Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

29 reviews

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

---

Content Warnings

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

rchristine11's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This was a great book. I knew very little about it going into it, and was pleasantly surprised at the sapphic relationship. This book is an adult novel and no character is without fault or flaw. The book is reflective and nuanced. It is told nonlinearly and touches on themes of sexism, aging, racism, abelism, colorism, domestic violence, euthanasia, non traditional family units, coming of age, and poverty. The book uses slurs continuously throughout. It’s not for everyone, and could easily offend. I usually stay in the fantasy/sci-fi/horror genres, but I ventured out for this one and I’m glad I did. I absolutely love a nonlinear story with multiple narrators. Sometimes it was an omniscient narrator, other times we are listening to ninny reminisce, or reading the weekly bulletin and the book jumps between decades, cities, and characters quickly. I really enjoy that narration style in a book.  It takes a great writer to pull all that together to create a coherent story. 
I’ve read a lot of critiques of the novel since finishing it and I think many of them miss the point of reading an adult novel (as opposed to children or YA lit). They mention the problematic nature of Idgie and Stumps relationship or the character Grady being likable while also being a KKK member. People point to colorism and racism and abelism displayed by the main characters. I feel like each criticism is saying “the narrative portrayed something bad and, because it wasn’t called out as such in the narrative, the book itself is promoting harmful ideas.” To which my response would be that this is a book for adults. As adults, we don’t need to be told when something is bad. This type of narrative style allows readers to engage critically with the issues presented and form their own nuanced opinions. 
This is not an easy read. It’s challenging, slow, and reflective. But it is a good book regardless and is full of hope. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Rape, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Violence

lily1304's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

3.25

Fried Green Tomatoes reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, in that the pace of the plot is slow, if there even is a plot. The emphasis is on the charming characters across generations, and a kind of nostalgia for the early 20th century. It's a cute little story, worth reading but not very exciting or memorable.

It's flagged as "LGBTQ+" because it prominently features a committed relationship between two women, and no one in the novel is ever weird about it. Racism and sexism are strong themes, but there is apparently zero homophobia in Whistle Stop, Alabama. It's honestly kind of refreshing, but also confusing. Everyone treats this couple like they're married, but they're described in really vague terms, almost like a "Boston marriage" romantic friendship. It's like the opposite of The Price of Salt.

The way racism is depicted is particularly interesting - the novel features the Ku Klux Klan and an old white lady with a mild discomfort around black men and everything in between. It's difficult to tell which mildly racist opinions are the author's and which are just the characters'. The N-word and the word "colored" are used with abandon. The novel also makes a big deal out of colorism among the black characters.

One of the characters, Evelyn, an older lady in 1986, goes on a whole journey about how sexism has affected her life - and her story concludes triumphantly with her at weight-loss camp, and losing a significant amount of weight is one of her victories. Unironically. Evelyn's relationship with Ninny makes it seem like the story is about to take a strong body-positive stance, but it's a total bait and switch.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Cannibalism, Dementia, Fatphobia, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and War

Minor: Kidnapping and Pregnancy

nightmareroutine's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-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

3.5

As a fan of the movie, I can say I enjoyed it more than this book. Both are definitely a product of their time, but the movie handled the more sensitive aspects with a bit more tact. While there are good aspects certainly (Ruth and Idgie are more explicitly an item in the book than the movie, WIN)  there are also downfalls (more insight into Evelyn Couch's internal world reveal a white feminist girl boss who wants to "blow up the middle east to prevent a third world war"...yikes). Even the good characters serving as the moral beacons of the story really come off with some terrible takes at times when discussing race, which is obviously a major theme of the book. But, overall, the novel was still both funny and touching, all the cast of characters get their stories nicely wrapped up in the end, and the writing was solid.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Physical abuse and Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.5

While it was an easy and quick read, I cannot really put aside all the negative aspects I found in the book. 

Got tired really quickly of all the uses of the n-word and the general "white savioury" vibe (I get that society at the time was racist and you cannot erase that but the author didn't realy need to go so hard on this trope), and I couldn't really stand the racism that still permeated the more recent story line. Also, like some other reviews mentioned, I find really unbelivable that in such a society (Alabama in the 30s) people would be so very much racist but at the same time be so cool about queer characters and not once say anything about the main relationship; I really cannot buy it. Not really a fan also of black characters being depicted in quite a stereotypical and one-dimensional way. 

Moreover, I found the character of Evelyn to be all over the place and I also really really did not enjoy the fatphobia in her storyline, thank you but no. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Rape, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Death, and Cancer

Minor: Ableism, Pedophilia, Murder, Cannibalism, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

houndoflove1985's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Death of parent, Murder, Cannibalism, and Domestic abuse

sachikoriddle's review

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Grief, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Dementia, and Kidnapping

beetsnotbombs's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Best book that I have ever read. Ms. Flagg is truly gifted.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

bunnyreads2's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Enjoyed the audiobook a lot. Felt pretty emotional at the end. The only thing is that the whole time I thought the author was black, and when I realized she wasn’t, I kinda questioned the way racism was discussed in the story. But it’s mostly 2020 hindsight and doesn’t deter from the story’s quality and intentions. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Infidelity, Hate crime, and Police brutality