Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

11 reviews

lay_kone's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Racial slurs, Cannibalism, Dementia, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, and Cancer

celery's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Dementia, Sexual violence, Gore, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual harassment, Classism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Medical content, Addiction, Cannibalism, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Murder, Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Vomit, War, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Child death, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Infertility, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

katndrsn's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, Homophobia, Racism, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Hate crime, and Cancer

Minor: Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Death, Dementia, Cannibalism, War, Rape, and Emotional abuse

staceyinthesticks's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Alcoholism, Murder, Racism, War, Violence, Cursing, Death of parent, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

artstitute's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Cancer, Racism, Rape, Body shaming, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Moderate: Cannibalism, Infidelity, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

Minor: Pregnancy, Bullying, and Vomit

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.

---

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

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.

---

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

---

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

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

amcghig's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Death, Child death, and Alcoholism