Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but why 2 stories?
Review: This book presents two different stories that are related only because the woman leading one of the stories is the mother of the boy leading the other. While both are interesting, you would think that the parties would eventually come together for some monumental accomplishment that both have worked together for. But this doesn't really happen, and it makes me wonder what the author's intent was in structuring it this way. The main story deals with a woman who kills her husband, leaves the rest of her family, and sets off on a cross-country odyssey. Oh yes, her husband's head is in a tupperware container as part of her luggage. We are informed by the woman that this was her way of ending an abusive relationship. However, as we get to know the nature of the woman, whether this is true or not is subject to debate. Her conversations with the head should steer you in the right direction on this. But her adventures, which include a guest role on "The Beverly Hillbillies", are entertaining enough to make this a great attempt at dark comedy. The other story concerns her son, who is left behind while mom "finds herself". He gets involved right in the middle of the 1960's Civil Rights movement after a racist encounter at a local swimming pool explodes into a national incident. While his story is not nearly as far-fetched as the other, is is the more moving of the two, and could have been a book in itself if the author gave it a chance. Which is the problem. You've got a dark comedy and a serious drama intertwining. I give the author a big thumbs up for reinforcing the true character of the mother with his ending, but once again, these are two different stories, and belong in two different books. Read it anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it!
Review: You will never forget Peejoe and Lucille! I just loved this book! It was so funny and memorable.... I want to read more by Mark Childress.
Rating:
Summary: Woman Scorned
Review: Your homework for tonight: Drop everything and read Crazy in Alabama! This is such a great book -- much better than the movie. Mark Childress's carefully drawn characters come alive in these pages. Aunt Lucille will amaze you will all the nutty things she does. And Peejoe's story will have your heart breaking. It all starts when Aunt Lucille and her six children come ambling up the driveway of her mother's house early May 1965. She's killed her bullying husband and stashed his head in a Tupperware bowl (with a Press-and-Lock seal that really works!), and now with him out of the way, she's free to pursue her dream: to become an actress. Leaving her children with her mother, Lucille has zoomed off to Hollywood, evoking suspicion and evading arrest at every turn. Twisted into this story is another tale told through the eyes of 12-year-old Peejoe. He and his brother, Wiley, spend the summer in Industry, Alabama with Lucille's brother, Uncle Dove. As the county coroner and local funeral director, Dove has quite a busy summer ahead of him -- when Industry opens up their new "whites only" municipal swimming pool and the entire town takes a tragic turn. Crazy in Alabama is both riotous and rollicking as well as a sad reminder of the Civil Rights Movement and its history. Lucille's adventures will have readers laughing out loud as suppressed feelings awaken in her on her journey across the country. And the view through the innocent eyes of Peejoe will have readers wondering why all life's answers can't be so simple. An action-packed novel and one that won't be forgotten! Has all the qualities of a quirky southern tale that will amuse you and move you.
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