Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Cold Sassy Tree

Cold Sassy Tree
Cold Sassy Tree
Author: Olive Ann Burns
The one thing you can depend on in Cold Sassy, Georgia, is that word gets around -- fast. When Grandpa E. Rucker Blakeslee announces one July morning in 1906 that he's aiming to marry the young and freckledy milliner, Miss Love Simpson -- a bare three weeks after Granny Blakeslee has gone to her reward -- the news is served up all over town with...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780440514428
ISBN-10: 0440514428
Publication Date: 6/1/1986
Pages: 391
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 112

4 stars, based on 112 ratings
Publisher: Laurel
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

achadamaia avatar reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 48 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
Cold Sassy Tree starts out fine. The two main characters Rucker Blakeslee and his new bride, Love Simpson, are very entertaining. Some of the other characters are a bit unlikeable. In the middle, the book seems to wander without direction. If you can make it to about page 325, the story takes some interesting turns and has a satisfying end.
tboombi avatar reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on
Helpful Score: 3
I never would have read this book had someone not given it to me. It's a story about a family in the early 1900s written through the eyes of a young man. Very good! Some history too.
materialgirl avatar reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on
Helpful Score: 3
This is an exceptional book. Not a run-of-the-mill churned out cute little story for women. I don't think the review given when you click on the cover does it justice. It IS a tearjerker, however. Its a love story between an old widower and a young woman, told through the eyes of the man's grandson. All the characters are well written. It's also about small town life and family relationships.
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 18 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A wonderful, heartwarming story about the changes in a family and their small Georgia town when their recently widowed grandfather marries a Yankee woman half his age. You won't want the book to end!
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on
Helpful Score: 2
Once you get into this book you will literally start to think in a dialect and accent. I found it charming and heartwarming. The characters each had personalities and weaknesses I think everyone can relate to in one way or another. I found this book a long time past when it had been on my list of required reading for a class (no...i didn't read it then!) and was so glad I did. I have begged friends to read it just to make sure I wasn't crazy, and they assured me that,although my faculties are still in question, it is a great book. The sequal did not measure up, sadly Ms Burns passed away before finishing and though dissapointed that I could not get more of those characters and the setting, it is still a book I enjoy picking up and re-reading.
Read All 52 Book Reviews of "Cold Sassy Tree"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

poochiboop avatar reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 4 more book reviews
This book is one of the best I've ever read! It's so well written. The characters feel like you know them personally.
lepracaun avatar reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 9 more book reviews
A delightful book!
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 44 more book reviews
Loved it!
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 141 more book reviews
One of the best books about the small town South I have ever read. I spent a number of years in a very small town in Florida and cherish the friends and time I spent there. Olive Burns has so accurately captured the language used by the "Crackers" I knew and loved that I found myself reading the book out loud to myself just so I could enjoy hearing the words and the expressions I heard back in the 30's as a child. It is a true shame that Ms. Burns did not live long enough to give us more of her wonderful stories. A wonderful book. A treasure about small town life. Genny Sikes
phoenix-rising avatar reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 15 more book reviews
I love this book!

A beautifully written book full of rich substance. I give it 5 stars. I was hooked by the end of the first chapter when Grandpa Blakeslee announces to his family, only 3 weeks after the death of his wife, that he plans to marry 33 year old Miss Love Simpson. Is it for love, sex, convenience, cooking & cleaning, &/or companionship?

Burns makes these characters, who live in a small, religious, southern town in the early 1900s, come alive. It tells the story of the Georgia town Cold Sassy Tree, its inhabitants, and one particular family. The story centers around the transformation of 59 year old Grandpa Blakeslee and his 14 year old grandson Will Tweedy. It examines coming of age, love & death, spirituality and religious ideas and prejudices, morals and mores, and modernization.

I highly recommend this book!
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 5 more book reviews
Hard to start but worth the wait
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 11 more book reviews
One of my all time favorite books. I have this on audio and the reader's voice makes this book a delight to listen to.
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 14 more book reviews
Abridged audiobook on 2 cassettes (180 minutes). Beautifully read by actor Richard Thomas ("The Waltons").
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 2 more book reviews
I did not like the way this book was written using Southern English. I thought the author lacked a purpose or direction with the story. I enjoyed the point of view of the 15 y.o. boy.
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 38 more book reviews
This is an outstanding book. I've read it several times. Great story.
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 54 more book reviews
Hands down one of my absolute favorites. This story of a boy and his family - most especially his grandpa - is unforgettable.
reviewed Cold Sassy Tree on + 54 more book reviews
My 2nd copy of one of my favorites! A touching story of the relationship of a boy with his family - espec. his grandpa. I recommend this book to every book lover I know.


Genres: