Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Beth Hoffman

Dear Readers,
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman is not a book I will be able to carry on my shelves here at the store. That doesn't mean it isn't a good book, it just has a few language and some "moral" issues. I really liked this book and found myself trying to talk myself into carrying it. But by the time I got the the 3rd or 4th "problem" I decided that it isn't one that could make the cut. Which is too bad.
I don't want to talk any of you out of reading it, I just know that it will offend some people and church libraries shouldn't carry it. One of the main characters practices Karma etc... and even though it kind of pokes a few holes in the theory it still does not completely point out the wrong in it. I mostly had a problem for carrying it with the swearing. It doesn't have anything major in it like the "f-word" but it does have enough to make it a problem for some. I do have to admit that a couple of times I would have been swearing along with the character if that is what was happening to me.

CeeCee Honeycutt takes care of her psychotic mother. She is an outcast at school because of it and so she hides away in her books. Her father is a traveling salesman and so stays away from home longer and longer, which CeeCee later figures out is because he has a girlfriend, not just because of work. CeeCee does her best and yet tries to b a kid. When her mother is killed, CeeCee isn't sure what will happen to her.
When a great aunt she didn't know about arrives just after the funeral and asks her father to let CeeCee live with her, CeeCee sees it as the final betrayal by her father. Why doesn't he love her and why couldn't he help her with her mother? What it does for CeeCee is set her down in the middle of a loving house that is nothing like anything she has ever experienced before. She finds herself meeting people she never dreamed existed and being loved for herself. It is a world of women that is filled with quirky characters that are just so much fun reading about.

From Aunt Tootie to her next door neighbor, busybody Violene Hobbs, to Oletta Jones and her crazy sister. It is just a great place to be. The ladies all teach CeeCee something a bit different about the world. I am still not sure who was my favorite character, but I am leaning towards Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper. She is quite a free spirit and is worried about her Karma being good. What is funny is that is only true if it benefits her. Ask her neighbor Violene that she has a thing against. This was just a fun read. I read it while in South Carolina, not far from Savannah which made the southern setting of this book all the more fun. I also many years ago lived in a small town in SC just north of Savannah and spent time there. It is a beautiful town and one that is well worth a visit if you have never been there or a revisit.


Happy Reading

No comments: