book data
1550 ratings, 3.74 average rating, 334 reviews
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published
June 13th 2006
(first published 2008)
by Warner Books
binding
Paperback, 320 pages
isbn
0446694533
(isbn13: 9780446694537)
description
When Arlene Fleet headed off to college in Chicago, she made three promises to God: She would never again lie, never fornicate outside marriage, and n...more
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avg 3.74
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Fans of Anne Tyler
There is something really beautiful about an author who is in control of their craft -- It's hard enough to plot a successful story that is intriguing, but to be able to manipulate the chronology of a story and make the story even better? (This is one of the reasons I enjoyed Time Traveller's Wife so much) This is a great book that will teach men something about relating to women and teach women something about relating to the...more
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Read in May, 2007
This book contains one of the best single lines ever written: "Hail to thee alabama, thou verdant trollop" :)
I picked it up in a charity shop because it looked interesting, which is my favourite method of book-buying. I loved it, I was hooked, the characters are so real, and it uses flashbacks which i always like. Centred around a murder, but not a crime novel, its all relationships and personalities.... sorry can't recommend in any coherent manner.
I picked it up in a charity shop because it looked interesting, which is my favourite method of book-buying. I loved it, I was hooked, the characters are so real, and it uses flashbacks which i always like. Centred around a murder, but not a crime novel, its all relationships and personalities.... sorry can't recommend in any coherent manner.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in September, 2007
I'm torn about what to think about this book. I definately liked Between, Georgia better. Right off the bat, I kept thinking this one was just weird.
The present/past story telling worked in Between, since you were just learning about her in bits and pieces, and it didn't have to be in chronological order. In this one, it was alternating chapters (not just drifting back to a memory), but I don't think it worked as well. Len...more
The present/past story telling worked in Between, since you were just learning about her in bits and pieces, and it didn't have to be in chronological order. In this one, it was alternating chapters (not just drifting back to a memory), but I don't think it worked as well. Len...more
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Read in April, 2006
Arlena Fleet, sengaja ‘melarikan diri’ dari kota kelahirannya, Alabama. Lena ingin melupakan kenangan buruk yang menghantuinya ketika ia remaja. 10 tahun lamanya Lena tidak pulang-pulang, meskipun di saat-saat istimewa seperti hari Natal.
Di masa lalu, Lena adalah gadis yang tinggal dengan paman dan bibinya. Ibunya stress karena kematian ayahnya. Satu-satunya teman Lena adalah Clarice, saudara sepupunya. Lena begitu menyayangi Clarice, meskipun dia menyimpan sedikit rasa iri terhadap sepu...more
Di masa lalu, Lena adalah gadis yang tinggal dengan paman dan bibinya. Ibunya stress karena kematian ayahnya. Satu-satunya teman Lena adalah Clarice, saudara sepupunya. Lena begitu menyayangi Clarice, meskipun dia menyimpan sedikit rasa iri terhadap sepu...more
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Read in July, 2007
It took me a little while to get into this one. Starts off pretty slow and uninvolving despite the author's apparent attempts to achieve the opposite effect.
A lot of the wacky Southern stuff fell flat and has been done before by other authors with greater insight and flair. Some of the humor was brilliant in spots; some of it was like dead air.
To me, the book only true came alive during the flashbacks. The story of Arlene's adolescence captured me, and I had great compassion for her.
...more
A lot of the wacky Southern stuff fell flat and has been done before by other authors with greater insight and flair. Some of the humor was brilliant in spots; some of it was like dead air.
To me, the book only true came alive during the flashbacks. The story of Arlene's adolescence captured me, and I had great compassion for her.
...more
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Read in May, 2008
I don't often write reviews, but I wanted to take a moment to recommend this book to anybody who comes across it on my feed. I am totally enamored with Joshilyn Jackson. Despite my deep South upbringing, I often shy away from novels labeled "Southern fiction." I find them to be cloying and built on stereotypes that did not ring true to my experience as a southerner. Jackson's novels bring a breath of fresh air to the genre. She writes fabulous fiction that happens to take place in...more
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Read in February, 2007
I was pleasantly suprised by this book. I expected it to be a chick lit book (which it is in some senses) with a mystery thrown in, but the plot and character development went deeper than I thought it would...more psychological. Arlene is trying to escape her Southern roots and a murder she committed, so she moves to Chicago to reinvent herself. However, she does have to face her past.I hear Jackson has another book out, and I would like to read it. My one complaint, it seemed to me that Arl...more
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Read in October, 2007
Lena doesn't lie, doesn't sleep with men and hasn't returned to Alabama since she graduated from high school. She made a bargain with God who has kept up his end for the past 12 years, but now it has begun to unravel. Between a classmate showing up on her doorstep, her aunt's continual pestering for a visit and her boyfriend's semi-ultimatum to meet her family, Lena just may have to return to Alabama where ghosts await her and the full story of her past can finally be told.
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recommends it for:
Someone interested in quirky family relationships
I found this book to be extremely well written and very entertaining. Arlene lives happily in Chicago ignoring pleas from her family to return to Alabama for a visit. When she eventually does, she confronts a lot of her past that isn't the way she thought it was. It is a lot about leaving your family and separating from them. I think the overall message of the book is to have courage.
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
somebody stuck on an airplane
Goodness, I don't remember the last time I read a book about a family from the southern US that didn't involve some unhappy young woman with (a) a drunken-wife beating father or (b) a teenage rape. This is yet another. Just to be thorough, the author even threw in the requisite family of eccentrics. In two weeks, I won't remember a thing about it.
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Read in October, 2007
I thought the character and place names in this book were way too exaggerated as being "southern", almost to the point of distraction. Names and places typically do not bother me in a book, but here I was. The end was good and that helped with my overall perception of the book. Not a must read and definitely not a re-read in my opinion!
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Read in March, 2008
Found the main character and boyfriend annoying, but still fun to read and I was surprised by the ending.
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Read in October, 2008
simply put, i can't entirely trust books that repeat their own title ad infinitam. (except for notable exceptions, lolita in particular.) it's the same reason i don't trust first-time writer/directors who star in their own feature films. i mentioned that quirk of mine to tom, with regard to miranda july, and he said, 'zach braff did it too.' and i replied, 'did i ever say i trusted zach braff?'. and he went on to start naming people like charlie chaplin, jacques tati, etc. ... you see what i mea...more
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Read in September, 2008
This book is packed with great characters who are vividly drawn without becoming stereotypes, which is especially impressive given that about 3/4 of the book is set in the South, which is so frequently the victim of stereotype.
There's a murder mystery, love in many forms, and a convincing and unique narrative voice that rings true with the exception of a few overdramatic moments. I was also impressed that a book largely occupied (at least on a surface level) with murder and sex had a remarka...more
There's a murder mystery, love in many forms, and a convincing and unique narrative voice that rings true with the exception of a few overdramatic moments. I was also impressed that a book largely occupied (at least on a surface level) with murder and sex had a remarka...more
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Read in February, 2008
Last night I finished up Joshilyn Jackson’s Gods In Alabama. This book was a much needed reprieve from A Thousand Splendid Suns. (I’m almost done with that one and will explain my reprieve when I review it.) Anyway, this was a good, quick read by one of my very favorite bloggers. Joshilyn is freakin’ HYSTERICAL over at her blog Faster Than Kudzu, so I was really looking forward to reading it. And I was not entirely disappointed. Her humor was all over this book, but not in the laugh-...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
Joshilyn Jackson fans, those who like a good modern Southern story with a good mystery
Jackson is now one of my favorite authors. It doesn't take me more than 2 days to read any of her books, I can't sleep until I finish them, and then I can't sleep for thinking about the characters...
This was her first novel, and having read them out of order (I read Between,Georgia first and it was her second novel), there are a lot of similarities between the two books that almost seem like cheating.
The crazy, headstrong, se...more
This was her first novel, and having read them out of order (I read Between,Georgia first and it was her second novel), there are a lot of similarities between the two books that almost seem like cheating.
The crazy, headstrong, se...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Claudia by:
Amy Holmes
gods in Alabama was a very fun read for me. As one who thinks I'm smarter than I actually am and revels in the challenge of figuring out a mystery, I was drawn to both the twisting tale and the sassy, I'm-in-control (or so I think) star of the novel, Lena. Lena had left her hometown years ago and sworn she would never return (or fornicate or lie) if God would keep the body hidden. Yet, for various reasons, she's returning home to the South and bringing a multitude of issues with her.
I che...more
I che...more
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Read in October, 2008
recommends it for:
Holli
This is the story of a woman, Lena, who doesn't lie (or uses her own odd logic to tell only the truth), fornicate (no really for like 10 yrs), or go home to Alabama. We all know what this means.....something brings her home to Alabama.
Lena has a traveling companion as she head to see her white, racist family for the first time in 10 years.....you guessed it, her black boyfriend, Burr. But surprisingly this isn't the main plot of the story. Why hasn't Lena gone home in 10 years? What will...more
Lena has a traveling companion as she head to see her white, racist family for the first time in 10 years.....you guessed it, her black boyfriend, Burr. But surprisingly this isn't the main plot of the story. Why hasn't Lena gone home in 10 years? What will...more
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Read in September, 2008
Great book!! This is the first Joshilyn Jackson book that I read and now I cannot wait to read her others. She really touched every emotion with Gods in Alabama!
At first I thought it was going to be somewhat like The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver...which I wasn't totally in love with. However, I was wrong... Gods in Alabama was a page turner from the get go. The characters were quirky, fun and believable and the story line never left you hanging. Even though there were twists and tur...more
At first I thought it was going to be somewhat like The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver...which I wasn't totally in love with. However, I was wrong... Gods in Alabama was a page turner from the get go. The characters were quirky, fun and believable and the story line never left you hanging. Even though there were twists and tur...more
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currently-reading (on 104 people's shelves)
fiction (on 35 people's shelves)
chicklit (on 9 people's shelves)
chick-lit (on 8 people's shelves)
book-club (on 8 people's shelves)
favorites (on 7 people's shelves)
bookclub (on 7 people's shelves)
2008 (on 6 people's shelves)
cheryl (on 4 people's shelves)
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quotes from this book
"There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus. "
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