It’s been awhile since I’ve love-hated a book as much as I enjoyed love-hating this one. Contradictory, obviously, but you’ve only had to read Maria McCann’s As Meat Loves Salt—or any other book that you loved hating, or hated loving, or didn’t even realize you liked it until you’d finished—to know precisely what I mean when I say that I wanted to chuck my kindle across the room and yet I couldn’t put this book down for want of seeing what the hell it was on about.

Delilah’s is a story in the Book of Judges, and while I would never presume that an author has used specific archetypes as metaphor on purpose, it’s difficult not to draw some connections to the biblical character and her betrayal of the Judge of Israel when reading this novel. Delilah, Alabama, is precisely the sort of place that would discover the source of a man’s strength, lop it off at that source, and then sacrifice him to the enemy.

The town’s very own Judge is the sort of spurious psychopomp who can, and does, use his own powers of deception to propagandize and weaponize his snake oil evangelism, and as I watched him wield this dogmatic fervor to very literally groom the story’s sixteen-year-old protagonist, Max, in ways that made me viscerally recoil (it was difficult not to perceive it with a Satan’s temptation of Christ element in their interactions), I applauded Genevieve Hudson for using this as well as other stereotypes—it’s all about God, guns, and football—to such skillful effect. At one point I made a review note that simply stated, “These people are vile,” a harsh and unfair generalization because, while I didn’t mean all of the characters—I related closely to Max’s mother, felt for Max, was intrigued by Pan (make connections to the Greek god at your pleasure), and wished some of the other minor characters had been more thoroughly explored—the stereotypes are such that I couldn’t contain my reaction to them, nor could I ignore my own ingrained biases. Those conventions do exist, though, not because all people but because enough people, and this combined with a romanticizing language that drew a picturesque landscape while populating it with the concepts of religious fervor, homophobia, violence, American excess, God and politics, God in politics, and throwing some of our most shameful history into the light of day, my savior complex dictated my yearning to rescue Max before he became irretrievably indoctrinated in this way of life.

Amongst its realism is a thread of magic that feeds the metaphorical aspects of the story, specifically in Max as resurrectionist. The Southern Gothic conventions are met with a horror that has nothing to do with the supernatural and everything to do with man’s inhumanity to man, what we teach boys about masculinity, how blithely certain words are thrown around in casual conversation, and how the urgency to fit in can be used to manipulate. Not noted should be content warnings for self-harm, rape, graphic violence, and the aforementioned homophobia, so readers should be cautious of those inclusions in the story before deciding to pick this one up. Additionally, Hudson’s choice to eliminate the use of quoted dialogue (i.e., there isn’t a quotation mark used in the entirety of the book) delivers Max’s journey as full-on narrative in which the author’s voice dictates rather than allowing me an immersive experience with Max telling his own story. It took a while to adapt to the delivery and is most definitely an acquired taste.

Boys of Alabama packs an impactful emotional punch and succeeds in painting a none-too-flattering picture of the times and then reflects it back to its readers in striking ways.

This book caught my attention at the "The Hour of Star" quote by Clarice Lispector. It's one of my exquisite-favorite book by non-American authors.
It's good, but it's not for me.

Welcome to this Book/ARC review,

I want to start of by saying that my opinions are my own and not affected by the free advanced reader copy that I received of this book.

Also sorry for my absence, these are difficult time and for my mental health I had to stay away from anything that is or could be social media related.

Now without further do here are my thoughts.

It is not often that I have little to nothing to say about a book I have read.

It was a unique writing style that did need a few pages to get used to, I enjoyed the characters, they weren't the WOW I will remember you all my life type of characters and it was a nice coming of age story but it did not resonate with me as other books have in the past.

I feel that I mainly felt that way because the author seemed to want to integrate too many themes that need a lot of building and time in a book such as a cult-like part of the story, southern culture and homophobia.

This book fell in a weird place where these things weren't badly presented but rather did not have the proper time to expand to their full potential and the fact that they were all there, without mentioning the heartbreaks, love and such in the story, made for a rushed ending and a book that is just okay.

Not a favourite, but neither a worst.

My most hated types of books honestly, or one of, it just won't stick with me and I probably will never think about it or remember any details about it in a week.

Overall okay.

2.75/5 stars

-Bookarina

This is the story of Max, whose family moves to Alabama from Germany for his father's job. He starts attending a private Christian school and joins the football team. He becomes enamored with the town "witch." Sounds fun, right? NOT. Max also has some strange power and the town he moves to has some crazy stuff going on. So, I found this book interesting and gave it four stars because I enjoyed the writing and I thought the author really caught the essence of the South and the Southern Gothic in a modern way. The past and present colliding, the oppressive heat, the feeling of death and rebirth, the spectre of religious fanaticism. All that. I really thought that was innovative. I liked the magical realism aspect and how everything seemed kind of hazy, like watching something throw a dirty window.

BUT, I still found this book to be a little uneven. Maybe a little too magic, not enough realism. A little too fanatic, not enough religion. It was unclear a lot of the time what was actually going on and who was in on it. At times things would happen and my jaw would drop and I'd think, No, impossible. Surely not. Things happened and there was so recourse, no resolution, no context for understanding. And then it ends...It just ends at a point where I felt I was just getting a handle on where we were going. I didn't need a happy ending, just some kind of resolution!

I tried really hard to love this book. I love magical realism, and was really into the manic pixie dream boy that is Pan. But i just couldnt, this writing style was not for me. I spent 2 weeks just reading the first half because it was so slow going. The plot never seemed to move. So finally i started to just skim the second half to try to find some action to get me interested, but when i finally found it, it was so convoluted that i couldn't make sense of it. This book has a very surrealist tone to it, which i wasnt expecting and had a difficult time following. I can see how some people could love this book, but it just wasnt for me.

I’m having horrible luck lately with arcs. This is another one I was so excited for but I really couldn’t get into the writing style. It has a lot of potential though and I think if readers aren’t bothered by the style they’ll like Boys Of Alabama so I’m giving it a neutral three stars.

I so wanted to love BOYS OF ALABAMA by Genevieve Hudson, but it just wasn't the book for me. I was completely intrigued by the premise of a high school teenage boy moving from the cosmopolitan Germany to a small town in Alabama, and how he integrates himself into the football scene while, at the same time, coming to terms with his sexuality and grieving a best friend he left behind. It has all the makings of a wonderful novel that is right up my alley, but I just couldn't fully get into the story or accept these horrible characters who push for things I would never agree with. I know, it's fiction and it's important to read stories about people whose views you do not agree with, but perhaps since I'm reading it in May of 2020, it just doesn't sit well for me right now.

There's a lot going on: religion, the supernatural, sexuality, coming-of-age, politics. Hudson backs a lot into this short book which is extremely admirable. It just wasn't my cup of tea, the way it was presented. I had a hard time following what was going on and didn't connect or fall in love with any of the characters. There should be a few trigger warnings (assault, violent death, fatphobia, animal abuse, etc). The end was a nice surprise, though one I could kind of see coming, and I loved the allusions to the southern gothic tradition. It's an admirable first novel, just not a book for me personally.

The concept of this book is so interesting (and unique!), and the writing is honestly nothing short of superb, but unfortunately, for me there were certain plotting decisions that made it difficult for me to love this book as much as I thought I would. The first thing - and I'll acknowledge that this is more personal than the others - is that I thought Max was too much of an observer; it was so, so rare that he'd push back or even consider so much of what happens around him. I'm thinking mainly of the Judge's propaganda speeches here. Like, every word that man spoke was so, so loaded, and I just felt that there should have been WAY more reaction to that from Max than we got. ESPECIALLY at the end. It felt, a lot of the times, like Max was just looking around, and it also felt, quite a bit, like the writing was just skimming. There were SO MANY scenes that I thought should've gone on for longer than they did. In a book that didn't have this element of magical realism I think this style would've worked just fine (especially since it absolutely plays to Hudson's strengths as a writer), but because there was magical realism involved I felt like certain things needed to be explored more fully. Again: especially at the end.

So, so much happens in those final thirty or so pages. It feels like half the book's action is crammed in there. And I couldn't help but throw up my hands at the ending and think, okay, but what happens after that? And I'm not even talking about the magical realism aspect; I'm thinking more of the relationships here. Where does Max stand with the Judge after this? What about his mom? It felt too abrupt, especially after the way everything was built up.

But, you know, up until the last act, I was really, really enjoying this book. I don't think I've read another quite like it. And for that reason I think any reader who's at all pulled in by the summary should give it a shot. For me, I didn't think it ended up being all that it could've been, but another reader could absolutely feel differently.

"I love how en vogue dead bodies are around here." -Boys of Alabama, by Genevieve Hudson

This book was my introduction to Genevieve Hudson. The writing and technique were fine but I just did not click with the characters. None of them. I did not understand Max, I did not agree with him on most of his opinions and choices. This story was not enjoyable to me. The beginning of Part 3 got exciting with the ghosts, paranormal, the visiting of the haunted asylum, but it was short-lived.

The story had a lot of potential; I particularly enjoyed reading about seeing the South through a foreigner's eyes. I patiently waited to see where Max's power was going to take me; I was hoping it was going to lead to something exciting, something big, but the resolve was a let-down.

I am still giving it a 3-star for the writing quality.

Thank you Net Galley and Liveright for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story was so strange and intriguing, I still don't really know what to think of it because it's so unique.

The novel follows a teenage boy, Max, who has moved from Berlin to Alabama. Max has the secret power of being able to heal animals and bring them back from the dead, however, Max views this power as a curse. The story follows Max's experience moving to Southern USA, his friendship with a witch at his school named Pan, his emerging sexuality, along with a religious cult whose leader is brainwashing the town.

It was ... a lot. A lot of plot lines and themes that would have worked a bit better if the ending was a bit more fleshed out and if the book was longer in general. I thought the book was going to go one way, but near the end, things just took such a big turn and happened so fast. I don't think I fully understood the meaning of this story or the point it was trying to make. Maybe I'm just dumb but I sort of wish I had someone to explain it to me.

Besides a bit of confusion near the end, I genuinely enjoyed this book and was so interested in what would happen, solely because I had never read a book like this before. There were no chapters, which made the book flow a bit like a dream sequence, which is what reading it felt like. It was a weird combination of magic, sexuality, desire, religion, and uncertainty, and I thought it was really interesting to read! I would recommend it to anyone, simply because I want everyone to experience the uniqueness of it.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Actual rating: 2.5

Genevieve Hudson's Boys of Alabama is part coming-of-age, part magical realism and a strangely unique experience to read. Readers follow Max, a German boy who has recently moved to Alabama. Max has the power to consume death, therein restoring things to life. In addition, Max is introduced to religion, a new school, the culture of the American South, struggling to fit in, and navigating his queerness.

This book is written in a way that is beautifully lyrical. I wish I had the opportunity to read it as an audiobook, as I feel it would have been more impactful that way. I did find it a little off-putting that there were no quotation marks and no separation of chapters. It made the book come across as dream-like and very stream of consciousness.

I don't think that this style of book is something that I particularly enjoy, but can absolutely appreciate what it did and can understand why people would love it.

Usually when I see the word "football" attached to anything I steer clear, but I am so glad I picked this up! The writing is so incredibly vivid and the storytelling so intoxicating it's truly hard to put down. I really appreciated how the story illuminated the fluidity of gender and socially constructed identity categories, but did so in a way that wasn't too heavy handed. And ugh, Pan. Definitively one of my favorite characters of all time.

This is one of those books that "takes you there," as my friends and I like to say. I could see the characters, feel the thick heat of Alabama, smell the trees and sweat. A delightful engagement for the senses.

DNF-60%
This book was written beautifully, but I am very sad to admit I could not finish it for personal reasons. Maybe I’ll come back to this book eventually but until then I’ll leave it unfinished

I can't shake the feeling that maybe I was missing something here with this one. The cruelty of the boys was hard for me to read and the ending was abrupt, to say the least. I don't feel like there was very much character development and I was confused so much of the time, but overall it was a very gripping read and I was left wanting more.

I don't know if it was my copy or all of them but there wasn't a lot of punctuation in the book, especially quotation marks. It made the book almost impossible for me personally to read. I'm still curious and interested in the book and premise, being someone who grew up in the South and has family in Alabama, so I will probably check the book out again after release to see if anything has changed punctuation wise. It's a DNF 'for now'

The author combined many different things, adjustment to a new place, exploration of sexuality, paranormal, and normal coming of age issues. I think that the author would have been better off with just focusing on one or two of these. It felt like they were trying to cover too many things with this book. It was an ok read, though.

I love Hudson's previous writing and was still amazed at how far she went with this book. It's completely unique. A queer coming of age story with magical realism, in an atmospheric Deep South. No one else could have written this.

This is a tough book to review. Why?

First, it's a unique blend of a paranormal, a coming of age, and a cultural exchange book.

It sets our protagonist from Germany in a small town in Alabama. Back in Germany, he was nothing special, but here as a student in an Evangelical Christian school, he is very popular. Taken in by the football boys, he begins a stereotypical American teen high school indoctrination: parties. Different from other typical tales is the strong evangelical wave moving this story along. I'm not sure what to make of it. How much is playing off of stereotypes? I mean, we hear tongues. We see snakes. We see boys talking about being saved while they drink by a bonfire.

Along with this odd clashing of German and Southern evangelical cultures the author brings in a touch of the paranormal. I would not call it magical realism. This is straight up magic and there is nothing realistic about it. Our protagonist can bring things back to life.

What this skill had to do with this tale is something that I'm still pondering. Was is there only for the final scene? Was it there as another source of "otherness" in this tale? Was it there to woo his love interest? Something to confide with someone? I'm not sure and I it's for this reason that I don't know how to review the book.

It felt as if two tales were presented and they never really came together. Both storylines simply came to an abrupt end after much buildup. An end that, perhaps was inevitable, but as to what purpose I'm not sure.

That being said, I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. It felt fresh. We saw no quotations for dialogue and after a bit of adjustment, I didn't notice their absence. The style also reflected some of the cultural clash between Germany, Alabama and the paranormal. How, I can't really explain except to say that it felt as different and bringing these three things together could be.

My rec? If you love coming of age books, I say go for it!!

**This book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for the purposes of an unbiased review.**

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

Yikes.

As someone from Alabama, I was excited about this book. As someone from Alabama, I ended up being disappointed by this book. I'm not sure if it's because I have a more cynical/critical view of this state, but I wasn't impressed. But I found myself rolling my eyes at the hyperbolic, romantic descriptions. It was a lot to stomach and made it rather difficult to get through.

I don't know, maybe if you like Gone With the Wind and verbose, sweeping descriptions of Satan's armpit country, it may work for you.

ARC Generously provided by Netgalley

I finished this book a few days ago, this book had me thinking days after finishing yet still not an easy one to review. Writing style was unique, at the start a bit of an adjustment (no punctuation or quotation) and it took me a bit to get into but once it picked up I could not put it down.

Max , a teen moves to Alabama from Germany, he feels the cultural changes, language difficulties, figuring out where he fits in socially, and exploring his sexuality. There is a heavy gothic southern feel to this book due to the paranormal/powers Max is learning to deal with.

I enjoyed so much of this story, boys coming of age, falling for someone, unrequited feelings, heartbreak, the story of being young, confused and finding your place with your fiends, figuring out who to trust. I was also taken by how well she wrote about football, you could feel how a boy could love the game and the bond of being a team.

For me If felt as the author tried to put too many messages in the book and much of it had holes or felt unresolved. There was the storyline of the Judge and his cult-like following, Max’s relationship with his dad mentioned a few times, the southern religious town culture, homophobia - Max ‘s mother who appears to be the only redeemable character. The uncle ? Max’s powers and lastly the.very strange and abrupt ending

I enjoyed this overall I was both confused and irritated by all the excess and unanswered.