Gods in Alabama
Joshilyn Jackson
(Reviewer - Coletta Ollerer)
2005 Time Warner Books
ISBN: 0446524190

Raised by her aunt in the South, Arlene flees North to Chicago to college & a fresh start.

Associate Reviewer Coletta Ollerer writes:

Arlene Fleet was a little girl when she lost her father to cancer. Her mother, only borderline stable, goes over the edge after that, unable to care for her daughter, often sending her to school hungry & wearing unwashed clothing. Mother's sister, Florence, comes to save them when she discovers their phone has been disconnected. She brings them back to Alabama to live with her.

Arlene & her cousin, Clarice, share a room & became good friends. This is a story of high school relationships which confuse & alienate a sensitive, loving child & turn her down a dark path.

“There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus.” (p.1) The god featured here is the Varsity quarterback, Jim Beverly, whose interest in Clarice pushes Arlene to an act of aggression which surprises her.

Arlene decides she has to get out of Alabama & with a scholarship to college she makes her getaway to Chicago & remains there for nine years, where she teaches while pursuing her Ph.D. That is where Rose Mae Lolly finds her. Rose Mae is Jim Beverly's true love & she is on a mission to find him. She hasn't seen him since high school & believes Arlene knows his whereabouts.

Rose Mae's abrupt appearance frightens Arlene. She is worried Rose will uncover her participation in that long ago evil deed. The motivation for that act is revealed in a flashback during which we see Arlene watch Clarice being treated badly by Jim. “I noticed then that Clarice's face was filthy, and she'd cried silver tracks through the dirt on her face... A dull red anger began to spread slowly through me.” (p.248)

In a flashback to the event itself, Arlene is amazed at herself for having gone through with it. “I shook my head, hard, and it made the world spin just enough to drive that thought sideways and out. I couldn't think about that now. I couldn't think about it at all. ‘Okay, then,’ said my brain, what about this: ‘Someone is going to find out.’” (p.164)

When Arlene ran off to Chicago she vowed never to return to Alabama, except Aunt Florence has persistently tried to pull her back... just for visits. This time to participate in a retirement party for Uncle Bruster.

To test the water, Arlene confides to her aunt that she is in love with a black man, hoping this will give Florence pause with respect to her campaign to get Arlene to return to southern soil. It does. Florence asks her not to bring him, however Burr insists on meeting her family... & they set out for Alabama.

Joshilyn Jackson takes us on an insightful trip into southern society. We meet a family bursting with love for each other but whose emotions are so tangled they find it hard to connect. Arlene has always considered her Aunt Florence to be controlling, bossy & dominating but somehow this trip shows her aunt in a different light. The reader is as surprised as Arlene at what she finds.
(06/19/05)

Coletta
2005©Coletta Ollerer
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I have always enjoyed writing. As a teenager I submitted to magazines like Seventeen, & was politely rejected. As a young mother, I had several poems published in The Chicago Tribune. Born in Chicago in 1932, I still live in the area. Since I retired, I have had some success on the Internet with my book reviews, stories & poetry. I enjoy historical fiction mostly, but will read anything uplifting, informative & fun. When I'm not reading & writing, I'm making jewelry, sewing needlepoint, & painting.