Cold Sassy Tree

Summer reading at its finest and one wonderful portrayal of small town Southern life, circa 1906 that I have read to date. The characters are full of life and Will Tweedy is the perfect voice of a 14-year-old boy trying to make sense of all the craziness happening around him. The story presents a number of small-town biases that would make for wonderful discussions in a book group setting: the differences between town and mill-town folk (mill-town folks being the ones who did grueling manual labour in the cotton mills); North versus South points of view on everything from celebrating Independence Day to a woman's place in society. Through all the family bickering, moral posturing and other social machinations of the Cold Sassy folk, show more Will Tweedy's coming-of-age story is a story filled with heart, and had me laughing and shacking my head at some of his "boys will be boys" pranks, all the while exploring topics of love, death and religion.

A perfect summer read, even if it may come across as being a bit dated for some readers. show less

It has been quit a while since I read this book, but Olivia Ann Burns made enough of an impression on me in my early reading to seek out her works to date. Her sensitive, ever humorous, and inciteful tact in writing about my beloved South, reaffirms my own affection for the South - characters, red clay, warts, quirks, the never-ending tall-tales, escapades of freckled-faced kids & whiskered octogenarians! She paints vivid portraits of her charcters and theirs homes and towns. You can hear their words flow off the page, but maintain a tight grip on that book - you are going to have quite a few belly laughs, maybe a brief tear or two, mostly smiles of visiting a place called a fun place to call home.

It’s 1906 and Will Tweedy, a 14-year-old boy in a small Georgia town, tells us stories about his family. His tales mainly focus on this stubborn grandfather Rucker Blakeslee, who decides to remarry a very young woman only three weeks after his wife dies.
His adult daughters are scandalized and the town of Cold Sassy is shocked. Rucker’s new wife, Miss Love Simpson, is a strong woman, but she still wants to be accepted by the traditional town. Rucker runs the local grocery store, so everyone in town knows his business. The novel captures the core of small town life. Everything you do is under a microscope and people are so concerned about what their nosy neighbors will think of their every decision.

The book focuses on Will’s whole show more family, from his bossy Aunt Loma to his quiet, devoted father Hoyt. It’s written almost like a collection of short stories, weaving from one adventure to the next. The chapter that takes place on a train trestle was so intense it had a heart racing! I also loved the scenes with the Rucker and his wife Mattie Lou before she died. He’s a tough old bird, but when it comes to love he’s a complete softie.

The point-of-view did remind me of To Kill a Mockingbird, not just because it’s a child of a similar age, but also because it's set during a similar time period in the south. There's an observational honesty that comes from choosing a narrator like that. The story never reaches the same depth as To Kill a Mockingbird, but it has a similar tone.

BOTTOM LINE: I really loved reading about Will’s adventures and I was surprised and touched by the serious tone the book took on towards the end. I’d highly recommend this one for anyone who enjoys coming-of-age stories, turn-of-the-century fiction or Southern novels.

“To me they were like a book, a book with the last chapter missing. And I couldn’t wait to know how it ended.”

“To mourn is not the same as to be in mourning, which means wearing a black armband and sitting in the parlor talking to people who call on the bereaved. At first you feel important, the armband makes you special like having on a badge, but after a day or two it stops meaning anything. But to mourn, that’s different. To mourn is to be eaten alive with homesickness for the person.”

“My mother always said, ‘Never expect church members to be perfect, Christians are still people.’” show less

I read this for the work book club - and I only found it so-so. The writing was too rambly, the kid too innocent, while the town folk felt real, the adult family members, while real, felt a bit subdued, as if talking down to a kid.

Which brings me back to Will Tweedy. He is 14 going on ten in this book. A kid growing up in the deep south should know considerably more about life than he did - the pranks were incredibly juvenile, the crush of his life, Lightfoot - felt like something an 11 or 12 year old kid would have, even in this time period. Also, he doesn't question the circumstances of the people around him, such as the lint-heads or the African American folk. And that is the biggest problem in this book. Will doesn't really have show more personality. He has the stereotypes typical about boys (likes fishing, a bit mischievous) but that is all there is of him.

As for the language, it can be difficult at times if you are not used to the dialect. Also, a lot of characters are mentioned and trying to figure out how everybody relates to each other can be a challenge.

It isn't to say this is a bad book - its well written, characters are revealed through the plot. This book is cozy, without much of a story. And that where the book fails. I think its a great book if you want to read about small town early 20th century southern life, but if you want something a bit more deep, skip this book. show less

Despite the main theme of death and how people deal with it personally and in community, this book manages to entertain with its spirited characters, spot-on Appalachian dialect, insights into small town life, and page after page of homespun humor. It's not a "nice story." This is a book that deals with the dark side of family life and flawed humanity, but it doesn't plunge the reader into despair because the evil is counterbalanced with lessons in love, mercy and forgiveness. Delighted to have run across this story.

Written through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy, I found this book to be very entertaining. Shortly after his grandmother's death, Will finds out that his Grandfather, defiant of all local custom, has decided to remarry his younger, single employee. While the whole town gossips about the new arrangement, Will has an insider’s view of his grandfather’s new marriage and finds that his loyalties to his mother, local custom, his grandfather and the new wife are tested.

At times, I felt that the narrator’s voice did not ring true for a fourteen-year-old boy, but I was willing to set that aside as I read, much as one does while viewing an unbelievable part of an action packed movie. I almost laughed out loud while reading this novel show more and thinking about small town life and human nature. While set in the south, one certainly doesn’t have to be an aficionado of southern literature to enjoy this book! show less

This book infuriated me at times. I felt bad for Miss Love, wanted to slap Rucker's daughters, and even though I usually hate family drama novels, read this front to back. Somehow the frustration of the characters made me feel better about my life. It's a good southern novel that addresses all kinds of things, my favorite being the social taboos of marrying a younger woman so soon after your wife dies.