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

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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.

9 of 10 found the following review helpful:

So crazy, it's hilariousFeb 24, 2000
By Amanda Goodwin
'Crazy in Alabama' is one of those unique novels that comes along every once in awhile, and just makes you grin and shake your head in amusement. The book focuses around 2 characters, Peejoe, and his unique aunt Lucille. Lucille, frustrated with the boring life she's leading, decides to run off to Hollywood to become a movie star, and there's only one thing stopping her: her abusive husband Chester. So she puts rat poison in his coffee, and decides to take his head along as a keepsake. Meanwhile, Peejoe, usurped from his grandma's house by Lucille's brats, is in the middle of a race war with his brother and Uncle Dove, all the while worrying about Lucille and what will happen if she's caught. 'Crazy in Alabama' is one-of-a-kind, showing us the ugly side of the South, and just how far people will really go to get what they want.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Skip the Movie -- Read the Book!Aug 06, 2000
By Hank Waddles
A reviewer cited on the back cover of this novel calls it "a combination of Thelma and Louise and To Kill a Mockingbird, and that's about right. Beginning in 1965 in the tiny town of Pigeon Creek, Alabama, a single explosive event scatters the characters and sends the story in two directions at once. Twelve-year-old Peejoe (short for Peter Joseph) and his brother are sent to live with their Uncle Dove, a mortician in nearby Industry, while their Aunt Lucille takes off for Hollywood, chasing her dream of landing a starring role on "The Beverly Hillbillies". While Peejoe witnesses both sides of the civil rights movement, right in his own backyard, Lucille seeks the freedom she never had as a frustrated housewife. As the two stories alternately diverge and intertwine, often hilariously, Childress still manages to present an important social commentary.

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Don't Miss this One -- It's TerrificJan 18, 2000
By Timathea Workman
Mark has a talent for writing prose that is simultaneoulsy thought-provoking and hysterically funny; his world is both authentic and bizzare. He is a master at capturing the experience of youth -- the combination of innocence and growing awareness that we all experienced in some form or another, and his narrative voice is so strong that you'll easily go along for the ride, forgetting you're laughing because one of the women carries around her husband's head in tupperware, or that the people you care about so much are only fabricated characters in a book. This is a highly enjoyable novel that weaves together the story of a woman chasing her dream of stardom with the story of a young boy growing up in the South during the height of the Civil Rights struggle. Besides being a great read, it raises thought provoking questions about how we have treated and continue to treat each other.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:

Part Southern Gothic, part Hollywood exposé, part political treatise, this book will endureOct 28, 2006
By Myfanwy Collins
Part a coming of age story and part awakening--both of a woman who has been kept down by her husband and of the African American community of 1960s Alabama, Crazy in Alabama is one heck of a read.

The story's main characters are Peejoe (Peter Joseph), a 12 year old orphan who was living with his beloved grandmother (Meemaw) until his crazy aunt cut off her husband's head and deserted her children. The aunt, Lucille, is the other main character. At 33, she has six children, a dead husband and a burning desire to make it in Hollywood, which is where she heads after she has committed the grisly murder.

Childress takes on big issues (race relations, oppression of women, the media, mental illness) and displays them unflinchingly. He also shows how there are some folks--leaders (Lucille also becomes some sort of de facto leader of women's issues)--who take advantage of serious situations for their own political gain.

Childress proves himself great in this book. He writes with such deft assuredness that he makes it look easy, but it's not. Clearly a student of popular culture, he weaves details (songs, movies, television) into a fine cloth and makes us feel as though we are right there with him.

Part Southern Gothic, part Hollywood exposé, part political treatise, this book will endure. But above and beyond all that, it's a great read.

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