Bello, bello, bello. Un vero gioiellino della letteratura. E non lasciatevi incantare falla prosa spensierata: in questo romanzo si ride, ma si piange anche, si coglie tutta l'amarezza dell'esclusione, si assapora la vita nella gioia come nel dolore. Da leggere assolutamente.

Things had changed so fast. While she had been raising the required two children-"a boy for him and a girl for me"-the world had become a different place, a place she didn't know at all. (PG 37)

I freaking LOVED this book. I always say if we let the elderly talk about the past we can learn so much about what they went through and how they managed.

Evelyn goes with her husband to visit his mother every Sunday but can't seem to enjoy her visit. She's going through menopause and "What's the meaning of life?" feelings. Mrs. Threadgoode happens to start rambling like she's Forrest Gump about random happenings and Evelyn slowly starts getting sucked into Threadgoode family tales, especially Idgie and the Whistle Stop Cafe.

The story is set in Alabama and it sure felt like I was in Alabama in some backwoods town. The author is a great storyteller and has a ridiculous sense of humor. This is a keeper! If you need a smile I highly recommend this one....


(Side note::: Thanks to Jenna for providing the copy of this book. Winner!)

My expectations were too high. I wanted more than this book could deliver. I actually feel like the movie definitely trumps the book.

The book took too long to go anywhere and I found myself bored in between the humor and the taboo relationship of the time.

While I love the charming characters, they come more to life in movie form for me. Perhaps this is because I have seen it several times, first when I was younger.

Overall, it wasn't more than ok for me, which made me sad.

2 Stars

The Whistle Stop Cafe was the only restaurant in a small Alabama town whose prosperity revolved around the railroad yard. The story moves from present to past as middle-aged Evelyn Couch visits with elderly Ninny Threadgoode in a nursing home. Ninny loves to reminisce about her younger days, especially the activity at the cafe operated by her sister-in-law, Idgie, and her partner, Ruth. The activities of several families during the years 1929-1986 are told from several points of view. Newsletters from Whistle Stop, Birmingham, and the railroad add more information about the families and the era.

1931 was a hard year economically, and hobo camps sprang up in the woods around Whistle Stop. The destitute men would show up at the cafe's back door for a meal, and Idgie would not turn them away. "By now, the name of the cafe was written on the walls of hundreds of boxcars, from Seattle to Florida."

The book is about family, aging, storytelling, mid-life changes, lesbianism, race relations, the Great Depression, and small town justice. There is a lot of wisdom and humor in the book. Although the main characters are kind people, the attitudes of other characters regarding race relations is very troubling and prejudiced - but probably accurate for the mid-1900s.

"Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" is written in a humorous, conversational voice so the reader feels like they have spent time sitting with Evelyn and Ninny as they talk and eat chocolates. There are some Southern recipes in the back, including Fried Green Tomatoes.

I read this one after I saw the movie. I remember the abusive husband was served for dinner to the local sheriff: very poetic - but rough - back door justice.

TW: spousal abuse, rape, racism

I was a big fan of the 1991 movie adaptation, which I watched several times, and I was afraid to read the book and feel disappointed.
Silly me.
The author also wrote the screenplay and received a nomination for an Oscar for the best writing/screenplay.
As I read the book the whole movie played along in my head, as if I was watching it instead of reading.
I simply loved the interaction/dynamic between Ninny (an octogenarian character) and Evelyn.
The timeline changes back and forth between 1980s and 1920s
Ninny, while in a nursing home, tell stories from her life and people that she knew in the past. Her accounts are funny and also heartbreaking.
Evelyn is going through some middle age crisis and takes comfort in Ninny.
This relationship is quite heartwarming and funny.
But the book has plenty of unforgettable characters, hilarious dialogues and heartbreaking moments.
The accounts related to people of color may be described as stereotyped, but I don’t think that it was the author’s intention to ignore the racism of the time. Perhaps the accounts were not very realistic and those characters were too passive, but, in my opinion, the author had no obligation to tell us how unfair society treated them back then (and still do), after all this is a work of fiction.
I was highly entertained, from beginning to end, hence my ratings.

Ebook (Kobo): 361 pages (127 chapters), 98k words

audiobook marvellously narrated by Lorna Raver: 11 hours and 27 minutes (normal speed) - there is an abridged version narrated by the author.

Y estos tipos: les aterra comer sentados al lado de un negro, pero se comen los huevos que las gallinas echan por el culo.

Hace ya bastantes años que vi la película, después me enteré que era una adaptación de la obra de Fannie Flagg.

Ahora lamento haberme tardado mucho tiempo en leerla. Porque ha sido una MARAVILLOSA experiencia. Tengo esa sensación que pocos libros me dejan, que es el vacío, la nostalgia de la historia, de los personajes, todo el contenido que hice mío en el viaje de sus páginas.

Idgie Threadgoode, no es un personaje común, es una mujer adelantada a su tiempo, diferente, audaz, original, que no acata las costumbres y reglas en una época difícil en la que le tocó vivir, en Alabama. Y no sólo ella es un personaje emblemático, para mi, muchos de los personajes son magníficos, que te dejan con un sentimiento avasallador. Desde Idgie, hasta Ruth, Smokey, Ninny, Big George, todos son elementos importantes en la historia, y qué decir de esta, la historia, tan sublime, tan hermosa, no le sobra ni le falta nada.

Creo que el haber visto primero la adaptación y luego leer la obra, ha sido lo mejor, es de las pocas veces que puedo decirlo, aun a pesar de que, como casi siempre, hay cambios en el guión, diferencias entre una y otra, pero de esta manera he disfrutado mucho más la lectura, eso creo y lo siento sin lugar a dudas, y quizas porque la historia está relatada desde dos puntos de vista, en el pasado y en el presente, o viceversa, que a veces se siente como si se revolvieran y pudieran confundir al lector, y los sucesos son contados sin saber cómo se llegó a tal hecho, lo cual Fannie Flagg lo va desmadejando poco a poco.

Excelente y maravillosa obra, no hay más.

Why I chose to listen to this audiobook:
1. I watched the movie several years ago, with some scenes and characters, especially Evelyn Couch played by Kathy Bates, being quite memorable, so when I found a print copy at my local library's book sale, I thought I would refresh my memory; and,
2. May 2024 is my "Flora Titles" Month!

Praises:
1. I enjoyed the flow of this story, told over different periods of time and voiced by different characters, as we learn about their day-to-day actions as well as answers to a mystery;
2. I could somewhat relate to Evelyn Couch. I especially liked her feelings about women's inequality and her eventual awakening to her own self-acceptance;
3. some parts were humorous whereas other parts were eyebrow-raising;
4. both the print copy and audiobook contain favorite recipes of the Whistle Stop Café, including "Fried Green Tomatoes"; and,
5. the occasional news bulletins gave the ambience of small-town life.

Niggles:
1. MC Idgie Threadgoode annoyed me more than she amused me, especially when she comes across as irresponsible and a spoiled brat. I couldn't believe that she would take 16-year-old Stump to the local "big-hearted" prostitute for his first lay! While acting as a savior to various Black acquaintances, it turns out that Idgie is buddies with the sheriff, who's also a Klansman. This hypocrisy rubbed me the wrong way;
2. although racism towards Blacks was rampant in this story, I found it hard to believe that everyone seemed perfectly fine with the lesbian couple running the town's most popular café; and,
3. some side characters really didn't add anything to the story.

Overall Thoughts:
Be warned: racist attitudes and language abound in this story, but considering the time period and its Alabama setting, it would have been false to portray a politically-correct story. That being said, I do wish author Fannie Flagg gave more depth to the Black characters as she did with the White, and not treat them as typically "loyal" to their White counterparts.
Strange, but in this case, I personally enjoyed the movie more than the book.

n  Aunque se te parta, el corazón sigue latiendo.n

Este libro me ha llegado en un amigo invisible, en un intercambio de libros a ciegas. Conocía el titulo por encima, por la película (que no he visto) y como no puede ser de otra manera, por Los Simpson. Juntando esto, me he dedicido a leerlo y me ha generado unas sensaciones variadas. Una parte muy bien, otra muy mal. Me explico.

La historia es contada a través de dos personajes, Ninny Threadgoode en el ocaso de su vida le cuenta la historia de su familia a Evelyn Couch. Esta narración se produce dando saltos temporales sin ningún orden, pero siempre siguiendo a los mismos personajes. Para ello además la autora usa unos extractos de un semanario o de algún periódico.

Todo lo que son las vivencias de esa gente entre los años 20 y la época en que se escribió el libro (finales de los 80) me ha gustado mucho. Tiene unos personajes muy interesantes y muy bien escritos, se refleja muy bien cada época tratada. Esa parte sí está a la altura de lo que esperaba y he leído en muchas reseñas.
Por contra, todo lo que tiene que ver con Evelyn me produce una tremenda pereza. Sus visitas a Ninny son lo que mueve la trama y nos hace llegar a la parte de la historia que nos van a contar, pero no he podido con ella. Primero es una persona de carácter débil, pusilánime. Después sufre un cambio, tampoco me funciona. Y su papel es solo para tratar comidas y pedir a Ninny que hable. Todo esto es lo que me ha hecho tener una lectura muy lenta.

La edición que yo tengo, aunque creo que saldrá en todas, tiene un recetario al final con recetas (obvio) de platos que se comentan en el libro, y que si no fuera tan manazas en la cocina darían para mucho uso.

Ahora solo me queda ver la peli, también muy alabada en general. (El libro secuela lo descarto por completo)

Over the course of this year I have branched out in my reading choices. I have discovered multiple genres that I previously had not read, one of which being southern literature. It is in this regard that I found the writing of Fannie Flagg. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe invites the reader to small town Alabama. Through Flagg's southern charm you feel as though you are a part of the town and its cast of characters. In this light that I rate this gem of a book 4.5 stars.

Fried Green Tomatoes is a movie starring Jessica Tandy as Ninny Threadgoode and Kathy Bates as Evelyn Couch although I have never been privileged to view the film; thus, the book is new material for me. Evelyn Couch is a middle aged empty nester who accompanies her husband Ed to visit his mother at a nursing home. Evelyn having no patience for these visits instead strikes up a conversation with Mrs Threadgoode, which develops over the course of the book into an intimate friendship like that of a mother and daughter. I enjoy hearing older people reminisce about their lives so Mrs Threadgoode instantly became a charming character for me, and I, like Evelyn, was happy to enter into her world.

Whistle Stop, Alabama is an almost defunct small town on the outskirts of Birmingham. Mrs Threadgoode, inherently knowing that she is enjoying the twilight of her life, takes Evelyn back to depression era Whistle Stop. She regales Evelyn with tales of her family, the Threadgoodes, and their colored friends, the Peaveys. In a time where people were struggling to make ends meet, the citizens of Whistle Stop appeared to enjoy life to the fullest, with the cafe being the center of their world. Whites, blacks, and people of all walks of life lived in relative harmony, epitomized by Idgie Threadgoode and her Dill Pickle Club who went off on one daring adventure after another. In no case was there a mention of poverty, and Evelyn is charmed by Mrs Threadgoode's stories.

Meanwhile, in present day, Mrs Threadgoode urges Evelyn to live her life to the fullest. Just because she has entered middle age does not mean that her life is over. Written during the 1980s era of the working woman, Evelyn is coached on to get a new lease on life, a new career, and enjoy the second half of her time on this earth. In an interview following the novel, Fannie Flagg points out that she prefers older characters because they have many layers to their lives and much advice to offer to younger generations. It is in this mind set that she made Mrs Threadgoode the central point of her novel.

Flagg touched on non traditional families, the 1930s modern woman, racism and the lack thereof all in one town. Like Evelyn, I was drawn in by the characters and the town of Whistle Stop and finished the novel over the course of one day because I could not get enough of Mrs Threadgoode's stories. Whistle Stop is a small town whose people make up the fabric of this country, and the Threadgoodes and their descendants are cogs who embody southern life. I enjoyed my trip through Whistle Town and am looking forward to reading more of Fannie Flagg's southern novels.

Loved it. The sort of book that might open your eyes and change you, if you read it young enough.

It starts off in a honey-sweet, Southern-drawl, chuckle-worthy storytellin' sort of way. I found myself thinking that my grandmothers, who also lived through the Depression and enjoyed telling and hearing a good funny small-town yarn (especially one about big-family antics or old people), would have liked it.

Well, I still think they would have liked it, but for different reasons. As the book moves along it gets smarter and deeper and starts running a little swifter, under the surface. Flagg doesn't shy away from hard subjects, like segregation, domestic abuse, and murder. And while it may not do perfect justice to every subject, it's a good read and a daring book for its time. Flagg's talent for storytelling is made all the easier to savor by its non-linear chapters, told from multiple narrators at different times.

Nostalgia, honesty, and inspiration rarely get along. Often they aren't invited to the same parties. You need humility and good humor to hold them all together.

That's the secret to the Whistle Stop Cafe's famous fried green tomatoes.

Popsugar reading challenge 14. Un libro ambientado en un restaurante.

La verdad es que no quería terminarlo, saqué la vuelta todo el día para postergar leer el final xd y es que me encariñe tanto con los personajes, con sus historias y como me las narraba que no quería terminarlo. Me dio mucha pena al final, no pude evitar llorar jajaj sin duda es un libro que volvería a leer, además que pasó a ser de mis favoritos jeje

La historia empieza en una recidencia de ancianos, con Evelyn y su esposo que van a visitar a la suegra de ella. La señora se entiende mejor con su hijo por lo que Evelyn se rezaga y se va a otra estancia y en esto aparece Ninny (Virginia) Threadgoode, que de la nada le empieza a contar diferentes historias de su pasado con su familia y el café de Whistle Stop, al principio Evelyn sólo la escuchaba para no ofenderla pero con el tiempo se empieza a formar una linda amistad entre ellas y así mismo estas historias empiezan a darle fuerza a Evelyn, que no estaba pasando por un buen momento.

En un principio el libro puede ser un poco confuso, producto de la gran cantidad de personajes y porque al ser Ninny quien va contando los hechos, así como en Forest Gump, salta en el tiempo según la conversación que lleve con Evelyn, así va desde un pasado más lejano a uno más presente, pero si se pone atención a las fechas del inicio del capítulo, no cuesta tanto entrar en la historia. Eso sí, al inicio es fácil que uno se olvide de ciertas cosas que hicieron los personajes que más tarde en el libro se retoma, así que igual para no perderse ciertos detalles sería recomendable ir anotando xd todos los personajes influyen de una u otra forma, todos están conectados entre sí y con el café.

Por otra parte, los personajes se dan a querer, es difícil no encariñarse con ellos. Mi favorita creo fue Idgie