Format: Pamela Dorman Books (2010), Hardcover, 320 pages
Characters: CeeCee, Aunt Tootie, Oleta, Mrs. O'Dell
Subject: mental illness, emotional child abuse
Setting: Ohio, and Savannah Georgia
Genre: Fiction
Source: won in a blog contest from Tome Traveler's Weblog
Challenge: Read from my Shelves
This book has true Southern charm, and true Southern angst. CeeCee Honeycutt lives the first twelve years of her life in Ohio with a mother who is classically demented (bi-polar disorder?): she is still living out her glory days as Miss Vidalia Onion 1951, embarrassing CeeCee at every turn. Her father is unable to cope with such looniness and takes a 'traveling' job, stopping in only occasionally to leave some money, or pick up something from home.
When her mother is killed in an auto accident, Daddy decides to send her to live with her great aunt Tootie in Savannah Georgia. There, Tootie and her charming Southern lady friends, their causes, their lifestyle, and their love, all help CeeCee recover from the emotional havoc wreaked on her by such poor parenting.
The story is charming, the characters are people we'd love to meet and with whom we'd love to have a glass of iced tea. The plot is not overly involved, or complicated, but the book's strength is in the excellent character development and great southern dialect.
Posts
Oh, I loved this one. Glad you enjoyed it as well.
ReplyDeleteI really liked all the women in CeeCee's life.
ReplyDeleteI won this book in a giveaway too. So many people were gaga over this book, but I found it just OK (it felt familiar in a way).
ReplyDeleteI loved this book because of all the eccentric characters.
ReplyDelete