Customer Reviews

Between, Georgia

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Nonny Frett is caught between feuding families. Born to an unwed Crabtree girl, she is adopted and raised by a Frett. Her mother, Stacia Frett, suffers from Usher's Syndrome, a devastating disease that steals the victim's hearing, then their eyesight. Stacia never let her challenges interfere with being a good mother. Nonny has grown into a strong woman who works as an interpreter for the deaf and mute.

Now thirty years old, Nonny's life lacks direction. Her marriage is ending, her aunt--Bernese Frett Baxter--is being inexplicably hard on Nonny's young cousin, and the tension between the Crabtrees and Frett has been notched way up.

This is the proverbial turning point of Nonny's life. Although strong, she must see past her own disappointments in order to move forward. The question is whether she can find her path before her world crumbles before her very eyes.

Between, Georgia is a treasure for anyone who has ever felt torn between worlds. Jackson has beautifully rendered the story of Nonny Frett by evoking laughter, shouts, and tears. Readers will feel the weight of Nonny's responsibilities, as well as the lightness of her joys. Little Fisher, Aunt Bernese's granddaughter, is an added delight who steals some of the scenes.

Besides the wonderful literary value of this novel, it would make a spectacular movie. (Many readers may imagine Aunt Bernese portrayed by Tyne Daily.) The characters leap from the pages, reminding readers of people in their own lives. Small Town, America is well represented by the atmosphere of Between.

You will love this novel. As far as I'm concerned, this "keeper" will stay on my shelf with other beloved books.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
6/19/2006

Whether you're a fan of the Montagues and the Capulets, or the Hatfields and McCoys, you'll no doubt be familiar with the familial battles that abound in Josilyn Jackson's new novel, Between, Georgia. The book's title is fitting; being representative of both the tiny Georgia community where the story is set and a microcosmic conflict between two families within it, the Fretts and the Crabtrees.

Told in first person by Nonny Frett -- initially the daughter of a young Crabtree -- she is the "between" antiauthoritarian stuck in a renewed struggle between her biological kin and her adopted family. When the Crabtree dogs attack Nonny's mother (Stacia Frett), old wounds are opened anew between the two families and Nonny acts as a forced referee. Love, hate, gene pools, romance, and even comedy are the driving forces behind Between, Georgia as we witness a type of one-upmanship taking place after the dog attack. Nonny's aunt, Bernise Frett-Baxter, shoots and kills one of the dogs. Then tires get slashed, more dogs die, and finally death comes near for the Frett family as the truly "bad Crabtrees" enter town to settle the feud once and for all. In the midst of all this, Nonny is trying to divorce her husband, Jonno, an adulterer who gave her The Clap but whom she still holds a grudging sexual attraction toward. Nonny's adopted mother, Stacia, has Usher's Syndrome, a disease that destroys one's hearing and then robs them of their sight. And, to top it all off, Nonny is attracted to Henry Crabtree, a distant cousin who is obviously in love with her, too.

The middle of the novel will probably be the toughest for most readers to get through. It's a bit slow but is beneficial to the story as a whole. The reader gets intimate with these characters and they'll be completely unprepared for some devastating events that unfold in the later two-thirds of the story. Then, just when you feel like your heart can't take it anymore, author Josilyn Jackson makes your spirit soar with the slamming on of the brakes and a humorous "thump".

From kissing cousins to tear-jerking brushes with death, Between, Georgia is a place I'm happy I visited (even if it is a fictional community). The action is slow to get going, but once the dynamics of these families hits the gas pedal, there's no stopping them.

I loved this book! It could be because I am a sign language interpreter myself, and could relate to much of what was taking place in the novel. I especially enjoyed the narration by the author-- many authors are NOT good narrators of their work, but Jackson certainly is excellent. I loved her accents. Made the characters so believable.

I appreciated the title so much, as it was a running theme in the book-- "between". So many "betweens" within its pages. I also quite enjoyed the author's notes at the back, telling about the actual town and such. I really can't wait for this author's next book!

This book is quite different from Jackson's first book, GODS IN ALABAMA, which I devoured upon opening the cover. However, it is a good book in its own right, though not a mystery and written in a much different style. In some ways, I liked it better. It is funny and sad (but not too sad), and everything in between. There's that word again!

With BETWEEN, GEORGIA, her second novel, published just one year after her stunning debut, Gods in Alabama (2005), Joshilyn Jackson has exceeded all comparison with the legendary Harper Lee (as a talented southern author from Alabama who wrote about the dark South) -- Harper Lee only published one book in her lifetime.

BETWEEN, GEORGIA is a triumph for Joshilyn Jackson. Gods in Alabama was a great book: received terrific reviews and critical acclaim, became a bestseller, and even landed Ms. Jackson the envied author spotlight on Oprah. BETWEEN, GEORGIA is even better.

Both novels are set in the "deep South" and could be categorized as "dysfunctional redneck" (a genre all Joshilyn Jackson's own) -- in a good way: compelling, and truly original -- with the main character in each struggling to escape her past, but drawn back to family and small town for reconciliation and redemption.

While readers will recognize Joshilyn Jackson's charming southern voice (more a twang than a drawl), her gift for storytelling, and laugh-out-loud funny southern characterizations, BETWEEN, GEORGIA (the name of a fictional town), is not a sequel. The small town in Georgia is a completely new setting, with all new characters, and very different essential conflicts. While the main character may seem familiar, as a strong southern girl, independent but emotionally damaged by her past, Nonny Frett is very different from Gods' Arlene Fleet.

Nonny Frett is a grown southern girl in her thirties, on the edge of divorce, if she and her aspiring, but way laid-back musician husband could ever stay out of bed and get around to it. Nonny lives and works in the college town of Athens, Georgia -- a thriving metropolis, compared to her hometown of Between, Georgia, population 90, most of whom she is related to in some way, either by birth, or by theft. While Nonny is trying to grow up and move on with her life (after she gets rid of the good-for-nothing husband), she's tied to her hometown in many more ways than one. It gets complicated...

The population of 90 in Between, Georgia, are all part of a decades-long feud between two families, and Nonny is caught right in the middle, between "the Fretts, who stole her and raised her right; and the Crabtrees, who lost her and can't forget that they've been done wrong."

Add in all the remarkable elements of Joshilyn Jackson's redneck dysfunctional storytelling talent: eccentricity, mental health, physical deformity/handicap, gross obesity, and, above all, love, loyalty and family, BETWEEN, GEORGIA is truly original. Reading along, you can't imagine what is going to happen next, right through to the shocking, explosive conclusion -- and there's a love story in there, too!

I liked Gods in Alabama.
I love, love, love Between, Georgia.
I can hardly wait to see what Joshilyn Jackson has in store for us next!

-- Sherri Caldwell, Humor Columnist & Reviewer at RebelHousewife.com
Co-Author, The Rebel Housewife Rules: To Heck With Domestic Bliss!

With a population of 90, the town of BETWEEN, GEORGIA, is proving to be too small to contain the feud taking place between the Frett and Crabtree families. It's a feud that started before Nonny's birth, but is quickly coming to a head and Nonny is caught right in the middle of the whole mess.

Nonnie has been raised as a Frett but she was born to fifteen year old Hazel Crabtree who'd hidden her entire pregnancy. She gave birth in Bernese Frett's house and insisted that the birth of her baby be kept silent. Stacia Frett is a deaf artist who is slowly losing her eyesight due to a genetic condition, but seizes this baby as a reason for living. Nonny is raised as a Frett. Her birth to a Crabtree is kept a secret until Hazel reveals the truth in a scathing note to her mother, Ona. Nonnie becomes the focus of the ongoing battle between the two families - one that can do no wrong (because they have money that proves it) and the other family who live life more on the shady side of the law.

Thirty years later, Nonnie has some major decisions to make. She's an interpreter living in Athens. She's still tied to her husband, Jonno, who's cheated on her repeatedly (at least until the divorce hearing on Friday) and her best friend, Henry Crabtree, is sneaking his way into her heart. Her aunt Bernese is raising a little girl, Fischer, in Between who Nonnie is very attached to, but her job keeps her in the city and she's not able to see Fisher as much as she'd like. Her family is doing their level best to make her crazy with the constant drama and expecting her to take care of everything. Now in the latest episode, the Crabtree's dog attacks Stacia and her companion, Genny, putting them both in the hospital which forces Nonnie back to Between before her divorce hearing date. She single-handedly has to try to keep the members of the Crabtree and Frett families from retaliating against wrongs done to them, save Fischer from Bertrice's crazy diet ideas, somehow get back to Athens to finalize her divorce and figure out her true feelings for Henry. The anger that's been simmering in Between has reached a boiling point and the little town will never be the same.

Joshilyn Jackson captured my interest right from the start with her quirky book BETWEEN, GEORGIA. The dialogue between the characters is hysterically funny throughout the storyline. I laughed during many of the family discussions because they're just so much fun and you get to feel like you're really there observing the whole time. The characters are outlandish and brilliantly done so that you can envision them and each new crisis reaches out from the pages and grabs your emotions. I confess that I love this female version of the Hatfields and McCoys. It's the perfect summertime read - full of twists and turns, laugh out loud funny, and has characters you won't soon forget.

Chrissy Dionne (courtesy of Romance Junkies)

I'm not a huge fan of authors reading their own work for audio. More than one decent text has been destroyed by the droning, nasal voice of a proud author who shouldn't have been allowed near a microphone. Happily, Ms. Jackson is a glorious exception to this rule. Her rendition of Between, Georgia is an absolute delight. She created consistent accents for each character that reflected their personalities beautifully. Listening to her is so much like settling into a porch swing with a glass of sweet tea for a chat with a friend, it's easy to overlook how technically well-done it was, really superb. I was completely drawn in by her narration, and I already miss Between's residents like old friends. Well, maybe not Bernise.

Between, Georgia, is a small town where nurse Bernese Frett lives with her twin sisters, Genny and Stacia, the latter of whom is deaf and quickly losing her eyesight. Nervous Genny translates for levelheaded Stacia while aggressive Bernese presides over the household and comes to own the town's sheriff and only attorney.

Hazel Crabtree, the rebellious daughter of scrappy neighbor Ona Crabtree, arrives on Bernese's doorstep in advanced labor. Once the newborn arrives, Hazel adamantly refuses to claim her. Although the father is unknown, Stacia lifts the baby to her heart and makes her intentions clear.

Stacia Frett will be the little one's mother, and Genny and Bernese will be there to help. Bernese arranges a shady but quick adoption and a baby that would have been a Crabtree becomes Nonny Jane Frett and finds a loving, albeit imperfect, home.

Later, in a hurtful letter to her mother, absent Hazel Crabtree details Nonny's birth and sends Ona Crabtree into an angry spin that ends with her having to watch her granddaughter grow up from an uncomfortable distance. Hard-living drunkard Ona Crabtree despises Bernese. Pious Bernese Frett returns the favor.

Nonny's finds herself standing between two families leveling weapons at one another. In the crossfire, she must make some hard decisions about how she will live the life she has been given.

Readers will love this story. This is a deeply emotional novel with well-drawn characters that seemingly live real lives.

The story progresses with the same anxiety found in the front car of a roller coaster ride. The reader receives an expertly patched quilt that shows how one life touches so many others.

I hope Joshilyn has another book on the way. She captivates you with her characters and weaves romance and mystery so well you cannot wait to read the next page. Better yet - I listened to this book on CD and thoroughly enjoyed hearing all those voices. Having grown up in the South, I can vouch for the authenticity of the slang and the eccentricities of the characters (I think I'm related!) Joshilyn - can't wait for your next novel! Glenda Wright

BETWEEN, GEORGIA broke my heart in more ways than one. First there is the fact that Joshilyn Jackson's writing is so masterful and authentic that anyone else with the temerity to try and write a Southern novel will feel like an imposter. Her voice, her characters, the setting, and the sheer excitement of the plot are enough to make me feel I need to dump my work-in-progress and start all over again.

Ms. Jackson starts the novel in media res a fancy term for cutting straight to the chase and what a chase it is, this gripping and yet poignant tale of a "red-headed stepchild" that turns the concept upside down and inside out. Nonny Frett is the darling of two feuding (and somewhat feudal) families. She is their peacemaker and their greatest hope, and yet she is also so clearly their beneficiary. The frailities of her family show up against a frieze of their strenths, it's a tableau of Gothic proportions while also striking this reader as completely fresh and inarguably true. Most compelling for me was the way in which the characters tended one another with an almost paranormal sense of delicacy, punctuated by the odd deadly swipe with the bon mot on crack or the reptilian clumsiness that will strike a chord way down inside the place where Hallmark don't go.

I inhaled this book, I savored this book, I hated to have it end. Joshilyn Jackson is the real thing. Go buy this book and don't bother making any other plans for your weekend

Sheila Curran, author of DIANA LIVELY IS FALLING DOWN, Penguin, USA

After reading Gods in Alabama, I was sure to preorder Between, Georgia. I had hoped it would be a worthy read, but figured surely Joshilyn would drop off a little. Well, to my reading pleasure, this book pulled me in just as much as Gods did. And the ending didn't disappoint one bit. There is a bad thing though. This time, for me, there isn't the next book on its way out yet!