SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT is adorable and uplifting as CeeCee's narration transcends generations.
The best part about this book is CeeCee's voice. It's strong, age-appropriate but not too young for most readers to connect with. CeeCee does not constantly try to judge her own actions or interpret events in her past: instead, the novel unfolds as if we're living in the moment with CeeCee herself. At times childishly cute and funny, at others sweet in her experienced-beyond-her-years-ness, CeeCee was a delight to get to know from the very first page.
The other characters are also wonderful and thoroughly developed. They're not as easily distinguishable from one another as the characters from Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP, to which this book is often compared, but I definitely found myself wishing I had my very own Aunt Tootie and Oletta growing up.
My one major beef with this book was its apparent lack of tension and conflict. Compared to THE HELP, this book had very little going on. The driving conflict seemed to be CeeCee's struggle to come to terms with her mother's mental illness, but the storyline bounced back and forth between this and other potentially fiery issues so erratically that none of the conflicts in this book ended up feeling entirely convincing for me. SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT presented us with incidents and characters that never entirely lived up to their potential: a racist encounter that was prettily resolved, a crazy neighbor with a penchant for vengeance. I kept on waiting for something to happen, and being thwarted in my waiting.
Overall, however, I'm still very glad I had the chance to read SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT. This book is, in a sense, a love letter for the South: join the endearing CeeCee on her journey of healing and self-discovery in a heartwarming world!
The best part about this book is CeeCee's voice. It's strong, age-appropriate but not too young for most readers to connect with. CeeCee does not constantly try to judge her own actions or interpret events in her past: instead, the novel unfolds as if we're living in the moment with CeeCee herself. At times childishly cute and funny, at others sweet in her experienced-beyond-her-years-ness, CeeCee was a delight to get to know from the very first page.
The other characters are also wonderful and thoroughly developed. They're not as easily distinguishable from one another as the characters from Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP, to which this book is often compared, but I definitely found myself wishing I had my very own Aunt Tootie and Oletta growing up.
My one major beef with this book was its apparent lack of tension and conflict. Compared to THE HELP, this book had very little going on. The driving conflict seemed to be CeeCee's struggle to come to terms with her mother's mental illness, but the storyline bounced back and forth between this and other potentially fiery issues so erratically that none of the conflicts in this book ended up feeling entirely convincing for me. SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT presented us with incidents and characters that never entirely lived up to their potential: a racist encounter that was prettily resolved, a crazy neighbor with a penchant for vengeance. I kept on waiting for something to happen, and being thwarted in my waiting.
Overall, however, I'm still very glad I had the chance to read SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT. This book is, in a sense, a love letter for the South: join the endearing CeeCee on her journey of healing and self-discovery in a heartwarming world!
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