The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop (Whistle Stop, AL #2)

Fannie Flagg’s latest book is a sequel to Fried Green Tomatoes, and does not disappoint. Although I tried and tried to stretch it out, I could only make it last for two days. The book is like a long awaited visit with dear friends. About a year ago I read the FGT novel, and ended up reading every single novel written by Flagg. I loved each of them, and hoped that there would, some day, be another novel. I have to say that I have had a crush on Fannie Flagg since the 1960s, when Flagg did the Candid Camera gag where she was the lady with the monkey on her head. I always love a girl who can keep me laughing. When I was in college, her fried egg t-shirt on Match Game gave me a laugh that has lasted now 45 years. All her novels overflow with humor that somehow makes you feel loved. Only Harper Lee and Truman Capote have created characters as beloved as these!

Much like Idgie, I’m happy to be home. This book is an absolute delight in every way. I laughed out loud … very loud … I cried, I worried, I rejoiced, and I missed the characters (and are some ever characters!!) from Whistle Stop the moment I read the last word. If you are looking for a feel good read that will warm your heart and leave you hankering for a big old plate of fried green tomatoes, then this is the book! Thank you, yet again, Fannie Flagg for making us all remember that there is good in this world and it’s found in the heart of small towns all across this country.

While some scenes take you back to the world of “Fried Green Tomatoes,” the entire book feels so tossed together. It’s as if Flagg had all these short vignettes written and she hastily wrote the scenes in the present time to try to tie them together coherently. It did not work. The humor is too light and folksy–there is no dark humor or deep satire, such as we saw in the first book (and many of her subsequent novels).

Also, the absolutely unrealistic way everyone in this book has so much money to throw around at projects, going to retirement homes, etc….REALLY? Most of us don’t have a few hundred grand (or more) sitting around to spend in our old age.

I read it quickly, hoping it would get better, but it really just served up more of the same. If you like folksy, unrealistic nostalgia, it’s for you. If you hope for a return to Whistle Stop of the 30-40s era and all it’s complexities and personalities, skip it.

Fannie Flagg in these dark days of this virus your writing makes the world good again thank you for taking us to hope and helping us to know if we believe in good it can be l believe good is here we just have to work to get it back please keep writing Marlene Sandvig

What a joy to return to Whistle Stop! Ive met and talked to author Fannie Flagg twice, and she is a delightful person, charming and wickedly funny. In her new book, The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop, she takes us back to the famous caf in Whistle Stop, Alabama, that is famous for its fried green tomatoes. We are transported to events at some points, where we are re-introduced to Flaggs famous characters. But she also has a tale involving Idgie Threadgoodes adopted son Buddy that is the main thrust of the novel. Although we see Buddy at various ages, the main story involves Buddy when he is an old man, and his daughter Ruthie plays an enormous part in that story, for she is the character that grows and realizes what involvement with Whistle Stop can teach. And Flagg has a wonderful lesson to teach. Since we are meeting new main characters while celebrating the old, the author has some amazing creations to present to us. Chief among them is Martha Lee Caldwell, Ruthies mother-in-law, a pompous woman who has to have everything her way. She is responsible for one of the episodes where I enjoyed a prolonged out-loud laugh. Flagg mostly envelops us in the warmth and quirks of her characters while making us smile. But occasionally, she provokes a belly laugh. And that is great writing! And that is the epitome Fannie Flagg, warm, quirky, and funny as all get out.

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