Book 38 Fried Green Tomatoes

 

Book 38 Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe (Pardon the double title, but it's too long for the post title.)

Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg fulfilled the category “Book Set in a Restaurant” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. The story centered on Idgie and Ruth and their cafe. This is a total romance.

I realize this book is rather dated, published in 1987. As it’s a retelling of stories from the first half of the century, I’m counting it as relevant for the category. I have to stop reading these old books for the blog. I tried The Hundred-Foot Journey, and I could not get into it. But a lesbian love story from the 80s? Yes, please.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Fannie Flagg. Then again, I’ve only read two of her novels. They just aren’t my style. I can see why this book created a stir in the 80s, and the movie was a hit. It was my first introduction to Kathy Bates, and I have been smitten since.

A quick summary. We have a woman, Evelyn Couch, struggling with her marriage, femininity, and purpose in her life who befriends an older woman at a nursing home. The elder tells tales of her family and friends in a tiny town called Whistle Stop. Over time, the two become close as Mrs. Threadgoode shares tales of the town. Evelyn learns to try new things, accept herself, and take charge of her life. But the meat of the book is the people from Whistle Stop.

Mrs. Threadgoode focuses on her sister-in-law, Idgie, a woman with her own mind living through the early half of the twentieth century. At sixteen, Idgie “gets a crush” on Ruth, who comes to town for a visit. What follows is an amazing love story between these two women over the years. They are soul mates, and no one questions it. Not in the novel. Not when the movie came out. I was in college when it was released. I don’t remember a single person questioning or protesting the relationship between Ruth and Idgie. If the movie were released today, would the world be as accepting? I’m not so sure.

Though the book is over thirty years old, both plots hold up. Idgie, Ruth, and their struggle to be together and Evelyn’s work to become the woman she wishes to be. We can see these themes in recent books in LGBTQ+ titles and woman’s fiction. There are also aspects of race and racism in the novel. It seemed to me, the crew from the 30s and 40s did better with being kind and good to all than people in Evelyn’s era. We could argue the book was ahead of its time, but was it? Are there some issues we are moving backward on? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Another interesting aspect of the novel was its unusual format. The book is nonlinear. Mrs. Threadgoode told the story as she wished. Also, there are newsletters thrown in and sections that are not flashbacks to the early days. Being a slice of life book, the format worked well. We wanted to hear all the stories. I could imagine sitting with my grandmother (or my mom, at this point) listening to tales of by-gone days and historical events. I just wanted to know all about Idgie and Ruth and their love story.

I give Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg Four “Better” Insurance Policies.