Georgia Bottoms is known in her small community of Six Points, Alabama, as a beautiful, well-to-do, and devoutly Baptist Southern belle.
Nobody realizes that the family fortune has long since disappeared, and a determinedly single woman like Georgia needs an alternative, and discreet, means of income. In Georgia's case it is six well-heeled lovers-one for each day of the week, with Mondays off-none of whom knows about the others.
But when the married preacher who has been coming to call (Saturdays) decides to confess their affair in front of the whole congregation, Georgia must take drastic measures to stop him. In GEORGIA BOTTOMS, Mark Childress proves once again his unmistakable skill for combining the hilarious and the absurd to reveal the inner workings of the rebellious human heart.
Starred Review. Sassy Southern belle Georgia has a lot of secrets: a rotation of gentleman callers with unique sexual needs, a mother with a tenuous hold on reality, and a lucrative (if dodgy) business of selling at a huge mark-up the folk art quilts she buys and passes off as her own creations. But then 9/11 comes along, Georgia's world of naughty innocence is changed forever, and all the plates she once spun so effortlessly in midair come crashing down: her illegitimate black son shows up on her doorstep; her best friend and town mayor, Krystal, loses her job; her demented mom and drunken brother become increasingly errant; and one of her boyfriends—a spiteful preacher—has an unfortunate attack of conscience and intends to publicly confess his affair and simultaneously condemn poor Georgia to hell. Childress (One Mississippi) is sassy magnolia lit's Truman Capote—sharply observant, unrelentingly honest, and downright hilarious—and his Georgia peach is the freshest bad girl to rise from the South since Scarlett O'Hara. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Perhaps no region of America is caricaturized through stereotypes as thoroughly and nakedly as the South. In Georgia Bottoms, Childress indulges these stereotypes more than he challenges them. Here the reader finds the hypocritical Baptist preacher, the gossipy congregation, and the femme fatale in impeccable dress. It is awfully hot outside, and the townspeople could not be politer. Of course, everyone is talking behind everyone else�s back. This is problematic, as the story�s conflict comes from the protagonist�s struggle to juggle a coterie of paramours, one of whom�the reader discovers early�is the guilt-stricken preacher. All of this can be more cute than entertaining, especially in dialogue, where one finds few surprises. Childress is perhaps most charming between jokes; occasionally, in drawing a simple setting, he dazzles: �The old town seemed suddenly lovely: long green lawns stretched out under live oaks, sprinklers chattering, flinging arcs of bright glitter. Some of the clapboard cottages were as old as the live oaks. Kids made skateboard racket on the broken sidewalks.� --Kevin Clouther
Mark Childress is the author of seven novels: GEORGIA BOTTOMS (coming from Little, Brown in February 2011), ONE MISSISSIPPI, GONE FOR GOOD, CRAZY IN ALABAMA, TENDER, V FOR VICTOR, and A WORLD MADE OF FIRE.
Born in Monroeville, Alabama - the same town Harper Lee wrote about in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Childress is one of three sons of Roy and Mary Helen Childress. Roy was a salesman for Ralston Purina, so the family moved a lot growing up: Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, and Louisiana were some of the stops along the way.
Childress attended Clinton (Miss.) High School and the University of Alabama, where he studied fiction writing under Barry Hannah and Carole Johnson. He worked as a staff writer for the Birmingham (Ala.) News, and was Features Editor of Southern Living magazine and National Editor of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution before becoming a full-time novelist.
His articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Times of London, San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday Review, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Travel and Leisure, and other national and international publications.
"Tender," a Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection, was named to several Ten Best of 1990 lists, and appeared on many national bestseller lists. "Crazy in Alabama," a featured selection of the Literary Guild, has been published in eleven languages and appeared on many bestseller lists and Ten Best of 1993 lists. "Crazy" was named The (London) Spectator's "Book of the Year" for 1993 and a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year," and was on the Spiegel bestseller list in Germany for 10 months.
"One Mississippi" was a BookSense Notable Book of the Year, nominated for SIBA Book of the Year,and appeared on the "hot summer book" lists of Good Morning America, People, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, O: the Oprah Magazine, and the New York Public Library. The paperback edition is now in its seventh printing.
Childress has also written three picture books for children, "Joshua and Bigtooth," in 1992, "Joshua and the Big Bad Blue Crabs," 1996 (both from Little, Brown), and "Henry Bobbity Is Missing And It Is All Billy Bobbity's Fault," (Crane Hill Publishers, 1996).
He wrote the screenplay of the Columbia Pictures film "Crazy in Alabama," directed by Antonio Banderas, and starring Melanie Griffith, an official selection of the Venice and San Sebastian film festivals in 1999.
Childress is now working on his eighth novel and a film project. He lives in Key West, Florida.
This review is from: Georgia Bottoms: A Novel (Hardcover)
Mark Childress does it again. He fires an opening salvo that grabs your funny bone and won't let go. But for careful readers there's more meat to the matter. An assessment of conservative values in small town American lampoons the usual suspects and points a wicked finger at sex, drugs, religion, and the ties that bind. And since we're south of the Mason Dixon line, he can't help but take the pulse of race relations and throw in a status report on gays and lesbians for good measure. You'll be highly amused but won't be able to ignore his overarching theme of what makes each of us an insider or an outsider and how we can cross that line in the blink of an eye. His characters race by the mile markers that define our lives -- work, gender, race, sexual preference, religion, wealth, and parental affection or lack thereof -- trying hard to give us a reason to exist in the cosmos. As usual, this writer is slyly subversive - first seducing you with broad humor and then daring you to think.
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This review is from: Georgia Bottoms: A Novel (Hardcover)
I'll be honest. I'm a huge Childress fan and have relished all of his novels from the first word to the last (if you haven't read "Tender," well...), so it is hardly surprising that I enjoyed Georgia as much as I did. I loved her and the steamy town from which she hails, drawn with a drawl that few have captured so well or to such fine effect. This is a wild ride that displays Childress's sleight of hand at every turn -- who else can stab so deeply into damning Southern truths while still making the place so embracing and enticing that you want to leave right this minute and go see it for yourself. And, a word to the wise: savor the last pages, even though you'll be tempted to race to the end. You'll be glad you did. A great, wonderful ride through charming insanity wrought with the adept touch of a master.
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This review is from: Georgia Bottoms: A Novel (Hardcover)
A seven-drawer locked dresser....one for each day of the week. What is in each drawer?....well, all the things Georgia needs to make her nightly lovers believe they are the only one....pictures of their mother, their favorite clothes, anything to make them feel "special." When one of the lovers' wives finds out about the affair, nothing to do but empty that drawer....oh well......done.
Georgia had enough of this worry for now...she had her September luncheon to think of. She couldn't disappoint the ladies...they looked forward to this luncheon each year, and she certainly couldn't let them know how poor she really was.
She hadn't always been poor, and she hadn't always been the pillar of society either....but then a letter arrived from someone who was keeping a secret for 20 years and who she told there was NO contact allowed whether it was in writing or through a phone call....this definitely wouldn't work for her. Things were not turning out the way Georgia had planned. Everything ALWAYS went her way...she couldn't have this happen. She will just send more money this time....yes...send more money and it would be taken care of, but then she found another letter as she was cleaning and that changed everything even more. What will she do now? She knew...she always had a plan....and what a great plan. You will love the book....it was funny and had everyday situations that at times we all have to deal with.
This book had me laughing from the first page....I knew she was another Scarlet O'Hara even before the author commented about it. I really enjoyed the book, and will definitely be reading his other books. 5/5
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