Helpful Score: 4
A funny, heartwarming story about Mattie, a 78 year old Southern Baptist lady in North Carolina, and how she opens her life to a teenaged delinquent boy. My family is from the south and these characters seemed so familiar to me, I feel like they must be related somehow. The dialog and colloquialisms ring true, as do the people themselves. Mattie urges every visitor to her house to sit down and eat something, whether they be neighbor, family or dogcatcher. The author really makes you feel like you are standing right in Mattie's kitchen with her as she goes through the day. I loved Mattie and this book. I used to know so many gracious, old-fashioned southern women like Mattie (most I was related to), but ladies like her are rare nowadays. It was such a treat to spend time with one. And this is a laugh-out-loud funny story.
Helpful Score: 4
This southern fiction is really a funny read. By page 9 i was laughing out loud and continued to laugh out loud to the end. I loved Miss Mattie. This is a book to make you smile, was well worth the time it took to read it.
Helpful Score: 3
For those of us in the South, Miss Mattie might be the elderly lady next door. Seventy eight, and still mowing her own grass and picking butter beans. She's known as one of the best cooks in little Listre, NC. But now, her children are worried that she's getting a bit too old and odd to be living on her own. And almost as if to prove their point, she decides to step into the life of a local juvenile delinquent (Wesley) to help him change his ways. Some might say she's living out her faith. Some might say she's just getting strange in her old age. Either way, Mattie is determined for things to change, much to the surprise of the neighbors and her family!
Highly recommended, a wonderful slice of living in the small-town South.
Highly recommended, a wonderful slice of living in the small-town South.
Helpful Score: 1
Lighthearted, with Christian flavor, yet dosed with some reality. A great read!
Helpful Score: 1
"A beautiful story of determination,made more poignant by a Southern small-town setting." Library Journal
