10.27.2010

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

Finally I read a book that no one else had already posted about! So, despite being an author on this blog for over a year this is actually my first post. Although the cover does not look enticing this is a great heartwarming story that makes me wish I lived in the south in the 1960's and was a member of the garden club. I don't want to give too much away but here is a brief summary from amazon.

Hoffman's [the author] debut, a by-the-numbers Southern charmer, recounts 12-year-old Cecelia Rose Honeycutt's recovery from a childhood with her crazy mother, Camille, and cantankerous father, Carl, in 1960s Willoughby, Ohio. After former Southern beauty queen Camille is struck and killed by an ice cream truck, Carl hands over Cecelia to her great-aunt Tootie. Whisked off to a life of privilege in Savannah, Ga., Cecelia makes fast friends with Tootie's cook, Oletta, and gets to know the cadre of eccentric women who flit in and out of Tootie's house, among them racist town gossip Violene Hobbs and worldly, duplicitous Thelma Rae Goodpepper. Aunt Tootie herself is the epitome of goodness, and Oletta is a sage black woman. Unfortunately, any hint of trouble is nipped in the bud before it can provide narrative tension, and Hoffman toys with, but doesn't develop, the idea that Cecelia could inherit her mother's mental problems. Madness, neglect, racism and snobbery slink in the background, but Hoffman remains locked on the sugary promise of a new day.

2 comments:

Caprene said...

You just beat me, I was coming on the site to blog about this book. I just finished it last night. I'll add my thumbs up to yours...

ariel said...

How have I never heard of this before? I feel so out of the reading loop. I'll definitely be pcking this one up. Or maybe I'll add it to my christmas list.