CRAZY IN ALABAMA by Mark Childress...

CRAZY IN ALABAMA by Mark Childress (Ballantine: $11; 383 pp.). In this freewheeling novel, 12-year-old Peter Joseph (“Peejoe”) watches interracial tensions flare into violence over the attempt to integrate the municipal swimming pool in the flyspeck town of Industry, Ala., in 1965. Peejoe’s commitment to social justice grows out of the vicious fight. Childress juxtaposes this coming-of-age story with the darkly comic saga of Peejoe’s Aunt Lucille. A macabre caricature of a ‘60s housewife, Lucille murders her abusive husband and carries his head around in a Tupperware bowl. Her efforts to become a Hollywood star prove that it isn’t always worth the effort to get ahead. Childress’ characters are two-dimensional and their escapades improbable, but his skill as a yarn-spinner keeps readers from noticing these weaknesses until they’ve finished the book.