Mississippi Sissy

Book 63 of my 2017 Reading Challenge
read from September 30 - October 24

Mississippi Sissy by Kevin Sessums

Summary (via the book jacket)
The American South of the 1960s was no place to be different, much less a freak. Back then, boys grew up to become football heroes and marry girls who were taught to be perfect Southern belles. Segregation ruled, and you never voted for a Democrat in a national election, especially not a Kennedy. As far as music was concerned, you never sang anything in public other than a hymn. 
But Kevin Sessums knew he was different. His hero wasn't Mickey Mantle. It was Arlene Francis. He knew the lyrics to Broadway show tunes as well as he knew the Baptist hymnal, and his grandmother's African American maid, Matty May, taught him that the color of a person's skin was not as important as what was underneath.
In his growing up, Kevin Sessums was a decidedly different resident of Forest, Mississippi, a solitary little boy whose parents died by the time he was eight years old. But he learned how to survive by drawing his family close to him, keeping deep secrets others feared to tell, and learning how to turn the word sissy on its head, just as his mama taught him.

My Opinion
The author is really good at cliffhangers and the story got deeper and deeper as I read.

Quote from the Book 
"Even encumbered with our brief and tragic history, my brother and sister had not forgotten how to summon [laughter]. I was jealous of the ease with which the very hum of their happiness always hovered about me."