Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: The mild swear words are used several times apiece. The Lord’s name is taken in vain several times. The “n” word is used once.

Violence: Loma slaps Will. Will gets whipped for bad behavior. Will gets run over by a train, but lives to tell. Campbell commits suicide. Rucker gets beat up by thieves robbing his store. Love’s questionable father raped her when she was twelve.

Sexual Content: Rucker admits to having been in love with Love Simpson even before his 1st wife died. He wishes his second marriage was real and not one of convenience. There are several inferences/insinuations to sex: Miss Love’s fiancé got a girl pregnant, that Miss Love and Rucker are having sex as newlyweds, that Mama was conceived under a brush arbor, etc. Will tells his friends tall tales about Aunt Loma nursing a pig and having a rubber bust for her wedding. Will has a crush on Love. Will asks questions about sex. Will dreams of seeing Lightfoot naked. He kisses Lightfoot. Love’s fiancé shows up and passionately kisses her after Love is married.

Adult Themes: The town thinks the marriage between Rucker and Love is a scandalous shame and treats them poorly. Rucker drinks a little whiskey each day. Tobacco and beer mentioned. There are three distinct classes of people in town—city folk, mill workers, and African Americans. Prejudice and racism abound in Cold Sassy Tree.

Synopsis
When the local store owner (Rucker Blakeslee) marries his much-younger Yankee milliner (Love Simpson) three weeks after his first wife dies, the whole town is shocked and his family is shamed. It is 1906 in a small town in Georgia and anybody’s business becomes everybody’s business. The story is narrated by Will, the 14-year-old grandson of Mr. Blakeslee, who likes and befriends Miss Love, while the rest of the townsfolk believe she has schemed her way into the marriage. Although, the marriage starts off as one of convenience so the tightwad Blakeslee doesn’t have to pay for a maid/cook, eventually their love grows for each other. Throughout the year, Will has many “coming of age” experiences like learning to drive a car, having his first kiss, dealing with death and nearly getting himself run over by a train. While the family and town never fully accept Love into their society, they do respect her for her business savvy and care of Mr. Blakeslee.

I enjoyed this book and how it paints the portrait of a small southern town to a tee, even with all its piousness and prejudiced faults. The author’s folksy, rhythmic writing style made me want to take up speaking my own southern drawl. I read this novel years ago and remembered liking it then. Re-reading it did not disappoint. The word “sassy” in the title is short for sassafras. So, the town was named after a sassafras tree.