sarahgordon327's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I really enjoyed this story for the most part. It was candid and made me laugh in some chapters, and others were very poignant and sobering. I would have given the book 4 stars, but took 0.5 off for the issues I had with the way the book handled race. Set in the Old South, race was a necessary topic to cover for the book, but I disliked the way the Black characters were written about. It felt unnecessarily derogatory and uninspiring (e.g. isn’t there another way to describe the Black man’s face other than “his black face”??). Other than that, which was a minor part of the novel, I truly enjoyed Cold Sassy Tree.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Rape and Racial slurs
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Cold Sassy Tree is set in a small town in the South in the early twentieth century. Will Tweedy’s grandfather provokes quite the scandal when he remarries- and to a young Yankee woman at that - just three weeks after the death of his first wife. This has got lots of humorous charm and plenty of quirky characters, even if some of it feels perilously close to stereotype. But there is heavier content as well - incest, suicide and class discrimination - which gives the story a little heft.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Incest
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