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by
Joshilyn Jackson
(see our profile and
interview)
Joshilyn Jackson’s “Between, Georgia” reminds
us that we are not lonely people. No matter where our lives take us,
our families will follow. When we meet our narrator, Nonny Jane,
she is recounting the story of her birth and simultaneously
introducing us to a small town family feud that will grow up with
her. Born a distinctly red-headed Crabtree, Nonny comes to belong to
the Frett family whose members include three dark-haired,
thick-skinned sisters: Bernese, the town matriarch, and her twin
siblings Genny and Stacia. It is Stacia, born def and destined to
lose her eye sight by middle age, who decides that the Frett family
will raise Nonny.
Nonny is surrounded by distinct and vibrant
characters like the love-starved Ona Crabtree, constantly yearning
to play her entitled role of grandma, and Jonno, Nonny’s
on-again-off-again excuse of a husband. At the same time, Jackson
introduces us to Stacia’s world, a fascinating realm of detail and
routine, and one yet unconquered by a lack of hearing and vision.
When our characters are around Stacia, no moment (be it pleasant or
unpleasant) is left unsaid – rather it is reiterated with signs
spelled out into the palms of her hands. This reverence to
translation finds characters re-interpreting a world with distinctly
un-interpretable situations.
In addition to vivid characters, Nonny’s voice
is strong and sardonic throwing out thoughts like, “What man wants a
woman with one and a half mothers, one def-blind and the other so
neurotic she was less than four baby steps from flat crazy,” and
“The little red Crabtree who lived in my blood had woken and was
running wild under everything the Fretts had tried to raise me to
be.” Jackson’s phrasing and syntax are enough to make anyone
remember what makes a great storyteller so much of a pleasure to
follow along with.
In between Athens and Atlanta, the seen and the
unseen, the Fretts and the Crabtrees, two mothers and their
daughters, there is Between, Georgia -- it’s here that Jackson
invites us to leave behind the notion of feeling isolated and alone.
Reviewed by: Hannah Leatherbury
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(click to buy from Amazon.com)
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