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amyskates 's review for:
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
by Fannie Flagg
This book left me with mixed feelings. On the surface it felt like the perfect comfort read, lighthearted (despite some heavy themes) and escapist.
But the more I read, the more I found the treatment of race problematic. As other articles and posts have pointed out more eloquently than me, the treatment of black people felt a bit reductive - happy in service roles, indebted/always looking up to white characters etc. Given how forward the book was in other areas (LGBTQ, feminism etc) I was surprised by this and wondered if it was the author's comment on how white people from a certain time and place saw black people. I appreciate it's not always fair to judge a book from the 80s by today's standards, but reading it today felt a little weird.
Ditto with the portrayal of fatness/diet culture - I found it sad that Evelyn seemed to have to lose weight to be truly happy, given how important food (especially non-diet food) was to her and the story and relationships until that point. Again difficult to judge it by today's standards and views of diet/makeover culture but I thought I'd mention it as some people may want to avoid the book as a result.
But the more I read, the more I found the treatment of race problematic. As other articles and posts have pointed out more eloquently than me, the treatment of black people felt a bit reductive - happy in service roles, indebted/always looking up to white characters etc. Given how forward the book was in other areas (LGBTQ, feminism etc) I was surprised by this and wondered if it was the author's comment on how white people from a certain time and place saw black people. I appreciate it's not always fair to judge a book from the 80s by today's standards, but reading it today felt a little weird.
Ditto with the portrayal of fatness/diet culture - I found it sad that Evelyn seemed to have to lose weight to be truly happy, given how important food (especially non-diet food) was to her and the story and relationships until that point. Again difficult to judge it by today's standards and views of diet/makeover culture but I thought I'd mention it as some people may want to avoid the book as a result.