My Top Five Books #4: “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café” by Fannie Flagg
This is a great book, for women. It’s like the author has made a list of everything that could possibly be great about a book and then woven it all together.
All the women in this book are great. They are all vastly different; all individuals. They have to deal with all kinds of problems.
The book is a murder mystery, but like no other whodunnit I’ve read.
The story is told from multiple angles and sources, through various individual and memorable voices, from various points in time, spanning decades.
The truths slowly become clear, as if the plot is some kind of soup, with things floating to the surface as it boils up.
The issues raised are many: domestic abuse, war, sexuality, racism, illness, identity, age, gender, deformity/damage, love, trust, secrets…
My favourite bit is when Idgie shows Ruth the bees’ tree. The movie ruins this.
So, if you have never seen the movie, read the book.
Never watch the movie. It just doesn’t capture it at all. The multifaceted narration just couldn’t transfer.
If you have seen the movie… wait a while and read the book… but I fear you’ll never see it the way the memorably named Fannie Flagg intended.
Wee Scoops 
I’ve only seen the movie, it feels like 100 years ago so I don’t remember much of anything about it except for a curiosity over the hoopla surrounding the actual fried green tomatoes themselves. I know that I cooked them once right after the movie and since I have never done it again since they weren’t a hit. You hit all the right notes with your recommendation of the book over the movie. I’ll be looking for the book at the library one of these rainy days.
Sounds intriguing. Never read, never seen. Title always put me off. Will hunt it out.
Looking forward to #5!!!
😳
“it’s not what you think”…
But ddp, I trust you’ll read it anyway. The post I mean. Not the book. When you find out what it is(n’t)…