Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

by Fannie Flagg

Book Overview

Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a now-classic novel about two women: Evelyn, who's in the sad slump of middle age, and gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode, who's telling her life story. Her tale includes two more women--the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth--who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, offering good coffee, southern barbecue, and all kinds of love and laughter--even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present will never be quite the same again.

Praise for Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

"A real novel and a good one from] the busy brain of a born storyteller."--The New York Times

"Happily for us, Fannie Flagg has preserved the Threadgoodes] in a richly comic, poignant narrative that records the exuberance of their lives, the sadness of their departure."--Harper Lee

"This whole literary enterprise shines with honesty, gallantry, and love of perfect details that might otherwise be forgotten."--Los Angeles Times

"Funny and macabre."--The Washington Post

"Courageous and wise."--Houston Chronicle

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449911357
• ISBN13: 9780449911358
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Fannie Flagg is Brilliant

Ms. Flagg tells a story in such a way that no one can resist turning the page! She's a master story teller.

Love the movie, love the book

Love it. The story is a little bit different from the movie but it's really good

Easy to follow storyline.

I remember reading this book a few years ago, and it left an everlasting impression on me. You really do connect with all the characters in there and experience all their emotions.

Excellent

Very happy with the books can't wait to hand them out for our book group.

damaged book

book was rated “really good quality” but the book was slightly damaged and had wear and tear.

How was this written in the 80s?

Alarmingly frequent use of racial slurs from characters we're supposed to root for.

was a hard cover

I ordered a paperback copy because I just prefer paperback, I think its more aesthetically pleasing and nicer to read. I can't enjoy that though because its a hard cover book. :( I mean its not that big of a deal but it will damper my reading experience a bit, sadly.

Fried green tomatoes

I absolutely loved the movie and the book was amazing. It filled some of the details that’s the movie left out all around a Great Read and I highly recommend it

Beautiful Storytelling and Food

I loved the implied romantic relationship between Idgie and Ruth as the story goes along. I couldn't bear to put the book down whenever I had to do assignments. I tried some of the recipes too and they're really good!

One of my all-time favorite books

I found this book way before the movie came out, thankfully. Sitting on the beach on vacation, I remember both laughing out loud and crying at various parts. There are moments that will stick with you forever. Towanda! The movie is also wonderful, but as always, the book can dig in deeper. This book is a classic! Very highly recommended.

What a simply beautiful story to get lost in!

Set back in the 20's, 30's and 40's, Whistle Stop! An amazing town full of simple folks. Even though time were hard, they were good. A story of love, heartache and unforgettable experiences. No matter the situation, they prove over and over again that family is first and you stand by the ones you love, in good times and bad. No matter what!

Absolutely perfect book

If you love older settings and funny characters along with romance and murder and friendship. This is the book for you. Its set in the 20s-30s and its full of actual stereotypes that you only hear about now. Racism, Lgbt, a real female friendship, secret love affairs, etc etc. I love it so much.

Absolutely great

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe has been a favorite movie for many years. Earlier this year I finally got around to read the book as well, and was not disappointed at all. The story is similar, of course, to the movie, but the book gives lots of moving, touching and funny details which are lost in the movie. Evelyn is a sad middleaged woman, who feels her life is empty and dull, and she is not impressed at first when she meets the old Ninny in a nursing home. Ninny starts telling Evelyn about her life in a small rural Southern town, and while Evelyn does not care at first, she soon becomes interested in all the people Ninny tells her about. The story goes back and forth in time, from the early 1930'es to our day. We hear about the friendship between two very strong women, Idgie and Ruth, and all the people they know in the little town Whistlestop. Idgie and Ruth owns the town cafe, and more than once it is subtly hinted that they have a [...] relationship. A detail, by the way, left out of the movie. The story also touches and deals with other subjects like slavery, racism, poverty but also love, faith, friendship. It is a wonderful history that will make you both laugh and cry, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Deceptively Simple Story Packs A Southern-Fried Punch

Fannie Flagg's heartwarming stories never fail to entertain, and the characters in this one are some of the most endearing ones in all of Southern lit. The deceptively simple story is told in a witty and light-hearted manner, but delves into such emotionally-charged issues as lesbian relationships, the treatment of minorities, the problems of aging and more in an unforgettable narrative. The story moves effortlessly between two time frames. The first story begins in the 1920's and centers on Idgie Threadgoode, a female Huck Finn, and her friend Ruth Jamison. Together, they own and operate the cafe which is the center of small-town life in Whistle Stop, Alabama. The second story begins in 1985 when Evelyn Couch meets Ninny Threadgoode, the now-elderly sister-in-law of Idgie, at the Rose Terrace Nursing Home in Birmingham. The two stories unfold in a light-hearted, folksy way that puts you into the lives of these poignant charaters and has you longing for the neighborly friendliness of a time long past. Evelyn is, in fact, so touched by Ninny's recollections that she is finally able to take control of her own life through the often hilarious and always inspiring life of Idgie. For a feel-good read where the inherent goodness of people causes them to carry on through good times and bad, I highly recommend this one.

Southern Comfort!

Although I saw the movie based on this book several times, its only now 15 years after the book was published that I finally decided to read it. And now that I have gulped down the pages, I'm wondering what took me so long to read this book and envelop myself with this delightful book filled wth Southern charm. And while its also safe to say that many readers and movie viewers are now familair with the storis about Idgie, Ruth, Ninnny and Evelyn, rarely does a book today offer such wonderful and endearing characters as does this book. Add to that a plot which has you racing to the last page and sighing when you close the book.While describing a friendship between two women some 60 years before and a present day relationship between a nursing home resident and her loyal visitor, the reader is set off on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Dealing with subjects as far reaching as women's liberation, homosexual relationships, rights of minority groups and growing old, Fannie Flagg never fails to enitce her readers and allow then to view a slice of American life now sadly gone.It may have taken me all of this time to finally read a book by Fannie Flagg, but if her other titles are nearly as good as this one, I surely will be in reader's heaven. I recently purchased Welcome to the World, Baby Girl which I'm saving for the proverbial rainy day. I have a feeling it may be coming soon.

A Southern Classic!!!!

Although I saw the movie based on this book several times, its only now 15 years after this book was published that I finally decided to read it. And now that I have gulped down the pages, I'm wondering what took me so long to envelop myself with this delightful book filld with Southern charm. And while it's also safe to say than many readers and viewers are now familiar with the stories about Idgie and Ruth and Ninny and Evelyn, rarely does a book today offer such wonderful and endearing characters and a plot which has you racing to the last page. While describing a friendship between two women some 60 years before and a present day relationship between a nursing home resident and her loyal visitor, the reader is set off on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Dealing with subects as far reaching as women's liberation, homosexual relationships, rights of minority groups,integration and growing old, Fannie Flagg never fails to entice her readers and allow them to view a slice of American life now sadly gone.It may have taken me all of this time to finally read a book by Fannie Flagg but if her any other titles are as good as this one, I surely will be in reader's heaven. I already have Welcome to the World, Baby Girl and am eagerly waiting to begin it. Maybe today's the day.

a wild ride about love, sorrow, and hate in Southern U.S

Fried Green Tomatoes is one of my favorite books because the book seems to touch the human soul so well. I smiled over Dot Weem's newspaper columns. I laughed about Idgie's childhood. I scoffed at Frank Bennet's murder. And I felt sorrow at the deep racism in the 1920's. The book takes turns being mostly narrated by four women's lives: Ninny Threadgoode: the old and cheery woman who gives strength to Evelyn and tells the story about two women, Evelyn: the failed housewife and a victim of sexism who, in her midlife crisis, turns into the revengeful "Towanda", Ruth Jamison: the gentle wife of an abusive husband, finding santuary in her friends'love for her, and Idgie Threadgoode, strong and wild, the co-owner of The Whistle Stop Cafe, and the "love" of Ruth's life. Together, they weave a bittersweet story about love, friendship, and sorrow that life brings to everyone.