Just finished reading Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson.  I liked it.  Don’t throw fried green tomatoes at me, but sometimes the whole quirky southern fiction thing wears a wee bit thin. (Stop it! Stop pelting me!  I went to school in the south!  I teach down there!) This book had quirkiness galore but the main character, Nonny, had a satisfying character arc with a lot of emotional change over the course of the book.

There were some problems with structure up front.  A lot, lota backstory told in exposition to get out of the way.  And one scene that had the potential to be highly dramatic was told entirely in exposition.  This puzzled me because Joshilyn Jackson is a master at writing scenes. 

A couple of her scenes are like set pieces–amazing gems.  The opening scene, in which Nonny’s birth is retold, and the second scene, in which a grown-up Nonny has sex with her soon-to-be-ex husband are both brilliant.

Bottom line is that its a good story.  Nobody but me and other writers are as picky about craft issues.  Sometimes I long for the days when I could just read–instead of read reading, the way I do now.