Cold Sassy Tree in The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Mar 18, 2020 Mo rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 0-dl, 2020

2 1/2 stars

• This novel was strong on character development and weak on plot.

• At times it was too heavy on the theology for my liking.

• I really disliked manipulative Miss Love.

• I got tired of the Southern dialect.

• I was disappointed in the ending.

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Nov 07, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction, young-adult, fiction, historical-fiction, novels, humor-and-comedy, popular-fiction, romance, ultimate-reading-list

Blurbs for the book claimed it was "better than To Kill a Mockingbird and reminiscent of Alice Walker. I can't agree with either remark, although I did love this book and rated it a five. But not all fives are created equal. I recently reread To Kill a Mockingbird and that one is a classic on a whole other level. The only Alice Walker novel I've read is The Color Purple. Some aspects of how Burns conveyed the Southern American dialect was reminiscent, as was the iconoclastic spirituality, althou Blurbs for the book claimed it was "better than To Kill a Mockingbird and reminiscent of Alice Walker. I can't agree with either remark, although I did love this book and rated it a five. But not all fives are created equal. I recently reread To Kill a Mockingbird and that one is a classic on a whole other level. The only Alice Walker novel I've read is The Color Purple. Some aspects of how Burns conveyed the Southern American dialect was reminiscent, as was the iconoclastic spirituality, although I don't feel it's as intense or original as Walker's epistolary novel.

The story is told by Will Tweedy, who eight years later looks back to 1906 when he was fourteen years old and his grandfather, Enoch Rucker Blakeslee scandalized the small town of Cold Sassy, Georgia by eloping with Miss Love Simpson--a woman young enough to be his daughter. Only three weeks after his wife died. And she's a suffragette. And a Yankee! Will may be the narrator, but his grandfather definitely is the heart of this tale. A Civil War veteran and owner of the town general store he's definitely one of the more memorable fictional characters I've encountered. And the young naive first person voice of Will and the setting of a small Southern town might remind some of Scout of To Kill a Mockingbird. Some blurbers even compared him to Twain's Huckleberry Finn.

The books mentioned above though all have pretty sharp social critiques, especially concerning racism. In Cold Sassy Tree there's really only one pointed passage on racial matters--coming from Miss Simpson, the one outsider. This isn't concerned with such weighty matters but is a rather gentle, nostalgic coming of age tale and mostly light in tone despite one dark secret. It has more than its share of humor, the funniest scenes I thought dealing with the first automobiles ever to hit Cold Sassy. Even if it's not a deathless classic, it's still an engrossing, charming read with unforgettable characters and a great portrait of its time and place. ...more

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Jul 30, 2025 Maddie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

While a little dated from its pub date in 1984 (and about a 1906 small southern town…) this was a fascinating summery book about a family and town from the eyes of Will Tweedy as he’s coming of age just 50 years after the civil war and before WW1 rumblings even begin. As his grandfather marries another woman just three weeks after his grandma dies, as the first automobile comes to town, as family and town dramas come to light, it’s a great depiction of small town life with humor amidst some pret ...more

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