Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books/Viking-Penguin
Genre: Fiction
Pages: audio
Challenges:
New-to-me Author: yes
Author's Website
Simple Description:
CeeCee is a 12 year old girl when her mother dies. The thing is, her mother suffered from mental illness and caused a lot of issues for CeeCee, but she still loved her and feels her loss.
Her father is a traveling sales man (it is the late 60's) and has never been around much for CeeCee. After her mother's death, CeeCee meets her great Aunt Tootie and moves to Savannah Georgia to live with her.
Living with Aunt Tootie opens up a whole new world for CeeCee. She quickly finds love and wisdom in both Aunt Tootie and her cook Oletta. She is taken care by these woman, whereas in the past she has had to take care of her Mom. There are also some eccentric neighbors and friends that CeeCee meets too.
Throughout the story you grow with CeeCee as she comes to terms with her childhood, her Mom, and possibly even her Dad.
Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
This book has been getting a lot of exposure in the book blogging community. Part of me was really excited to read it and part of me dreaded it because I was afraid of disappointment. I'm here to tell you that I wasn't disappointed. I just loved this book, adored it, didn't want it to end.
You can't help feeling sorry for CeeCee because of what she has experienced. Then when she moves to Georgia and is taken in by her Great-Aunt Tootie and her Cook, Oletta, you see her finally getting the love she needs.
There is also this concept of a life book. This is something that CeeCee's neighbor, before she moved, told her about and it shows up in the story several times. I won't describe it here for you, but let's just say it's one of the main things that really stuck out in this book and made me like it so much.
I actually read several reviews on Amazon where this book received poor reviews. Mostly the problem was that people thought CeeCee was too mature for her age, thought the story was predictable and had been done before, and thought Oletta should have sounded more educated than she really did. Sure..I could agree with all of those, but I could also argue with all of those.
I for one, am going to give this book a 4.5/5 stars. Yup..I liked it that much.
I did listen to the audio version of this book. jenna Lamia is the narrator and I think she did an awesome job.
This audio book was rented from my local library.
5 comments:
I loved this book too! CeeCee and Oletta are wonderful and I loved the Savannah setting too.
I agree..those were two of my favorite characters. I loved that it took place in the South.
I just posted my review of this book today. I also loved it so much I didn't want it to end.
I'm not surprised that CeeCee seemed mature for her age; she'd been taking care of her mother since she was a young girl.
--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
Anna - that would be my argument as to why CeeCee was believable as far as how mature she was. The poor girl has been through a lot..she had to grow up faster (in many ways) than other kids do. Glad you enjoyed the book too!
I could relate to CeeCee's maturity at a young age, having to take care of my disabled brother while my parents worked. Circumstances can force you to grow up faster than you want to.
I thought this book was excellent.
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