Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Queereaders

Apr 15, 2013 Stephanie "Jedigal" rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-on-my, with-em, lgbt

Oh, what a lovely story. I so wish that the movie hadn't come about first. Not that I think the movie was a BAD job of pulling out a two-hour screen story from this book. The movie was fine, but inevitably a bit watered down. What is great about the book is all the fun details you get. Whistle Stop and its small community are much more important here.

This book skips around in time more than anything I've read to date. The "present-day" 1980's storyline of Evelyn Couch's visits to the nursing ho Oh, what a lovely story. I so wish that the movie hadn't come about first. Not that I think the movie was a BAD job of pulling out a two-hour screen story from this book. The movie was fine, but inevitably a bit watered down. What is great about the book is all the fun details you get. Whistle Stop and its small community are much more important here.

This book skips around in time more than anything I've read to date. The "present-day" 1980's storyline of Evelyn Couch's visits to the nursing home are chronological, but the stories of Idgie and Ruth and their family, friends, and neighbors, black and white, and interspersed with the present-day thread in NO particular order. And this actually works really well. In addition to hearing anecdotes and tales from old Ninny Threadgoode's conversation, some are also presented via the Weems Weekly, Whistle Stop Alabama's Weekly Bulletin, written and "published" by the 'postmistress' Dot Weems, various miscellaneous newspaper and radio reports, and standard 3rd person narration. Instead of feeling disjointed, it works really well here.

Flagg's characters are portrayed humorously and lovingly. Minor characters in many novels are also flat characters, but Flagg seems to breath life into her entire cast. She paints the events in their lives, whether tragic, joyous, major or minor, with the lightest brush strokes. The people and the stories don't settle heavily in your mind, but float there like a bird on the water.

This novel is more about the community of Whistle Stop, and also about the times and nation that shaped it, and how it shaped its members, and perhaps through them the future, than it is the story of Idgie Threadgoode. I get the sense that Idgie (despite being very much her own individual person) was also such a good person because of the family and town of good people she belonged to. We could all hope to be so lucky in our communities today!

Okay, sorry if flowery and rambling. Anyway - I recommend. Fun, funny, sad, touching, but never depressing, in fact uplifting. ...more

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