Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

28 reviews

portapages's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Deeply enjoyable. We follow multiple characters from youth till death, and see how their lives unfold. The tone is rather silly and doesn't take itself too seriously, but is still deeply moving. I think it holds the record of book that made me cry the fastest. I also laughed out loud multiple times, because it was just so surprising.

This book is also contains characters who are rather queer, anti-racist, and socialist for their time, considering it's set in 1930s USA.

THAT SAID, once again, this book crosses multiple very trying times in USA's history. It was also written in 1987. The language used in the book is not something we deem acceptable anymore, especially considering the ethnicity of the writer.

However, while there were some questionable portrayals of black stereotypes (a child with blue gums is expected to be a devil and in some ways lives up to it, as compared to a black chold with a fairer complexion), I found that every person was approached with a lot of nuance. It was very artfully done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Cancer, Death of parent, Dementia, Mental illness, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: War and Hate crime

Minor: Sexual content and Adult/minor relationship

jadaraines's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I really loved the message of this book - there were some Black stereotypes, and I couldn’t really tell what stance the author took on racism, which kinda bothered me, as well as the stereotyping, all of the black characters being written with a jive accent, and casual use of slurs by protagonist white characters despite being written in the 80s, which kinda made me side-eye, but otherwise, I really thought it was a beautiful story with a great message that a lot of readers can relate to.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

violetturtledove's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This really is a sweet book. I found it a bit confusing at first, it skips back and forth and it's a bit hard to keep track of the characters. It's a slow, lazy read, and at times a bit rose-tinted considering some of the darker subject matter (but it is using a framing device of someone reminiscing, so that tends to have that effect). There are some quite funny bits and engaging characters, and i felt the ending tied it all up nicely.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, and Rape

Minor: Alcoholism, Murder, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

ymziegler's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Cancer, and Racism

Moderate: Body shaming, Rape, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, and Death

klutzy347's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Rape and Domestic abuse

cozyteareads's review against another edition

This book is really intense, and I’m just not in a place to handle that right now. I don’t even know where to start with content warnings. It also uses a lot of racial slurs over and over, especially the n-word. I recognize that part of it is set in the 1920s in the southern United States, but it just felt like a lot at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Sexism, and Cancer

leahb88's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have always loved the movie and was excited to read its inspiration. I would say I continue to love them both, but in different ways. The movie jumps between past and present (80s), yes, but in the book the past timeline that takes place in Whistle Stop is not chronological and jumps around a lot. I liked this because the focus was less on the murder mystery aspect (in fact it really wasn’t an incredibly relevant plot) and instead we were mostly just experiencing life in Whistle Stop. Enough comparisons and a review of the text itself… I enjoyed being in Evelyn’s head and going through her feminist transformation with her. The feminist ideas in this were a bit outdated (it was written in the 80s after all, only a few years after it became a crime for a husband to abuse his wife), but this is definitely a queer feminist text nonetheless. Again, the way race was talked about at times didn’t really jive with me, but it still challenged systemic racial injustices. Overall, this book just gives me a warm, fuzzy nostalgia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Death and Terminal illness

saintyeehaw's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Kind of a nice book about

lesbians

but reeks of white savior tropes and is overall extremely racist--even the "good" characters seem to think of black people as lesser than in some way and never address their own racism. The older white characters actually think black people are meaner in the present... because they are mad... about racism. The charm of this book has definitely aged like milk unfortunately. 

Also, the main character finds her self worth by

joining an mlm instead of learning to love her body and unlearn her fatphobia?

Come on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Classism, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Cancer, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Terminal illness, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

chloenfp's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Cannibalism, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, and Slavery

pancake_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Ableism, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, and Racism