hollywood, leaving her six kids with her mother and has an adventure from Alabama through Louisiana on her way to California. She steals a car, leaves a highway patrolman locked up in the backseat of his cruiser, hits for $32,000 at the roulette table in Vegas before landing a role on The Beverly Hillbillies. If she had gotten rid of Chester's head she would have never gotten caught.
Meanwhile Wiley and Peejo have to live with their uncle Dove in Industry, AL because Meemaw can't take care of 8 kids by herself. While living in industry, they witness the death of Taylor Jackson, an African American, by the hands of the police; the city is in an uproar and a race war is going to come to a showdown in Industry. In a short period of time they both grow up to understand that there is no difference between the whites and blacks except the color of their skin.
A book that describes a story about racial unrest, an unhappy wife and justice for everyone regardless of their color. It's written well using Peejo and Lucille as the narrators of the story. You'll laugh a lot, get angry and then see it through the eyes of children that life is made as hard as you make it out to be and resistance to change is useless and will happen inevitably.
Meanwhile Wiley and Peejo have to live with their uncle Dove in Industry, AL because Meemaw can't take care of 8 kids by herself. While living in industry, they witness the death of Taylor Jackson, an African American, by the hands of the police; the city is in an uproar and a race war is going to come to a showdown in Industry. In a short period of time they both grow up to understand that there is no difference between the whites and blacks except the color of their skin.
A book that describes a story about racial unrest, an unhappy wife and justice for everyone regardless of their color. It's written well using Peejo and Lucille as the narrators of the story. You'll laugh a lot, get angry and then see it through the eyes of children that life is made as hard as you make it out to be and resistance to change is useless and will happen inevitably.
October 9, 2020
Now that I've (finally) finished this book, I'm torn on whether or not I actually liked it.. The ending seemed rushed, out of place, and how Lucille, Milton, Meemaw and Dove's characters stories ended, I'm just not a fan of the last few chapters. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I enjoyed reading Peter's part of the story. Lucille's was just too over the top. All of the events she was in were just too much. The theft, carrying around the head, Norman , hitting up the judge to get out of a murder sentence... It's just a no from me. I'm giving it 3 stars but really I'm thinking it's more of a 2.5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 2, 2017
Full Review to follow.
March 18, 2015
Crazy in Alabama, Mark Childress, 383 pages. While this is the best Childress novel I’ve read thus far, I still would recommend starting with V for Victor, which builds more evenly and conveys an almost nostalgic mood, despite its subject matter of World War II and Nazi infiltration. But. Crazy is grand Childress.
At first, I thought the two storylines in this novel entirely too disparate to work : a mostly comic tale of a thirty-something woman who murders her husband and trots off to Hollywood—with his decapitated head!—to cameo in a TV sitcom counterpointed by the first-person narration of a young white boy violently thrown into the Civil Rights movement of the mid-sixties. After my second reading, though, the light hit: Of course, just as women were kept voiceless by males, blacks were kept so by whites. The fantastical ribaldry of a youngish mother silencing her husband’s will by poisoning him then cutting off his head gets countered by the grisly realism of blacks being silenced and murdered by whites for daring to want to swim in a public pool. Lucille, the mother, laments of her deceased husband, “Chester had been killing me the slow way for thirteen years. You spend all day cooking a meal for a man and he gobbles it down in five minutes, and never says thank you, and a little piece of you dies.” In the same vein, Peejoe, the young white narrator, reports this on his way sneaking to hear Martin Luther King speak in his hometown: “An old colored man was down on his knees, edging a sidewalk with a hatchet. He nodded hello as we passed. A voice echoed down the street.” The echoing voice is none other than the Reverend King preaching freedom through a P.A. system. “The old man cocked his ear to listen.” So, just as Lucille wakes up, the blacks in the small Alabama town of Industry wake up, Peejoe and his brother and his uncle wake up. But it takes a goodly share of blood for this to happen; it takes everyone in Alabama going crazy. This novel offers a masterful blend of tragedy and comedy, and the light-hearted ending comes as a welcoming relief after the sorrows of the Civil Rights movement in the imaginary town of Industry, Alabama. Were that the events were imagined! Nicely peopled with interesting subplots and characters, by the way. A fine read.
At first, I thought the two storylines in this novel entirely too disparate to work : a mostly comic tale of a thirty-something woman who murders her husband and trots off to Hollywood—with his decapitated head!—to cameo in a TV sitcom counterpointed by the first-person narration of a young white boy violently thrown into the Civil Rights movement of the mid-sixties. After my second reading, though, the light hit: Of course, just as women were kept voiceless by males, blacks were kept so by whites. The fantastical ribaldry of a youngish mother silencing her husband’s will by poisoning him then cutting off his head gets countered by the grisly realism of blacks being silenced and murdered by whites for daring to want to swim in a public pool. Lucille, the mother, laments of her deceased husband, “Chester had been killing me the slow way for thirteen years. You spend all day cooking a meal for a man and he gobbles it down in five minutes, and never says thank you, and a little piece of you dies.” In the same vein, Peejoe, the young white narrator, reports this on his way sneaking to hear Martin Luther King speak in his hometown: “An old colored man was down on his knees, edging a sidewalk with a hatchet. He nodded hello as we passed. A voice echoed down the street.” The echoing voice is none other than the Reverend King preaching freedom through a P.A. system. “The old man cocked his ear to listen.” So, just as Lucille wakes up, the blacks in the small Alabama town of Industry wake up, Peejoe and his brother and his uncle wake up. But it takes a goodly share of blood for this to happen; it takes everyone in Alabama going crazy. This novel offers a masterful blend of tragedy and comedy, and the light-hearted ending comes as a welcoming relief after the sorrows of the Civil Rights movement in the imaginary town of Industry, Alabama. Were that the events were imagined! Nicely peopled with interesting subplots and characters, by the way. A fine read.
August 28, 2021
The book starts right off with crazy Aunt Lucille bring her husband's head to her Mother's house, " MeeMaw"' to the rest of us. She brought it over to show her Mother that she had finally become so fed up with Chester, not letting her go to Hollywood, that she killed him.
The person telling the family story and history is, PeeJoe, Peter Joeseph, an eleven years old boy. He and his brother, Wiley, live with their grandmother, Meemaw, because their parents have died.
The story is set in Industry, Alabama.
You will hear tales of Aunt Lucille travels across America, with Uncle Chester's head, to get to Hollywood for an audition. Hear about the boys being passed on to their Uncle Dove, the mortician. Peejoe is really interested in becoming a mortician, so he gets to go along and pick up bodies with Uncle Dove.
There are problems with Uncle Doves' family, for many reasons. The biggest being, he believes civil rights should be protected for all people.
The boys live in Industry, Alabama. Mr. Childress, the author, had spent summers in Alabama with his Grandmother. So he writes with some authority when it comes to the weather, funeral homes, and just living in the South.
You will see how civil unrest comes about by the death of two young boys. And how it tore the town apart.
Enjoy this story to see how it was in many towns in the South.
The person telling the family story and history is, PeeJoe, Peter Joeseph, an eleven years old boy. He and his brother, Wiley, live with their grandmother, Meemaw, because their parents have died.
The story is set in Industry, Alabama.
You will hear tales of Aunt Lucille travels across America, with Uncle Chester's head, to get to Hollywood for an audition. Hear about the boys being passed on to their Uncle Dove, the mortician. Peejoe is really interested in becoming a mortician, so he gets to go along and pick up bodies with Uncle Dove.
There are problems with Uncle Doves' family, for many reasons. The biggest being, he believes civil rights should be protected for all people.
The boys live in Industry, Alabama. Mr. Childress, the author, had spent summers in Alabama with his Grandmother. So he writes with some authority when it comes to the weather, funeral homes, and just living in the South.
You will see how civil unrest comes about by the death of two young boys. And how it tore the town apart.
Enjoy this story to see how it was in many towns in the South.
February 5, 2008
What a disappointment after reading One Mississippi, which I thought was a great book. This one has the same over the top quality, but the storyline isn't as good and the sexual content is just gratuitous. I can handle some racy scenes in a book if they are central to the plot, but I felt this was just for the sake of sensationalism. While the author tries to address a serious theme, he is only somewhat successful in that. A real disappointment.
March 26, 2015
Crazy, insane story. I don't know if I should call it comedic/horror/slapstick. It was a roller coaster ride with excellent storytelling skills.
*not a Christian book notated because that's what I usually review and I don't want my friends to be confused.
*not a Christian book notated because that's what I usually review and I don't want my friends to be confused.
December 29, 2008
Crazy in Alabama kept me interested, but after finishing it, I can't really say that I liked the book. Some of the characters were not at all sympathetic, and the events in the book were sometimes too over the top for me. There was more than one story taking place during the book, and I liked some of them less than others.
This book tell the story of Lucille, a beautiful small-town mother of six who dreams of making it in Hollywood. Lucille's husband does not share her dreams for herself, and he belittles the yearnings of her heart. Deciding she has had enough of him, Lucille poisons her husband, cuts off his head with a kitchen knife, then delivers her children to her mother before taking off for Hollywood. Lucille has sexual encounters with several men as she travels across the country with her dead husband's head in tow. Lucille lands a guest spot on The Beverly Hillbillies before her past catches up with her.
Lucille's two orphaned nephews have lived with her mother since their parents' deaths. Much of the book is told from the viewpoint of PeeJoe, the youngest of the two boys. When Lucille drops her children off with her mother, the elderly woman cannot continue to care for her two orphaned grandsons while trying to deal with the trauma Lucille's six children are enduring. An uncle who is an undertaker picks up the boys and takes them to live with him temporarily. PeeJoe misses his loving grandmother terribly, and while his uncle is kind to him, his aunt by marriage is not. PeeJoe enjoys the exposure that living above a funeral parlor has to the undertaking business. Twelve year old PeeJoe dreams of being an undertaker himself when he grows up. As tensions mount in the community, PeeJoe has to make some tough choices about whether to stand up for his beliefs.
The small Alabama community where PeeJoe stays with his uncle becomes involved in racial turmoil over segregational issues. Violence comes into play and escalates until some innocent lives are taken. As PeeJoe, his brother, and his uncle make choices about what stand to take, they risk danger and violence themselves. The events of the summer change the lives of PeeJoe and his family members.
I enjoyed reading about PeeJoe and the challenges he faced, but I did not care much for the parts of the book that were about Lucille. The book alternated between what was going on with PeeJoe in Alabama and Lucille on her journey to California. I found the chapters that were about PeeJoe to be much more interesting and enjoyable than the ones about Lucille.
This book tell the story of Lucille, a beautiful small-town mother of six who dreams of making it in Hollywood. Lucille's husband does not share her dreams for herself, and he belittles the yearnings of her heart. Deciding she has had enough of him, Lucille poisons her husband, cuts off his head with a kitchen knife, then delivers her children to her mother before taking off for Hollywood. Lucille has sexual encounters with several men as she travels across the country with her dead husband's head in tow. Lucille lands a guest spot on The Beverly Hillbillies before her past catches up with her.
Lucille's two orphaned nephews have lived with her mother since their parents' deaths. Much of the book is told from the viewpoint of PeeJoe, the youngest of the two boys. When Lucille drops her children off with her mother, the elderly woman cannot continue to care for her two orphaned grandsons while trying to deal with the trauma Lucille's six children are enduring. An uncle who is an undertaker picks up the boys and takes them to live with him temporarily. PeeJoe misses his loving grandmother terribly, and while his uncle is kind to him, his aunt by marriage is not. PeeJoe enjoys the exposure that living above a funeral parlor has to the undertaking business. Twelve year old PeeJoe dreams of being an undertaker himself when he grows up. As tensions mount in the community, PeeJoe has to make some tough choices about whether to stand up for his beliefs.
The small Alabama community where PeeJoe stays with his uncle becomes involved in racial turmoil over segregational issues. Violence comes into play and escalates until some innocent lives are taken. As PeeJoe, his brother, and his uncle make choices about what stand to take, they risk danger and violence themselves. The events of the summer change the lives of PeeJoe and his family members.
I enjoyed reading about PeeJoe and the challenges he faced, but I did not care much for the parts of the book that were about Lucille. The book alternated between what was going on with PeeJoe in Alabama and Lucille on her journey to California. I found the chapters that were about PeeJoe to be much more interesting and enjoyable than the ones about Lucille.
May 31, 2016
I read 'One Mississippi' years ago and it was one of the first books I just walked into B&N and blindly chose. I liked the cover and it sounded interesting; since then I've reread it multiple times and find that it grows with me. I've been wanting to check out one of his other books for a while but never sure what to commit to - similarly I happened on this at one of the last days of St. Marks Books. This book is a wild and tense ride of emotions and scenes. Less humor than One Mississippi and the influence of the characters is further reaching. 'Crazy in Alabama' is a painful look at 1965 Alabama during some of the worst moments in it's history. Childress writes as if the fictional town of Industry and the events therein are as real as Selma and Birmingham and with the lesser known horrors that occurred all over the south at the time, who's to say they're not?
The book isn't perfect and there are plenty of characters so interesting, heartbreaking, or under-explored that you're certainly left wanting more. It's a rough read at times but it's the excruciating reminder of how realistically he's describing these events that truly takes the most out of you.
The book isn't perfect and there are plenty of characters so interesting, heartbreaking, or under-explored that you're certainly left wanting more. It's a rough read at times but it's the excruciating reminder of how realistically he's describing these events that truly takes the most out of you.
July 26, 2007
Heartbreaking on so many levels, yet very funny.
The book deal with a small Southern town during the civil rights movement, with that town's struggle coalescing around a public swimming pool. Meanwhile, the protagonist's aunt has escaped an unhappy, psychologically abusive marriage by murdering and decapitating her husband.
The aunt's murder of her husband is an interesting counterpoint to the casual brutality of the whites against the blacks.
The most interesting thing in this book was not the white supremacists or the black civil rights workers, but rather the people in the middle. For instance, the elderly black funeral home worker, Milton, who felt he had all the freedom he needed, so why get involved in the civil rights struggle. And the protagonist's grandmother, a good woman who had grown up in the South yet believed her black neighbors were covered in germs. I found it fascinating to realize that these were probably fairly normal, middle of the people in the South prior to civil rights.
The book deal with a small Southern town during the civil rights movement, with that town's struggle coalescing around a public swimming pool. Meanwhile, the protagonist's aunt has escaped an unhappy, psychologically abusive marriage by murdering and decapitating her husband.
The aunt's murder of her husband is an interesting counterpoint to the casual brutality of the whites against the blacks.
The most interesting thing in this book was not the white supremacists or the black civil rights workers, but rather the people in the middle. For instance, the elderly black funeral home worker, Milton, who felt he had all the freedom he needed, so why get involved in the civil rights struggle. And the protagonist's grandmother, a good woman who had grown up in the South yet believed her black neighbors were covered in germs. I found it fascinating to realize that these were probably fairly normal, middle of the people in the South prior to civil rights.
May 28, 2011
Mark Childress grew up in Monroeville, as did Harper Lee. This book is set in a small Alabama town in the early 60s. Like TKAM, we have two threads of the story that eventually meet up in the middle. Thread one? Young, beautiful wife with six kids and an abusive husband who poisons the husband with D-Con in his coffee and then decapitates him so that she can flee to Hollywoood where her deepest wish (to appear on the Beverly Hillbillies) can come true. Did I mention she carries the head with her? Its in a Tupperware salad crisper inside a beautiful hatbox. Because this is Southern Gothic, of course the head continues to speak to her.
The other thread? The unspeakable civil rights violations. Awful, awful things happen and along the way both Martin Luther King and George Wallace visit the tiny town.
It's an odd experience to read this book because the civil rights thread is painful and heartbreaking and Lucille's story is just silly. As a reader, I was just kind of along for the ride.
But I will read another of Mark Childress's books, just to see where he takes me.
The other thread? The unspeakable civil rights violations. Awful, awful things happen and along the way both Martin Luther King and George Wallace visit the tiny town.
It's an odd experience to read this book because the civil rights thread is painful and heartbreaking and Lucille's story is just silly. As a reader, I was just kind of along for the ride.
But I will read another of Mark Childress's books, just to see where he takes me.
February 10, 2017
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 disturbing (though historically accurate) it is how the people in Peejoe's life respond that provides insight and raise thought provoking questions. Excellent read!
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 disturbing (though historically accurate) it is how the people in Peejoe's life respond that provides insight and raise thought provoking questions. Excellent read!
March 10, 2012
I picked up this book not really knowing much about it. A friend actually lent it to my husband a few years ago and my dog chewed a corner, so I bought the friend a replacement book and we ended up with the chewed copy. Years later I pick it up somewhat randomly and couldn't put it down. I fell in love with the characters and couldn't wait to see what happened next. I particularly liked the storyline about the young boys. Mark Childress is clearly a talented writer as he could tell the story from many different angles as well as integrate topics that draw you into the story, get you invested and sometimes enraged! I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to read something completely different that brings you through a variety of emotions, and more than once had me exclaiming out loud!
July 14, 2007
I am a real sucker for uniqueness in a book, and this one has it! There are two stories being told in parallel. Every other chapter tells one story, and vice versa. One story is a dark sad story of a young boy staying with his uncle, an undertaker, as the experience a tremendous problem in their town with racism and violence. The other story is about his aunt who has taken off cross-country with her husband's head in a lettuce keeper and a hat box in order to appear in the Beverly Hillbillies tv show. I laughed until it hurt, and I cried hard. An amazing book with a story to tell of the place of women and blacks in the southern US in the 1960's. Truly one of my all time favorite books.
November 28, 2007
This book was a quick read, but seriously, if you've ever been in a bad relationship and want a quick, decisive way out, this book offers a couple suggestions, albeit illegal suggustions. It's really funny and well written, but what sets this apart from other standard fiction novels is it is also a commentary on the civil rights movement in the 60's south, but from a childs perspective. The confusion of having to decide between family and friends, black and white, laws versus ethics, right and wrong when you have no concept of moral turpitude is very insightful, and quite honestly, sad. Anyway, great book on many levels.
January 24, 2008
I read this book on the plane/in the hotel during my brother's graduation from college. I could NOT put it down, and after having seen the movie, the book is at least five million times better. Peejoe goes from being a spoiled, naive kid to an enlightened, opinionated kid in a matter of months when his aunt comes along and kills her husband in an attempt to escape to Hollywood. Peejoe and his brother are sent to live with their coroner uncle in 1960s Alabama, where race riots are breaking out all over the place. Peejoe finally understands that when it comes to racism, nobody wins.
April 2, 2010
I cannot just say I didn't like this book. I can say that I didn't particularly enjoy it. The story of the crazy Aunt was interesting, but the intense racial scenes were very upsetting to me. I am a southerner, though not old enough to have lived through integrating and to read such graphic (even if fictitious) accounts of the atrocities that went on back then was very hard for me. I believe Childress is a good story teller, but I guess this story was such a sad one its hard for me to say I "liked" the book.
January 2, 2008
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.
April 14, 2014
This book is a page turner. It deals with Alabama during the civil rights conflicts and oh by the way, there is also one of the characters who kills her husband, decapitates him, and puts his head in a hatbox and takes it with her on a cross country trip to Los Angeles Ca, and this Alabama lady with six children has sex with several men on her road trip, and then gets a role in "the Beverly Hillbilly's" with Buddy Ebson and Donna Douglas and Max Baer Jr and it goes from there!
July 19, 2014
Always a quality read. This is my third time reading it and, although the beginning is a bit slow (strange to say, as it entails a woman killing her husband because the skull and bones on the rat poison can winked at her, then takes her husband's head on the lam), the book is as engrossing and moving as I remember. The aforementioned murder is great, but the story of Alabama in the 60s is what really drives it.
February 14, 2017
I must say that this book certainly whetted my appetite for my good old "Memaw's" Southern Cooking. It also engaged my darkish wit, brought back painful memories of racism that churned in the mid 60's. Everywhere. (It seems to be bubbling back up in current times.) Mark Childress has wound two tales together extremely well. Both very engaging. He is a very exacting writer when it comes to detail. A gem.
July 20, 2019
This story isctold throygh 2 characters. Lucille & Peejoe. The first few chapters were ridiculous. A woman who kill her husband and carries his head in a Tupperware lettuce keeper. Then we are into the civil rights movement 1960s Alabama! Love Peejoe ,Uncle Dove and Wiley. I was even rooting for Lucille, aka: Carolyn Clay. A surprise ending, sad nonetheless. My favorite chapters were told by Peejoe.
January 16, 2013
I loved this book! The book contained two stories. Lucille's story was funny (dark humor), and PeeJoe's story was so very sad. I listened to this as a book on tape, and they had an excellent interview with the author on the last disc. Very interesting to hear how his stories develop.
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