Boys of Alabama

A Novel

By: Genevieve Hudson

Narrated by: Charlie Thurston

Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

In this bewitching debut novel, a sensitive teen, newly arrived in Alabama, falls in love, questions his faith, and navigates a strange power. While his German parents don't know what to make of a South pining for the past, shy Max thrives in the thick heat. Taken in by the football team, he learns how to catch a spiraling ball, how to point a gun, and how to hide his innermost secrets.

Max already expects some of the raucous behavior of his new American friends - like their insatiable hunger for the fried and cheesy and their locker-room talk about girls. But he doesn't expect the camaraderie - or how quickly he would be welcomed into their world of basement beer drinking. In his new canvas pants and thickening muscles, Max feels like he's "playing dress-up". That is until he meets Pan, the school "witch", in physics class: "Pan in his all black. Pan with his goth choker and the gel that made his hair go straight up." Suddenly, Max feels seen, and the pair embarks on a consuming relationship: Max tells Pan about his supernatural powers, and Pan tells Max about the snake-poison initiations of the local church. The boys, however, aren't sure whose past is darker and what is more frightening - their true selves or staying true in Alabama.

©2020 Genevieve Hudson (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

What?

I have no idea what I just listened to. But, I know I’ll never get the time back I spent listening.

What in the heck did I just punished by

In the south, when we think someone is beautiful, forlorn, or just plain, MF, we say “bless your heart.” The author doesn’t know a blankety-blank thing about Alabamians, Germans, auto manufacturers, football, or people. This might be the most ignorant, we researched monstrosity I have ever heard. So to Genevieve Hudson “bless your heart.”

Hard to care what happens

The premise of the story is far, far, far more interesting than the execution.

The main character, Max, seemingly has no motivations of his own and is completely controlled by the wants and needs of other characters. He's disassociated from the story to the point that it's kind of hard to care what happens to him. Background plot threads and characters that are way more interesting than Max are introduced throughout the story but never really lead anywhere.

The performance is also not great - and by not great, I mean he leans into every vocal stereotype of Alabama you can imagine. While I don't think it's ever made explicit, the story is set in or near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the majority of folks in Tuscaloosa just don't speak with such exaggerated accents. The author pretty accurately captures a lot of the culture and social elements of Alabama, and Charlie Thurston then turns them into a cartoon.

I might have liked it better if I had read the book rather than listened - but here we are. It's fine - but I don't really recommend.

An arduous read

At times, very engaging, at times full of holes. The performance was exceptional, the middle part and ending were unsatisfying.