Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

A Novel

By: Fannie Flagg

Narrated by: Lorna Raver

Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the now-classic novel 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 women--of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth--who 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. And as the past unfolds, the present--for Evelyn and for us--will never be quite the same again...

"Airplanes and television have removed the Threadgoodes from the Southern scene. Happily for us, Fannie Flagg has preserved a whole community of them in a richly comic, poignant narrative that records the exuberance of their lives, the sadness of their departure. Idgie Threadgoode is a true original: Huckleberry Finn would have tried to marry her!"
--Harper Lee, Author of To Kill a Mockingbird

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

"It's very good, in fact, just wonderful."
--Los Angeles Times

"Funny and macabre."
--The Washington Post

"Courageous and wise."
--Houston Chronicle

Critic reviews

"The people in Miss Flagg's book are as real as the people in books can be. If you put an ear to the pages, you can almost hear the characters speak. The writer's imaginative skill transforms simple, everyday events into complex happenings that take on universal meanings."—Chattanooga Times

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

"A sparkling gem."—Birmingham News

"Watch out for Fannie Flagg. When I walked into the Whistle Stop Cafe she fractured my funny bone, drained my tear ducts, and stole my heart."—Florence King, Author of Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady


"Admirers of the wise child in Flagg's first novel, Coming Attractions, will find her grown-up successor, Idgie, equally appealing. The book's best character, perhaps, is the town of Whistle Stop itself—too bad trains don't stop there anymore."—Publishers Weekly

Everybody already knows this was a great book, but

I have to add that Lorna Raver's narration was top-notch, excellent, epic. She should get a special award for this performance, and maybe she did. I hope so.

Should be a classic!

What did you love best about Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe?

It's your best friend book. I love it!!

What other book might you compare Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe to and why?

If Steel Magnolias was a book... :-)

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed, I cried and my husband made fun of me, haha.

Any additional comments?

I love the movie and I love the book!

A heading is required......

I have seen the movie several times. One of my all time favorites. The story line quite different in the movie from the book in many areas. Enjoyed the book very much. Loved the narrator! She really nailed it! Do not pass up reading the book just because you have seen the movie adaptation. You are in for a treat. Read the book!

Great

I really enjoyed this. It's a great story and well read. I was sad when it was over.

Surprising and insightful

Having loved the movie, I was shocked at how different the book was. It was better (of course). But I believe it may have been ahead of its time and really spoke to so many current affairs and issues. It was great!