How I Left the Great State of Tennessee and Went on to Better Things: A Novel by Joe Jackson


How I Left the Great State of Tennessee and Went on to Better Things: A Novel
Title : How I Left the Great State of Tennessee and Went on to Better Things: A Novel
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0786712848
ISBN-10 : 9780786712847
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 336
Publication : First published February 9, 2004

In the waning days of one of the most unrecognized American exoduses of the twentieth-century, millions of broken people have left the strip mines of Appalachia in search of better things. In 1961, two of these yearning souls—Dahlia Jean Coker, the teenage daughter of a sluttish mother and a deadbeat Daddy, and "Twitch," an ex-con descended from the legendary outlaw Younger clan—are looking for their own ways out. After a botched robbery by Twitch, Dahlia takes the lead—with Twitch's loot and his teenage son—while the old man gives chase, with revenge in his heart and Dahlia's mother by his side. Through the South, and finally on to a Key West reeling from the Bay of Pigs debacle, the chase is at once thrilling, heartbreaking, murderous, dark, and hilarious. Along the way, readers encounter a snake-handling evangelist, determined civil rights activists, equally determined Klansmen, and the unfortunate wife of an adulterous NASA scientist. Battling a Tennessee flood of biblical proportions and a looming Florida hurricane, Dahlia, Twitch, and their improbable traveling companions all land up at Dahlia's daddy's houseboat. The final showdown, with a fortune and dreams of a better life at stake, will have readers marveling.

How I Left the Great State of Tennessee and Went on to Better Things: A Novel Reviews

  • Lavande

    This book is very similar to a number of Michael Malone books what with the epic quests, the myriad of eccentric characters, and epiphanies at the end of the journey. However, this book is more thoughtful and solidly written than Malone's more whimsical style and plot lines. Still, I can't give this book more than three stars because the author runs out of steam just before the ending and while the finale is appropriate, by the time you get there you just feel like shrugging and closing the book because all of the best parts have already been so vividly experienced.

    Joe Jackson is mainly known for his nonfiction which is why a number of his characters are so beautifully real despite the outlandish plot twists. I highly recommend him if you'd like to immerse yourself in a Southern, Gothic yarn that will make you want to relive the more exquisite parts of your youth, fear the bitterness and cycnism that lays ahead if you're not careful, and help you scratch that itch of wanderlust.

  • Angela

    This is one my all time favorite books! Its packed full of action, adventure & has quirky southern characters that will make you laugh. I found it to be a fast paced page turner.

  • Aubrey

    This book has so much happening so fast that I need to take periodic breaks from it or I will be overwhelmed.

  • Terry

    Like a whacked out adult version of Huckleberry Finn. A fun read.