Between, Georgia (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "THE WAR BEGAN thirty years, nine months, and seven days ago, when I was deaf and blind, floating silent and serene inside Hazel Crabtree..." (more)
Key Phrases: Ona Crabtree, Henry Crabtree, Grace Street (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The biological daughter of poor, scared teenager Hazel Crabtree, Nonny Frett was left at birth with the wealthy, respectable Frett clan—a secret that doesn't keep long in a rural Georgia town of 90 people. Growing up at the center of a Crabtree-Frett feud begun by her birth, Nonny is caught between her biological family and her adopted one, between contempt for her philandering husband and the comfort of marriage, between an apartment in Athens, Ga., and her childhood home, Between. When a Doberman belonging to Nonny's biological grandmother Ona Crabtree attacks Nonny's adopted mom, deaf and blind Stacia Frett, and Stacia's twin sister, Genny, the families' dormant "war" awakens. Though Jackson (Gods in Alabama) might cut a few corners plotwise, her strengths more than make up for it: plenty of Southern sass ("Don't call me again unless you are personally on fire") and rueful, charming confidences ("I wanted the divorce with all my heart. I did. Only I wasn't sure I wanted it tomorrow") make this a theatrical and well-paced Southern family drama. (July)
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From The Washington Post

There's "no such thing as a town smaller than Between," Joshilyn Jackson writes about the setting of her new Southern novel. It's not awfully far from Athens, Ga.; it's surrounded by pines and threatened by kudzu. Its major attraction is a museum devoted to porcelain dolls and butterfly farming: "a must-stop spot for the kind of people who liked to pack up a camper and go see freakishly large balls of tinfoil."

Between is also the home of the Fretts and the Crabtrees, who are like the Montagues and the Capulets, only more eccentric. The Fretts are "meticulous to the point of mental illness," Jackson writes. If they ever cuss, they use only cuss-words that appear in the Bible. They have money; they create order. The Crabtrees, meanwhile, live in squalor and chaos, sloping in and out of common-law unions and borderline felonies. The primal Crabtree landscape is a helter-skelter vision of "rusted-out bodies of cars and partial cars, heaps of old lawn mowers, fridges, gas stoves, and chunks of various engines." Crabtree men don't ask for dessert; they holler, "Baby Jesus, but I [expletive] need some pie."

A faithful summary of Between, Georgia would have to go on for pages to honor its enormous cast of quirky characters and its breathlessly intricate plot. But what you need to know is that the narrator, a spirited young woman named Nonny, was born a Crabtree and raised as a Frett. Her adoptive mother and aunts, in their tidy print dresses and orthopedic shoes, are naturally at odds with her Crabtree grandmother and a slew of redneck Crabtree cousins. But an attack by a vicious Crabtree dog brings the families together and sets the action going.

There's also Nonny's husband, Jonno, physically irresistible and ethically deficient, from whom she'll be divorced as soon as they can stop having "goodbye sex" and get to their court date in Athens. Jonno plays in a rock band called X. Machina -- as in deus ex machina, an ancient Greek plot-resolving device that comes in handy when this book reaches full gallop.

Jackson, whose first novel was gods in Alabama, has a gift for juggling a zillion movable parts. Adept at the kind of farce that requires characters to hide from each other in the bushes, she's also good at poignancy and at darker scenes of mayhem. There's so much back-story that it takes the reader a while to get oriented, but once you've got it straight, Jackson produces an astringently humorous performance.

Though Between hasn't the emotional depth that occasionally enriched gods in Alabama, it's equally dotted with Southern "characters." A favorite: the airhead virago Amber DeClue. Please let Scarlett Johansson play her if there's a movie so she can deliver the line: "I have to go iron my hair."

Reviewed by Frances Taliaferro
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (July 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446524425
• ISBN-13: 978-0446524421
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #582,746 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a Keeper!, June 19, 2006

By	Wantz Upon A Time Reviews "www.wantzuponatime... (Chicago) - See all my reviews

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

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Betweens Abound!, February 21, 2007

By	K. van Rooyen "Kmarie" (Appalachian Mountains, SW VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Day Hatfield And McCoy Tale ...But With A Twist, July 23, 2006

By	B. Merritt "filmreviewstew.com" (WWW.FILMREVIEWSTEW.COM, Pacific Grove, California United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.