Saving Ceecee Honeycutt

A Novel

By: Beth Hoffman

Narrated by: Jenna Lamia

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel sparkling with humor, heart, and feminine wisdom.

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 novel 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.

©2010 Beth Hoffman (P)2010 Penguin Audiobooks

Beautiful Southern Story

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! I would definitely recommend! I loved this book from the moment it started. Cee Cee stole my heart. So did Aunt Tootie and Oleta. I got so engrossed in this book and with these characters, I felt like they were real and were family!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Oh this is tough! Cee Cee or Aunt Tootie. But I loved Oleta too.

What does Jenna Lamia bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Jenna Lamia is absolutely amazing. She just has a gift. She brings each character to life! She makes you care about each of them so much.

If you could rename Saving Ceecee Honeycutt, what would you call it?

Summertime in Savannah

Any additional comments?

I got so into this book and fell so in love with it that I had my husband take me to Savannah for our 30th wedding anniversary last week so that I could explore downtown Savannah like CeeCee did! It was beautiful. This book is wonderful. After CeeCee's unstable mother dies, her father pawns her off on her Aunt Tootie in Savannah, GA. Aunt Tootie is kind and loving and CeeCee has amazing adventures, learns life lessons and what it really means to love and be loved. You'll love it from the moment you start listening!

Sweet story for all ages

I tend to read some heavy books so this story was a sweet break. Very light, yet not cheesy, and not without its serious side. A heartwarming read.

Loved it.

The narration of this book was excellent. I enjoyed the story and the characters. It was a great listen.

Great Story

Would you listen to Saving Ceecee Honeycutt again? Why?

Yes and I have for the pure enjoyment of the charactors.

What other book might you compare Saving Ceecee Honeycutt to and why?

I would compair it to "The Help", in the way the charactors are portrayed.

What does Jenna Lamia bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brings the story and each charactor to life, the listener can feel what they are feeling

If you could rename Saving Ceecee Honeycutt, what would you call it?

A Mother's Madness, a Daughter's Peace

Any additional comments?

Must listen.

Delightful!!

I loved this touching story and the narrator was absolutely perfect! Definitely listen to this one!

Loved it.

Full of wisdom and wit. Delightful to listen to. Well written. I like this author.

Glad I listened, rather than read, this one

Jenna Lamia is a terrific narrator. Period. So, she could read the phone book - using a different voice for each entry, and it would be easy to keep listening. I wish I could give her 10 stars.

The story is sweet, the characters are sweet, the moral is sweet. It's sweet. It's just not terribly compelling .. there are not many complexities to the story. You meet CeeCee Honeycut when she is 12 years old, and she recaps how much she has had to deal with, taking care of her mentally ill mother. That piece is heartbreaking and the most compelling.

When she goes to live with her great-aunt Tootie, life gets a lot better for CeeCee, and you basically watch her learn how to let go of the past. There is no major climax here - just a series of events, told through CeeCee's perspective, over the course of a summer. It's really not a bad story, however if I were to have read it in text, I imagine I might not have picked it back up for long periods of time in the process of reading it.

a delightful tale

Any additional comments?

This is a really good story, well told, and will take you to another time and place. No foul language, no gratuitous violence or sex. You will enjoy it.

Uplifting

From the sad beginning this story grabs your heart and sweeps you along through the changes of CeeCee's life.

Loved it!

This was very well performed. I enjoyed it very much. Nice uplifting story following a tragedy.