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Title details for Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman - Wait list

Saving Ceecee Honeycutt

by Beth Hoffman
Jenna Lamia
Audiobook
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Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell.
In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women. From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard bathtub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapons, to Tootie's all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta Jones, to Violene Hobbs, who entertains a local police officer in her canary-yellow peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.
Laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching, Beth Hoffman's sparkling debut is, as Kristin Hannah says, "packed full of Southern charm, strong women, wacky humor, and good old-fashioned heart." It is a story that explores the indomitable strengths of female friendship and gives us the story of a young girl who loses one mother and finds many others.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 12, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780307712189
      • File size: 289903 KB
      • Duration: 10:03:57

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 21, 2009
      Hoffman's debut, a by-the-numbers Southern charmer, recounts 12-year-old Cecelia Rose Honeycutt's recovery from a childhood with her crazy mother, Camille, and cantankerous father, Carl, in 1960s Willoughby, Ohio. After former Southern beauty queen Camille is struck and killed by an ice cream truck, Carl hands over Cecelia to her great-aunt Tootie. Whisked off to a life of privilege in Savannah, Ga., Cecelia makes fast friends with Tootie's cook, Oletta, and gets to know the cadre of eccentric women who flit in and out of Tootie's house, among them racist town gossip Violene Hobbs and worldly, duplicitous Thelma Rae Goodpepper. Aunt Tootie herself is the epitome of goodness, and Oletta is a sage black woman. Unfortunately, any hint of trouble is nipped in the bud before it can provide narrative tension, and Hoffman toys with, but doesn't develop, the idea that Cecelia could inherit her mother's mental problems. Madness, neglect, racism and snobbery slink in the background, but Hoffman remains locked on the sugary promise of a new day.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Jenna Lamia creates delightful characterizations of 12-year-old CeeCee; her psychotic mother, Camille; her great-aunt Tootie, and other sassy women. When CeeCee's mother dies, Tootie shows up from Savannah in her vintage Packard to bring CeeCee home. With vibrant Southern accents, Lamia portrays a cast of strong, eccentric women: Miz Goodpepper, who bathes in an outdoor bathtub; Violene Hobbs, who entertains the police chief in a yellow negligee; Mrs. Hobbs, who has a traveling brassiere, and Oletta Jones, Tootie's housekeeper, who soon becomes CeeCee's confidante. Lamia's vivid characterizations depict CeeCee's adjustment to her new life with authenticity and humor in this coming-of-age story. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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