Georgia smiled. Her new life was calling. She couldn’t wait to get started.
Reading Group Guide
Georgia Bottoms
A NOVEL BY
Mark Childress
A Conversation with Mark Childress
by Andrew Alexander for
Creative Loafing Atlanta
Georgia Bottoms is a comic novel that tells the story of a tough Southern belle whose dodgy and tenuous world begins to fall apart in the aftermath of 9/11 as residents in her small town start to learn about her secret life: her discreet income from married men, the real source of the folk quilts she sells as her own, and the ramblings of her delusional family members. We caught up with the author at his home in Key West to ask about the new novel.
You were born in Monroeville, Alabama. That’s also the hometown of two of the South’s most famous writers: Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Did you ever know them or have any connections with their families?
I have met them both, but it wasn’t really through any family or hometown connection. My family moved away when I was eighteen months old. Monroeville has been claiming me ever since I got a book published, and I’m thrilled to death that they do, but I can’t claim to have any deep knowledge of Monroeville and her people. Harper Lee did write me a very nice letter after my first novel was published. I followed Truman Capote around trying to interview him, but it was right around the end of his life. He kept agreeing to interviews, but he wasn’t able to deliver on that. I talked to him, but he wasn’t really a good interview: let’s put it that way. Monroeville has a writer’s conference every spring, and I guess because I’m the fiction writer from Monroeville who will attend, they invite me a lot. I’m no Harper Lee. I’m no Truman Capote. But I will show up.
Did you have a town in mind when you were writing about the isolated Alabama town of Six Points in your new novel?
No. It’s a blend of several places where I’ve lived. I guess the idea of imagining a town that doesn’t even have cell phone service really attracted me. I was just trying to get way back up in the woods somewhere. But that may be in the realm of the fabulous. I wonder if there even is such a place.
How did you think up the character of Georgia? What drew you to writing about her?
This is my seventh book, and each one starts differently. I keep waiting for there to be some consistency in how it starts. In most cases, a little bell rings or there’s a moment of dialogue that you hear and you go, “Oh, I could get a whole book out of that.” In this case, it happened right in the aftermath of 9/11. A friend of mine told me about his grandmother, who was a mayor in a small town in Alabama. He told me that on 9/11, she sent the deputies over to protect the water tower. I did just what you did: I laughed. But then I thought: If you were the mayor of that little town on that afternoon, that wouldn’t have been a funny precaution to take at all. Remember how hornswoggled we all were. For some reason there was something noble about it. In my mind, she took her own gun over there to protect the water tower from al Qaeda. I think that was the birth of the whole book. I wanted to write a scene where that happens… and as you can tell, the plot thickens.
Why do you think the South is home to so many eccentric women?
Well, I suppose it would start with the eccentric men that they marry. I don’t know. I get the feeling from the reading I’ve done in the culture that women were in charge of things pretty much since the Civil War. I think the war was left to the men, and we screwed that up so severely that the women in the South had to take things over and they’ve been running things ever since. Most people I know come from a family with a strong matriarch at the top.
You read at the Margaret Mitchell House. What are your thoughts about Ms. Mitchell and Gone with the Wind?
One of the cool things is that when you read there, they give you a little tour of her living quarters. When I lived in Atlanta, that place was in ruins and it burned. It’s just sort of cool to be able to go back in and envision the conditions she wrote that book under. I honestly think it’s an underrated novel as fiction. It’s not underrated in any other way, but I think it’s a really well-written book. I enjoy rereading it every couple years. My mother was a huge fan, too. When I was about six years old, they rereleased the movie, and I’ll never forget we had to sit in the front row it was so crowded, and my mother said, “They burned Atlanta in our laps!”
Questions and topics for discussion
1. How would you describe Georgia’s reaction when her September luncheon goes awry due to outside events? Is she justified in feeling this way? Do you see any parallels between Georgia’s reaction to the events of that day and the reaction of America as a whole?
2. Georgia often refers to the Ant Connection. Why do you think she is so concerned with how ants are like (or unlike) humans?
3. Little Mama’s attitude toward race is very pronounced. As Georgia says, “Not liking colored people was Little Mama’s big thing. It cut to the heart of who she was” (here). Do you think Little Mama’s position changes through the novel? Why or why not?
4. Why does Georgia prevent herself from becoming emotionally involved with any of her suitors? Are there any men she does let her guard down with?
5. What does Brother bring to the cast of characters? What do you think motivates him to seek out trouble? Does he also undergo a transformation throughout the book?
6. Georgia considers many stereotypes for women: “A woman without a husband isn’t supposed to be happy…. A woman alone is not supposed to have fun…. Women are supposed to hate the idea of getting older” (here). What are some other stereotypes about women? To what extent does Georgia contradict them or play into them?
7. Georgia and Krystal are best friends, but it seems they couldn’t be more different. Why do you think their friendship works? What are the fault lines in their relationship?
8. When Georgia runs into Dr. Madeline Roudy outside Hull’s Market (here–here), the two women seem to be talking past each other. Is Madeline’s reaction to Georgia’s offer justified? Could Georgia have handled the conversation more tactfully or was this an inherently no-win situation?
9. Georgia wonders if she dated Skiff to spite her mother (here). Do you agree with Georgia’s assessment? What do you think of the choices she made afterward? Were her actions understandable given her circumstances or should she have acted differently?
10. Georgia’s gentleman callers have a special routine through which they show their appreciation (here–here). Do you agree with the way Georgia explains it? Are there any moral implications to these arrangements?
11. What is Georgia’s initial reaction to Nathan’s arrival? How does her attitude toward him evolve as the book goes on? What do you see as the turning point in their relationship?
12. Georgia’s attempt to help Krystal during the League of Women Voters event goes terribly awry (here–here). Do you agree with Georgia’s assessment of the situation? Should Georgia have acted differently or was Krystal’s reaction too harsh?
13. Do you think Georgia deserves the letter she finds in her room (here–here)? Was something like this bound to happen or was the motivation behind it unusually malicious? Did you think Georgia’s response was appropriate? What could you see as her other options?
14. What do you imagine happens to Georgia when she gets to New Orleans?
About the Author
MARK CHILDRESS was born in Monroeville, Alabama. He is the author of six previous novels, including One Mississippi and Crazy in Alabama, three books for children, and the screenplay of the film Crazy in Alabama. He lives in Key West, Florida.
ALSO BY MARK CHILDRESS
One Mississippi
Gone for Good
Crazy in Alabama
Tender
V for Victor
A World Made of Fire
Praise for Mark Childress’s
Georgia Bottoms
“This is Childress’s best book yet. Georgia Bottoms is one of my favorit
e characters in recent years, a lovingly drawn woman from a small Southern town, charming, hilarious, heartbreaking, warm, and tough, rich in charm and denial and insight. She’s an inspired creation who grows before our very eyes, in a story filled with serious challenges and fabulous people, good and bad, rich and poor, stunning and appalling, sometimes all at once. They all ring true, and I will never forget them.”
—Anne Lamott, author of Imperfect Birds
“In this hilarious southern-fried novel, belle Georgia Bottoms cuts a sassy swath through the Alabama town her family has occupied for generations. Though the clan was once prosperous, gorgeous Georgia now makes ends meet with help from a round-robin of lovers. Riffs on small-town hypocrisy and racial tensions enliven the plot, but it’s the unsinkable Georgia who makes the book delicious.”
—People
“The novel lies mostly in Georgia’s marvelously goodhearted but teeming and scheming mind…. This is a well-traveled Southern literary landscape drawn for comic effect. Childress knows his way around. Scenes and whole sections are skillfully crafted, memorable, and amusing…. Georgia, good-looking and devious, is a compelling character who keeps the narrative alive with her survival skills…. The trip is well worth it.”
—Kendal Weaver, Associated Press
“A lively adventure story about a woman who’s gotten herself into a large mess (or three) and is largely responsible for arranging her own rescue…. Georgia is outsized without being a cartoon, and she lives within the literary tradition of Southern spitfires without being limited by it. The novel is full of broadly funny scenes.”
—Linda Holmes, NPR
“In Georgia Bottoms, you will meet the most hilariously dysfunctional bunch of characters to come down the literary pike in years. Try to stop laughing!”
—Fannie Flagg, author of I Still Dream About You
“Georgia Bottoms is the blond, beautiful Southern belle next door. As the central character in Mark Childress’s new novel, she is the center of attention…. Childress, an Alabama native, brings the same humor and flair for drama to Georgia Bottoms that made his novel Crazy in Alabama such a hit. He is a master of penning dialect, especially when it’s south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Georgia’s Southern accent floats off the page, making Georgia Bottoms a quick, entertaining novel for Childress fans and new readers alike…. This is a must-read, y’all.”
—Lizza Connor Bowen, BookPage
“A sparkling novel…. Mark Childress once again proves himself the master of American comic fiction.”
—Janet Fitch, author of Paint It Black
“This is Mark Childress’s finest novel. I adore Georgia Bottoms, novel and character. Her story is funny, smart, serious, and engaging, beginning to end. A must-read.”
—Lynn Freed, author of The Servants’ Quarters
“Sashaying through Childress’s newest, the titular Georgia Bottoms is a dead ringer for Scarlett O’Hara, from the way she charms the pants off every man in her small town of Six Points, Alabama, to the creative ways she contends with the loss of her family’s fortunes…. One of the most irresistible liars to ever whip up a batch of pimento cheese sandwiches, the irreverent Georgia allows Childress to poke delicious fun at a number of sacred cows, from Rosa Parks to Southern Baptists to 9/11… with an incomparable ear for dialogue and heaps of sexy slapstick.”
—Gina Webb, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“This is Mark Childress’s seventh novel, and it is a doozy. The simple act of reading Georgia Bottoms releases tension; buttons are undone, shoes kicked off—man, is it hot. Georgia Bottoms is not perfect, but she is fun to be with.”
—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times
“Childress is a wickedly clever and humorous fiction writer, and this novel is a delight…. In the Alabama novels of Mark Childress, as in those of his friend Fannie Flagg, very little—including a person’s public sexual orientation—is exactly what it seems.”
—Don Noble, Tuscaloosa News
“This new Childress tale captures Southern culture at its mint julep best: the interiors, what the people wear, how they speak. Georgia is a thirty-four-year-old free spirit, but he has some incredibly insightful things to say about aging and what it means to do the right thing. Georgia Bottoms isn’t stingy with her heart or her money. The end of the story has kept me smiling for weeks.”
—Alyne Ellis and Allan Fallow, AARP
“Childress is sassy magnolia lit’s Truman Capote—sharply observant, unrelentingly honest, and downright hilarious—and his Georgia peach is the freshest bad girl to rise from the South since Scarlett O’Hara.”
—Washington Examiner
“The title of this novel from Childress refers to a person rather than to a place—and what a memorable character she turns out to be.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Imagine if Scarlett O’Hara was a twenty-first-century character who wore lemon patent leather Manolo Blahnik heels. The Civil War is over but civil rights are still a work in progress, and instead of Tara, there is Six Points, Alabama, where she lives in her ancestral home, which has seen better days. To keep up appearances, she has turned to the world’s oldest profession—not that she would ever call it that. Georgia Bottoms is that heroine.”
—Liane Hansen, NPR Weekend Edition
“Mark Childress writes the funniest outlandish characters in Southern fiction, from the Tupperware-toting murderer Lucille in Crazy in Alabama to Georgia Bottoms, a fine, upstanding church lady in Six Points, Alabama, who sells sex on the side.”
—Atlanta
“Childress again brings to life that most elusive of all women—the Southern belle—and he shows his creative and imaginative skills for combining the hilarious and the heartfelt to reveal the inner secrets of Southern womanhood.”
—Sharon Galligar Chance, Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Back Bay Books • Available wherever paperbacks are sold
Contents
Front Cover Image
Welcome
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Reading Group Guide
A Conversation with Mark Childress