Book Week: The Pecan Man

Haven't we been lucky?!!!!  We have been gifted with a spell of spring weather right in the middle of winter! Unfortunately the long term weather forecast from the Farmer's Almanac says February will return us to cold, wet, typical winter weather. With that in mind,  I thought that we would talk about some good books to read during the remaining winter days.  Let's start with The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck.

Here is the synopsis from Amazon:



The Pecan Man is a work of Southern fiction by Florida native Cassie Dandridge Selleck. Its first chapter was the First Place winner of the 2006 CNW/FFWA Florida State Writing Competition in the Unpublished Novel category. 

In the summer of 1976, recently widowed and childless Ora Lee Beckworth hires a homeless old black man to mow her lawn. The neighborhood children call him the Pee-can Man; their mothers call them inside whenever he appears. When he is arrested for murder, only Ora knows the truth about the man she calls Eddie. But truth is a fickle thing, and a lie is self-perpetuating. Ora and her maid Blanche soon find themselves in a web of lies that send an innocent man to prison for the rest of his life. Twenty-five years later, Ora sets out to tell the truth about the Pecan Man. Listen as she begins her story:

"Blanche worked for me through birth and death, joy and sorrow and Lord knows we had a lot of sorrow in all the time we spent under this roof. Most people figured she was crazy to put up with me all those years, but Blanche and I had an understanding. It was a vow we made back in 1976. Neither of us spoke of it afterwards, but it hung between us like a spider web, fragile and easy to break, but danged hard to get shed of once the threads took hold."

This book has been touted as a cross between To Kill A Mocking Bird and The Help. It is a short book and an easy read, but the main reason I am recommending it is because it is a story that stays with you after you read the last page.  There are numerous glowing reviews on the web about The Pecan Man and I agree with each of them, but it is this one review that I found on Good Reads that sums up why I hope you'll read this book.

"Though this book was an interesting read and well-written, something irked me while reading it. I know the author did not set out for it to be offensive - she nearly says as much in the intro, but in some way it still is by romanticizing the relationship of a white woman and her African-American maid. Yes, the lady of the house was portrayed as very progressive, but I can't help but feel that the storyline was written for a white audience to read and pat themselves on the back for being "the good guys" during a still horrible time in the American South even though Jim Crow laws were officially over. I wonder how different the story would have been if someone would have given the pen to the housekeeper." 

In my favorite scene Ora is shopping with Blanche's oldest daughter. At first Ora seems like a true champion of the oppressed, but then she realizes how shallow her own comprehension of the situation really was.  Not often do you read a book capable of truly convicting you of your own blind spots. The Pecan Man is one of those books.

I think you will really enjoy this book. It would be perfect for a book club as it has much occasion for discussion and growth.  That's it - growth!!  The Pecan Man has the potential to help you grow in understanding another person's point of view and respect for other people's experiences, while also convicting you of our often feeble attempts to do what's "right".  

Love ya'll, 

Shelli

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.

 ~James Bryce