I don't know what attracted me to this book. I was intrigued by the movie even though the main character was played by Lucas Black, the annoying actor from the Disney Channel Original Movie, "Flash." I didn't see the movie until after I read the book. Never watch a movie after the book, it's like personally inviting disappointment over for dinner. The book has always stuck in my mind as one of my favorites, but sadly that is about all I can remember. I can remember vivid elated emotions. Though strong, the memories are quick and fleeting.
I remember certain things, like the main character, Peejoe, having his eye taken out by a rock that he runs over with the lawn mower. I remember him living in a funeral parlor with his grandparents and that his aunt kills her husband and carries his head around with her in a Tupperware while driving cross country to California.
Racial tension I can remember too. But that is more of a given rather than a specific memory since the story takes place in the south during the 1960s.
After finding the quote above, I vaguely remember the pool. I know it's the setting for a heinous act of racial violence, but I think it's time to reread the book. It's been about 9 years since I read it.
I recently bought another of March Childress's books at a used book sale, and heard an interview with him talking about his newest novel with Teri Gross on "Fresh Air." Crazy in Alabama has then just been on my mind since then.
It's a sad revelation, but when I reflect on the books I really enjoyed, it's usually ones I read during Jr. High or early on in high school. Probably because those were the days when I actually had time to sit down and enjoy a book and not have to pencil in a half hour into my planner to read a book. During which, I'm thinking about everything that has to be done when the half hour is over.
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