Lawyers of Alabama

Crazy in Alabama

Description

Comic and tragic, unique and outlandish, CRAZY IN ALABAMA is the story of two journeys--Lucille's from Industry, Alabama, to Los Angeles, to star on 'THE BEVERLY HILL BILLIES' and her 12-year-old nephew Peejoe's, who is about to discover two kinds of Southern justice, and what that means about the stories he's heard and the people he knows.
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
A FEATURED ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE LITERARY GUILD

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-07
Summary: "fun read"

This was just a light hearted, yet at times an emotionally wrenching, delightful read!! I'm not one to usually chuckle out loud while reading, but with this book, I did!

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Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2010-03-11
Summary: "Hiaasenesque - lite"

This was a fast and entertaining book. Not the best. Not the best of its kind - which I would call... a mix of crazy hijinks and a serious story to tell.

I love most Hiaasen books, so this appealed to me. It has the same sort of flavor (the Lucille parts). It could have been better if the author found a way to create the same sort of farcicle humor with the Peajoe side (while still spinning his message/commentary into the storyline). I am not going to get into specifics because that gives away the story and I cannot bear when people do that.

I liked the characters and I think they were well written and easily seen in my minds eye. I liked the kookiness of Lucille and the people that stream thru her life. I adored Peajoe, but got a little bored with the storyline at about p260. That left a lot of book to plow thru. It was not torture, but it was not great reading to the end. In fact I found the ending lacking. It was like "Well, I am tired of writing this story and my editor is hounding me so let's wrap it up." With so SO much work he did developing the characters I was left thinking - Huh? Really, that is the ending. Yeah - not buying it.

But like I said, the journey is pleasurable and I did find myself chuckling and enjoying the characters. There are lots of funny 60's ref's (with Dove's wife) that people in their 40's and up will enjoy. I think the author captured 1965 rural Alabama very well.

If someone offered me another Mark Childress book I would read it. I would, of course, hope for more Lucille (minus the hatbox as a central character) and less oh... how to say it? lessons.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2009-12-20
Summary: "Good book"

It's hard to say weather this book is comedy, tragedy, parody or history. There is a lot of all those here. A good read. It will make you laugh and cry.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-08-09
Summary: "Crazy Is As Crazy Does"

An amazing book. I met Mark Childress once and wasn't very impressed, but reading this book has changed my mind. It's amazing to me how everything blended together in the end. Two parallel stories starting and ending in the same place. An extremely well crafted fable. I'll be reading more of Mark's work, but this one would be hard to measure up to.
I had a grandmother from Alabama. I'm now 58 and have never known anyone that I respected more. She lived by herself in a big white house on 260 acres of piney woods. Some of my best memories come from visits with her. For some reason I related to her. Maybe we were both crazy.

VT from Louisiana, San Francisco, and Michigan (in that order)

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-07-10
Summary: "A terrific book"

I saw the movie years ago and loved it, so I finally bought the book. And I'm glad I did. It's wonderful, and silly, and downright crazy. It's also very well written and a genuine pleasure to read.

Five stars!