crazy in Alabama

I got really lucky with this book, as soon as I posted my reading list on my blog this was found in my local 99p store, yay!

I really wasn't sure what to think about this one before I started reading it, I haven't heard much about the author other than that this was a dark and bawdy comic romp of a book.

Personally the word bawdy puts me off a book, especially when it's wrote by a man and has a female main character. This has nothing to do with me thinking that men can't write a good female character (they can) but has everything to do with the fact that the word bawdy when used in conjunction with female characters seems to mean lots and lots of unrequited and unprotected sex in the most unusual places and ways. Kinda a more explicit carry on film in book form (ohhh matron)

Although this assumption was fulfilled up to a point by the murdering housewife on the run with her husbands head in a hatbox and dreams of Hollywood, it by far wasn't the most interesting part of the book.

This honour would have to go to the bulk of the book which is seeing the black civil rights movement through the eye[s] of 12 year old peejoe. You can see the influence of Harper lee's to kill a mockingbird , kind of a updated version of what happened next.

Parts of this book genuinely touched me, especially the young protagonists meeting with Martin Luther King, and he's involvement on the side of civil rights due to a child's sense of justice and he's lack of knowledge to the fact that these actions can be dangerous to not only himself but also others that he cares about.

The book marks Peejoe out as a outsider from the very beginning, him and he's brother Wiley are both orphans living with their memaw, when the world gets turned upside down by being made to go live with their uncle Dove in Industry.

As the race riots erupt over the killing of a young black youth over a swimming pool which Peejoe is a witness to we watch him and he's family get more and more alienated as they try to do whats right.

Peejoe is an outsider in every faction although he feels for the black community he's different, he gets away from a beating due to his skin colour when the local klu kluck clan starts firing on a peaceful protest but he's not part of the white community due to his sympathies for the "other " side. This difference is finally given to him physically when he has a accident which results in his going blind in one eye. For me this was a physical manifestation of the fact that he looked at the world in a different way from everyone else in the book. Peejoe himself wonders if he's been blinded because he's seen too much.

This isn't really a comfortable read, most of the people you want to have a break don't get it and a lot of the people you want to see suffer don't. It's not a weakness in the writing but it doesn't give you that warm glow at the end that some books do. I did say in one of my other reviews though that I like a bit of grit in my books and this one delivered it to me.

I did really enjoy this once I got into it after a slow start on my account (the book gets down to it pretty quickly) It's not going to become a favourite but I know a couple of my friend who'd love it due to it's dark humour and yes it's bawdy parts.

If like me your into the domestic side of fiction it may not be for you, but Peejoe's story made it worth reading for me alone. I'll let you know soon what I decided to cook.

The Age of Innocence

I thought I'd start my first review with a re-reading of an American classic and Pulitzer prize winner.

I first found this book not because of the above reasons, but because it's a Virago modern classic. A series that i read with a passion!
The plot is a classic tale of thwarted love and passion, Newland Archer is to marry the pretty and conventional May Welland who is everything a well bred girl should be.

Uncertainty the arrives in the form of Mays cousin the Countess Olenska who returns from Europe and a disastrous marriage.

Newland at first befriends her for hes fiances sake, but he soon starts to fall in love with her, her unconventional ways and free spirit.

This leads to Archer to start questioning hes own morals along with those of the society that he lives in.

The plot for me while being damn good isn't the main point, you know it can only go one way. It's how it gets there which is so interesting.

This book is a glimpse into a now extinct society, it's motives for why things are done in a certain way and the lengths that it will go to keep things that way is what i find truly fascinating.

The writing style is incredibly controlled being both at once very descriptive about material possesions, yet leaving so much unsaid about how anyone is feeling as almost no one says what they are really thinking.

For me this this style really adds to the feeling of suppressed passion that is felt by both Archer and the Countess.

This novel isn't a clear cut one, its main theme is the struggle of carrying out your duty to society and your duty to yourself to be happy.

The ending of this novel is beautiful and leaves so much unsaid, you can spend ages mulling it over afterwards.

I,ve included a link to a reading guide as i find that having questions to think about helps me to read a book more carefully.

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/age_of_innocence.html

I hope that you've enjoyed this post and in the next one I'll give my recipe for my Age of innocence inspired cupcakes.

the recipe is here