Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Bastard Out of Carolina was one of five finalists for the National Book Award in 1992 (source). That's a big freakin' deal.
It took Dorothy Allison ten years to write Bastard Out of Carolina (source). Think about where you were ten years ago. Wow. It began as a collection of short stories before it was a novel—which is something interesting to keep in mind as you read each chapter.
Like many a good book, Bastard Out of Carolina has been censored by school boards who find its content to be too dark for high schoolers, because the world is actually filled with puppies and rainbows and nothing bad ever happens ever (source 1 source 2).