Review: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, by Beth Hoffman

Reviewed by Brenda Seward

One of the joys of being a bookseller is the chance to read new books before they are generally available. When we receive shipments of these advance copies from publishers and sometimes the authors themselves, it’s a little like Christmas morning or our birthday. For one, they are gifts (at least we look at them that way). Secondly, they sometimes include something we heard about and badly wanted. Other times we find they include a wonderful surprise, one that we were unaware of, but simply fall in love with. Receiving Saving CeeCee Honeycutt was my wonderful surprise.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt chronicles the young and turbulent life of the title character, Cecelia Honeycutt. She is an exceptionally bright and sweet young girl who is forced to grow up with a mostly absent father and a mother who is increasingly absent from reality. While her mother bemoans her exile north, to Ohio, away from her beloved Georgia, and escapes from reality by reliving her beauty-queen glory days, CeeCee is left to her own devices. CeeCee’s only salvation during her mother’s mental decline is an elderly neighbor, Mrs. Odell, and her books.

By the time CeeCee turns twelve, her mother (and she, by extension) have become the joke of the town. When her mother dies in a tragic accident at the beginning of that summer, the young girl has terribly mixed feelings.  While she is sad over her mother’s death, she is also relieved at no longer having to carry the burden of both watching over her as well as having to endure the embarrassment and ridicule caused by her mother’s antics. She is also well aware that now her only parent is a father who has spent the better part of her life ignoring her. Even that slim thread of security is severed when her father announces he is sending her away to live with someone she has never met - her great-aunt in Savannah, Georgia.

Initially resistant to the idea of leaving everything she has ever known, most especially her beloved neighbor Mrs. Odell, CeeCee soon sees her exodus south as a new start. By the time CeeCee piles into Aunt Tootie’s flashy Packard convertible with her clothes and her collection of books, she is ready to start the next chapter in her (as Mrs. Odell puts it) “life book.”

Upon arrival in Savannah, CeeCee is introduced to a different kind of life and a new way of looking at things. For a child who has spent the majority of her life virtually motherless, CeeCee suddenly finds herself surrounded by surrogate mother figures. From her effervescent Aunt Tootie, to the wise and loving housekeeper Oletta, and a colorful cast of others who populate CeeCee’s new life, she learns and heals, as well as discovering that a wonderful life can be found outside of a book as well as between the pages of one.

Set in Savannah in the 1960s, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt touches on some of the racial issues of that time, but it does so in a wonderfully deft way. These issues are seen from CeeCee’s perspective (as is the entirety of the book) but they are given both a wide and deeply personal scope. Although those issues are not a large theme throughout, they are shown in a wonderfully poignant way that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. More than anything, this book is a story of mothers and daughters…of all kinds; also one of love, faith, friendship and forgiveness - in all its forms.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt will be available in January 2010 from Penguin Books and I highly recommend that you put it on your winter reading wish list. Once you find yourself among its pages you will be transported, along with CeeCee, to the warm breezes of Savannah, laughing and crying with them along the way. When the journey comes to the end, you will be sad to leave them behind and wish you could stay forever.

Review by Brenda Seward, Owner, Simple Pleasures Books & Gifts

Cover Art courtesy of Beth Hoffman & Penguin Books

Simple Pleasures Books & Gifts is a family owned independent bookstore. Owned and managed by my three daughters, and myself. Our focus is toward women, while seeking to offer a little bit of something for everyone. From books, chocolate, unique custom gift bags and note cards to tea towels and bath products, Simple Pleasures offers just that- the simple pleasures of life.

All titles reviewed here are available at Simple Pleasures Books & Gifts in Ashland, VA or online at http://www.alibris.com/stores/spbooks1