Saving Ceecee Honeycutt [Hardcover]

 

 

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It was 1962 in Ohio when CeeCee(Cecilia Rose) was seven years old. Her Momma was sitting and staring out the window. She had left her red satin shoes in the middle of the road. She was once the 1951 Vidalia Onion Beauty Queen. She is now thirty-three years old and married to CeeCee's father, a businessman who is fifty-seven years old.

Momma had spent the entire winter in a slump and now with spring here, she is on a high. She slips on a flowery print dress and takes CeeCee on a shopping spree. She buys tons of shoes and clothes with her plastic card and returns home. When CeeCee's father arrives, he is furious to hear about the expenses incurred and he cuts up the plastic card. He also knows that his wife is not taking her pills. When CeeCee is nine years old, Momma's moods begin to spike and plummet like a yoyo. One day, when CeeCee returns from school she finds her Momma wearing a yellow prom dress with layers of white petticoats. Her hair is bleached white and she is wearing a tiara. She is standing in the front yard waving to the passing cars and saying "I love you and please vote for me."

CeeCee begins spending Sunday mornings with her neighbor Mrs. Odell, a kindly old woman whose husband died. She goes for pancakes and syrup and listens to a church station on the radio. After a time, CeeCee does chores for Mrs. Odell and Mrs. Odell prepares lunches to take to school. When things get worse at home, CeeCee begins to pray to God. "Hello, my name is Cecilia Rose Honeycutt and I live at 831 Tulipwood Avenue. The preacher on the radio said if we opened our hearts and asked, we'd be saved. He said it was that simple. So I'm asking, will you please save Momma? Something's wrong with her mind and it's getting worse every day. And while you're at it, will you save me too? There's nothing wrong with MY mind, but I sure can use some help down here. I'll do anything you say. Thank you. Amen."
CeeCee keeps herself distracted and busy by reading. Books have become a way of life for her. She does well at school and becomes top in her class.

When her father returns home, CeeCee speaks to him about maybe putting her mother in a sanitarium, but her father says that they can't afford it. One day, the wealthy Aunt Tootie shows up in a beautiful red convertible with a white top. She knows how bad things have been and makes CeeCee's father an offer. She asks him to let CeeCee stay with her in Savannah, where she will be raised in a normal environment. CeeCee's father agrees. He tells CeeCee to pack her things and say goodbye to her dear friend, Mrs. Odell. And off she goes with Aunt Tootie to Savannah, where a whole new life awaits her.

When CeeCee first arrives in Savannah, she is sad and angry with her father. But she is surrounded with strong and caring women who love her. There is Aunt Tootie, who gives her the best. Oletta, Aunt Tootie's black cook and friend takes CeeCee under her wing and treats her like a daughter. There are the feuding neighbors, Mrs. Goodpepper and Ms. Hobbs who bring joy and laughter to CeeCee. There are also many surprises. After a time, CeeCee adapts to her new life in Savannah.

Beth Hoffman is a gifted storyteller whose debut book is a GEM. From the first moment you will not want this book to end. The Characters sparkle and you will love CeeCee,a courageous, bright and unforgettable little girl.

SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT IS A WINNER!

Reason for Reading: I love southern fiction with eccentric characters, then throw in mental illness to boot and you've so got a book I have to read.

Summary: 12-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt lives with her mother who is crazy. She relives the glorious day that she was crowned the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen often donning her winning dress, sash and tiara, blowing kisses to cars that pass by. Always wearing ballgowns and forever going to Goodwill to purchase more. CeeCee looks after her mom as her dad has virtually left them on a traveling salesman job, rarely returning home and refusing to deal with the situation. Then tragedy strikes as her mum dies and CeeCee is picked up by her great aunt and taken to Savannah, Georgia to live.

Comments: An immensely entertaining book! Very much character driven, CeeCee enters a totally new world seemingly controlled by women of charm, etiquette and manners but also the most eccentric people she has ever met. There is Miz Goodpepper who dresses in exotic clothing and skinny dips in an old bathtub in her backyard each evening, Miz Hobbs the busybody nobody likes who secretly entertains a married policeman in a see-through yellow peignoir, Oletta Jones the cook at CeeCee's aunt's a firm yet loving black woman who becomes the mother CeeCee always wanted and CeeCee the daughter she once had. And this is only to mention a few!

Along with CeeCee's encounters with these women she must come to terms with her past, the childhood she was denied and it takes the length of the book for her to do so. That in itself is the plot of the book. Taking place in the late sixties events do occur which spar with elitism, snobbery, racism, adultery, negligent fathers, the possibility of the heredity of mental illness but all are neatly solved and tucked away, as the book once quotes Scarlett O'Hara, for "tomorrow is another day". This to me is the book's minor downfall. It's too sugary, sweet with a "Care Bear" ending that left me needing to brush my teeth.

For me the book's gold lies in it's study of character. While I simply adored the white women on Gaston Street with their parties and eccentricities, I particularly loved the black women that the cook, Oletta, introduces to CeeCee. Another complete set of eccentric characters from Aunt Sapphire in the nursing home who swears up a storm to her friend who can't talk and likes to put small things in her brassier while everyone pretends not to notice and the one who looks like a man and tells fortunes with carved stones that come from several generations back to Africa.

A really, wonderful, delightful read of southern fiction with great characters you'll love but I wish the author had taken on one of the issues presented to add a bit of tension that could have been resolved in the end to a plot that otherwise lacked any.

Great light read. A wonderful light hearted story that shows the true bonds among women. Beth Hoffman did a wonderful job developing the characters. I loved the book and wasn't ready for it to end.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A 5-Star Delicious Winner!!
Oh, I absolutely LOVED this novel!!! For a debut novel it really belongs up there with the season author's. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Louise Jolly

5.0 out of 5 stars Mrs. Q: Book Addict : Visit my blog for newest reviews.
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Pages: 306
Source: Provided by Author
Category: Fiction
Rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

We all have a path to... Read more

Published 21 months ago by Mrs. Q: Book Addict

5.0 out of 5 stars A heart-warming, charming read
This was such a heart-warming read. How I loved little CeeCee! She was so sweet, brave, confused and tried so hard. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Lydia - Novel Escapes

5.0 out of 5 stars A Magical story
A wonderful story with a wealth of detail and colour. You can almost see and feel the wonderful trees and flowers in this young girl's eyes. Read more

Published 23 months ago by Jacqueline Vidi

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming Southern Fiction
12-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt has been all but abandonded by her traveling salesman father, and left home alone with her mentally ill mother, who still thinks it is 1951 when she... Read more

Published on Mar 5 2010 by BookChick

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