Helpful Score: 2
Fantastic! This book gets better with every reading. These are characters that I don't like to say "goodbye" to. Wouldn't be giving this up, if I didn't have 2 copies.
Helpful Score: 2
Flagg writes a story about a small town with a homey little cafe where everyone likes to hang out to eat some great tomatoes and barbeque. You could say it is a story about a place that artist Norman Rockwell might have painted - as American as apple pie. Or is it? Strange things are happening!
Loved the movie with Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates. The book moves slower, but has a lush and rich narrative. It also has a recipe index for some good down home cooking.
Loved the movie with Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates. The book moves slower, but has a lush and rich narrative. It also has a recipe index for some good down home cooking.
Janis K. (scrapbooklady) reviewed Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe on + 472 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
"Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe" is a well written heart-warming book about a woman in a mid-life crisis who feels life has passed her by. Ms. Flagg has a gift of putting you right into the story. While reading it, I felt like I was right there, on the street corner watching a private life unfold before my eyes!
Emily P. (mizparker) reviewed Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe on + 87 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book was one of the rare examples of a book which was eclipsed by the movie. It's fine, don't get me wrong, but I didn't fall in love with it the way I expected to, having enjoyed the movie. This one was easy to put down. I finished it and thought it was reasonably good, but it didn't stay with me. If asked if I would recommend it, I would have to say "It was okay."
Joey C. A. (littlehobo) -
Funny at times,sad at times kept you on your toes!!
I did not like the book, yet I loved the movie.
(Spoiler Warning)
In the movie, you get the impression that "Idgie" and "Mrs. Threadgood" are the same person, in the book they are not. So you have this random old lady babbling on about a person that doesn't really have any relation to her.
In the movie, the Ruth and Idgie are good friends, in the book they are actually lesbian. And the reactions of the people around them (bearing in mind the times) are totally unrealistic.
In the movie, the events are easy to follow time-wise. In the book chapters jump back and forth so randomly that if I hadn't seen the movie I would've been frustrated at the randomness.
So in short, I really was disappointed, and honestly the book kinda ruined the movie for me, too.
Pity, I really liked it.
(Spoiler Warning)
In the movie, you get the impression that "Idgie" and "Mrs. Threadgood" are the same person, in the book they are not. So you have this random old lady babbling on about a person that doesn't really have any relation to her.
In the movie, the Ruth and Idgie are good friends, in the book they are actually lesbian. And the reactions of the people around them (bearing in mind the times) are totally unrealistic.
In the movie, the events are easy to follow time-wise. In the book chapters jump back and forth so randomly that if I hadn't seen the movie I would've been frustrated at the randomness.
So in short, I really was disappointed, and honestly the book kinda ruined the movie for me, too.
Pity, I really liked it.
I read the book before the movie. I loved it. Made me laugh and cry.
Carol C. (Ladybrook) reviewed Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe on + 31 more book reviews
I never finished this book. Had a hard time getting into it.
Saw the Movie? READ the book!
What is it? Its first the story of two women in the 1980s, of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two womenof the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruthwho back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.
What is it? Its first the story of two women in the 1980s, of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two womenof the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruthwho back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.
I couldn't put this book down once I got through the first couple of "postings", it is not so much chapters as it is occasional news from near and far, current and future. I did see the movie way back when and I know I liked it, but I bet I didn't know half of what was going on now that I've read the engaging novel by Fannie Flagg, set in the South, with a touch of history, a little commentary from the WWII era, and a lot of southern cookin'. The characters are varied and intertwined and although I usually get lost with so many, I had no trouble with this rich, intriguing cast. Although my copy fell apart (it was decades old!), do go to your library or find a digital copy even if you saw the movie (well, unless you hated it!) I suspect most people like me would ADORE this story (middle aged woman from the midwest).
Great as the movie.
great movie :)
