Customer Reviews

Gods in Alabama

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I am really excited by this author. I read Between, Georgia first, and was tickled. She is able to spin a tale packed full with family loyalty, zany romance, mystery and suspense without crossing the line into hokey territory. While some of the main character's behaviour in the first few chapters seems senseless, its purpose is eventually illuminated. I hope she keeps churning out great books.

I read Grown Up Kind of Pretty first and this one second. I liked this one better - a tighter piece of writing with a stronger literary style in her character development. Both books have a "YA" (young adult)flavour. If I were her editor, I would steer her out of that for at least her next book. She's established herself as a southern writer and it's time for a really good editor to have a hard discussion on future direction. She probably doesn't want to be known as the Judy Blume of the south or the Daniel Steel of southern YA. She has serious skills (humour and all) and they need to be planned out. With the right editor, she could be a prize contender easily. Keep doing your job Joshilyn and for goodness sakes editors, do right by her!

could smell the snuff juice. The scenery in this book is so real that I could see the grease spattering from the frying pan. I literally devoured it in one day. Joshilyn Jackson has an amazing ability to turn a phrase. I kept finding myself thinking, 'Oooh, good one!' as I read. This book has everything going for it: humor, mystery, great characters, and writing that just flows.

In this book we get know Arlene whom has left Alabama 9 years ago after promising to give up fornication (as she politely puts it during prayers), to never tell a lie, and to never go back to the town she grew up in as long as a certain body was allowed to remain hidden. When she becomes convinced that the deal is off, she breaks all three of her promises, returning home with her boyfriend, fornicating on the way, and lying to her family that they're already married. The longer Arlene is home, she slowly begins to find out the truth about what happened all those years ago that forced her to leave home in the first place.

"Gods In Alabama" is a great read. The plot and its characters are involved on enough levels to keep one guessing and involved. Arlene/Lena is a puzzled character and Ms. Jackson keeps giving the reader various glimpses into her mind, memory and spirit to help us figure out the puzzle. Although the story went back and forth in time it was very easy to follow and understand. My one complaint would be that the last chapter tied the whole story up too fast. Other than that, it's a promising debut, and Jackson has the potential to become an significant southern author.

Fantastic protagonist, crackling dialogue, great atmosphere, intriguing themes...

...great STORY...

What a début.

Having read her latest and then this one, I'm off to read the middle novel. I suspect she won't be disappointing me.