The Pecan Man

Loved this book. The plot twist at the end was really heart warming. Great example of how we often overlook chances to do the right thing for the right reason. Especially love how you can truly become a family of the heart. Highly recommend this book.

I became very involved with the characters. Good story and an easy read kept me coming back for more. Curious if there will be a movie

The Pecan Man is Cassie Dandridge Selleck’s self-published debut novel. Several people, I believe, mentioned that it was part To Kill a Mockingbird with various secondary novels. I can see the comparison, the easy, flowing prose, the narrator’s, Ora, voice, her style of meandering through days. Honestly, Ora’s voice reminded far more of the movie version of “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café.” Ora’s voice, to me was very similar to Jessica Tandy’s / Ninny Threadgoode. The Pecan Man has it’s own little mysterious interwoven stories that create the same kind of easy dialogue involving at least one dark secret. Ora Lee Beckworth, a widow, lives in a charming house near downtown; she can sit on her front porch and watch life pass by. Since she’s recently widowed, she hasn’t done much but do just that. With her husband gone, though, she does need a man to tend the yard work, and maybe a few odd jobs around the house. When she notices the “Pecan Man,” a somewhat raggedy-looking, homeless man on with a beat-up old bike wandering in her neighborhood, she asks him if he’d be interested in doing some yard work on a weekly basis. She already has a housekeeper, Blanche, who helps with everything else she needs inside. Needless to say, at least one neighbor, Dovey, across the street, of course, has to step in after a few weeks of the Pecan man being seen in their neighborhood, it just isn’t safe, she says. He makes her uneasy, scares people, and well, after all, you wouldn’t want people driving through here thinking he actually lived there, would you? This was a short, delightful read. I really look forward to reading more from Cassie Dandridge Selleck.

This book has good writing that is easy & enjoyable to read. It got me right in and I read it in a day. I recommend this book.

Posting spoiler alert at author's request. This book started off like the beginning of A Time to Kill, and I didn't like the fact that the author seemed to draw from John Grisham's much better novel. When you do something like this, you always risk the comparison. Some readers and reviewers have also compared it to To Kill a Mockingbird. Nothing could be further from the truth...except that it involved race and was set in the south. It's a quick read, more of a novella, than novel. I did like the dialogue and dialects and felt Selleck did a good job with that. The story is okay, but not enough character development to satisfy me. Too much of Ora's life and not enough of Blanche and Eddie, the Pecan Man. The twist at the end comes out of nowhere which Selleck apparently intended but it didn't ring true. It didn't make sense that the Pecan Man returned home because of his family there and yet, seeing them daily for months, pretty much ignored them and never made his identify known. You would think that, at the very least, they might have noticed him watching them. They didn't because it didn't happen in the book. Even that simple little omitted fact would have made for a better mystery and a more interesting book. Also, when Eddie goes off on a bender, there is no real reason why. Yes, he was an alcoholic, but seemed to have been clean for a long time...then, he's off...no particular reason that I know of. Also, Ora spends massive amounts of money on her maid, Blanche, and her family of four girls. It was so over-the-top, it didn't seem believable. I kept thinking, wow, what's she going to buy them next? It's an enjoyable read if you want something short, but I wouldn't compare it to anything else or believe it would be particularly memorable and transcend time.

I was surprised to see how short the book is. I thought it must be simple & lacking depth. But I was wrong about that. Written beautifully.

I read this book two months ago and I am still thinking about it. I want to go back and read it again. It is well written and full of nuance. The characters are well formed, full of personal history, thought and emotion. It is a family. They become a family. Some characters are likeable, some are not, and they are beset by the history of racism that affects and will continue to affect their lives and the social structure around them. But through it all they strive to survive. They strive to achieve what appears unattainable in an untenable situation. The primary character and voice is white. The evolution of her relationship with her maid and her maids family is a surprise to her as well as an expression of her naiveté and the naiveté of generations about the reality of racism. The hero of the story is a surprise. The author makes no accusations and does not lay blame for racism. As the story unfolds the little revelations gently lead the reader to an understanding of a way of life far different and not understood by those who have no experience with it. The story also reveals that humanity is about being human regardless of color and that sometimes secrets, hard to keep, are kept out of love.

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. The story, the characters all come to life. So glad someone on Facebook recommended it.

In the small town of Mayville, Florida, lived 82 year old Ora Lee Beckworth, widowed, with no children and a former school teacher. She lived in an large old house and had a housekeeper named Blanche. One could say that she was a woman of means. Her husband, Walter, was an insurance agent and a philanthropist. Since Walter's death, Ora Lee was lonely and alone. Ora Lee had kept a secret for twenty-five years, which had bothered her all these years and now she wanted the truth to be told. Ora called everyone in town by their first names. She also knew everyone's business. One could say that she was a nosy parker, but she wasn't that at all. It was just that she was around for so long. She was a feisty woman, smart as a whip and very generous. Many things happened 25 years ago, and Ora Lee tells the true story of what really happened. Blanche, her housekeeper, had raised five children on her own, since her husband died. She had worked for Ora all these years and because of circumstances they became quite close. Blanche's children became part of Ora Lee's life too. Life was changing in the town. The bank was moving and the property got sold to a company that was named Lifeways, a facility that treated drug addicts, alcoholics and other similar problems. The people in the town signed a petition to keep this from happening, but they lost. So people in the community began to move away by the truckloads. Ora lee hired a homeless man to mow her lawn. He had a high-pitched and squeaky voice. When he spoke he made a smacking sound, because he had no teeth. The noise came from his gums when they were making contact. Everyone called him The Pecan Man, also known as the Pee-can man by the children in the neighbourhood. Parents forbade their children from going outdoors when he was around. You see, he was a black man. His real name was Eldred Mims. Ora Lee called him Eddie for short. He lived in the woods and drove a rickety old bicycle with a sack full of pecans tied to the handlebars of his bicycle, which also dragged a lawn mower behind. The town was filled with pecan trees and that's how he came to have pecans. He came to work on time and did a fine job. Ora hired him to stay on and do some handy work around the house, since the house was in need of repairs. One day, Eddie didn't show up for work. He was arrested for a murder that happened in the woods. He was sent to prison for the rest of his life. Before that murder, something terrible happened to Blanche, which had serious results. Ora Lee is the narrator of this story. It is a story about racism in the Civil Rights era, which existed in spite of the changes in the law, as well as secrets and lies, friendship and love. The Pecan Man is the first novel that Cassie Dandridge Selleck has written. The story line is a very good one. The character of Ora Lee is well developed and her character had me hooked from page one. Blanche and Eddie were wonderful support characters. The flow of the story was smooth and one could read it with ease. It was sad and heartwarming and at times comical. I enjoyed the Pecan man immensely and look forward to reading Cassie Dandridge Selleck's next book. This book is a winner and merits Five Stars.

Beautifully written. A cross between A time to Kill (John Grisham) and To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) two of my favourite books. I would defiantly reccomend The Pecan Man.

Ein Roman mit Südstaatenflair ohne kitschig zu sein. Elemente südstaatlicher Literatur werden ansprechend und in einem fesselnden Schreibstil verarbeitet. Es geht um die Beziehung einer Südstaatenlady zu ihren farbigen Angestellten, von denen einer eines Verbrechens bezichtigt wird. Gegen Ende ihres Lebens erzählt die Protagonistin, wie sich die Dinge wirklich zugetragen haben.

Brutal, poignant and beautiful. How I love these stories from the Deep South. Every bit as wonderful as one of my favourite books “Whistling Past the Graveyard”...this book is a triumph of human spirit and hope despite pain and suffering. Character rich and beautifully narrated in my favourite Southern drawl. This book simply makes you want to be a better person ..and there’s no better compliment.

This is an intelligent story with enough plausible twists to bring tears my eyes and an ache to my heart. It is also a moral tale about conscience, mistakes and forgiveness. The main character Ora Lee is pragmatic humane but a believable personality. It is set in the south in the late sixties and early 1970s.