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A review by cateolmert
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Ok I have a lot to say so lock in.
This book means so so so so much to me but it is far from perfect.
When I was in elementary school my mom read this book to my older brother and I. I think she picked it out because we just finished to kill a mockingbird and fried green tomatoes has extremely similar vibes. (Also apparently one of Harper lees favorite books?)
This book follows a depressed, middle aged, housewife in the 80s who is regularly going to a nursing home because her husband visits his mother every Sunday. There she meets old Mrs. threadgoode who tells her stories about her youth. Mostly following her sister in law, Idgie, and Idgie’s life partner, Ruth.
There’s a lot of shenanigans and audacious southern women saying hilariously passive aggressive things. But there’s also some murder, rape, and domestic violence.
I love the way it’s written, switching forward and backward in time & changing perspectives.
The Weems Weekly is also a highlight for me, I always adore reading that silly little newsletter.
This book is also personally very important to me because of Idgie and Ruth. They were the first queer characters I’d ever seen in media, and the way they are
treated in the novel is so refreshing even compared to modern media. While the words “gay” “lesbian” or “queer” are never used, it is repeatedly mentioned that they are deeply in love/devoted to each other and they are entirely accepted by everyone in the town. The story is not remotely about their queerness, it’s just also there. Idk they are just so cutesy I love them.
But as I get older and reread this book I find more and more problems with it.
The first thing is the scene where Idgie takes her son, Stump, to Eva bates for them to have sex? so gross. That should have been removed in editing especially with the context that Eva bates is like 25 years older than stump (whose in HIGHSCHOOL) and Eva dated stumps uncle (whom he’s named after) and it’s implied that she dated Idgie. So so so gross. What the hell guys.
Also just the issue of race. The book’s main message is supposed to be anti-racist (which I think is another reason my mom decided to read it to me as a child) but there’s a lot in this book that’s iffy. I mean for one thing it’s very white-savior-y in the same way to kill a mocking bird is, but it’s got some bigger problems. & I know that most of this book takes place in Alabama in the 20s-30s so I don’t necessarily think it’s problematic that the book portrays the racism of the time. But there are a few things I do think are problematic
1) artis and jasper. Artis and jasper are two twins. One of them has darker skin, and one of them has lighter skin. I think the primary purpose of the twins in the narrative is to show the difference in the way that they are treated based off of their skin tone. HOWEVER, for some unnecessary reason, Artis (the one with darker skin), has violent urges. Like he’s generally a good person, and the book tells several instances of him going out of his way to help people, but it also mentions he enjoys stabbing people? Like idk. What? It reads really really weird.
2) Evelyn (the middle aged woman who is hearing these tales) and Mrs threadgoode both make some really screwed up generalizations about Black people. And makes factually incorrect statements about how black people and white people are fundamentally different. I know that this was written in the 80s but it definitely does not age well today. Like there’s a lotttt of microagressions and some of just blatantly..
This book means so so so so much to me but it is far from perfect.
When I was in elementary school my mom read this book to my older brother and I. I think she picked it out because we just finished to kill a mockingbird and fried green tomatoes has extremely similar vibes. (Also apparently one of Harper lees favorite books?)
This book follows a depressed, middle aged, housewife in the 80s who is regularly going to a nursing home because her husband visits his mother every Sunday. There she meets old Mrs. threadgoode who tells her stories about her youth. Mostly following her sister in law, Idgie, and Idgie’s life partner, Ruth.
There’s a lot of shenanigans and audacious southern women saying hilariously passive aggressive things. But there’s also some murder, rape, and domestic violence.
I love the way it’s written, switching forward and backward in time & changing perspectives.
The Weems Weekly is also a highlight for me, I always adore reading that silly little newsletter.
This book is also personally very important to me because of Idgie and Ruth. They were the first queer characters I’d ever seen in media, and the way they are
treated in the novel is so refreshing even compared to modern media. While the words “gay” “lesbian” or “queer” are never used, it is repeatedly mentioned that they are deeply in love/devoted to each other and they are entirely accepted by everyone in the town. The story is not remotely about their queerness, it’s just also there. Idk they are just so cutesy I love them.
But as I get older and reread this book I find more and more problems with it.
The first thing is the scene where Idgie takes her son, Stump, to Eva bates for them to have sex? so gross. That should have been removed in editing especially with the context that Eva bates is like 25 years older than stump (whose in HIGHSCHOOL) and Eva dated stumps uncle (whom he’s named after) and it’s implied that she dated Idgie. So so so gross. What the hell guys.
Also just the issue of race. The book’s main message is supposed to be anti-racist (which I think is another reason my mom decided to read it to me as a child) but there’s a lot in this book that’s iffy. I mean for one thing it’s very white-savior-y in the same way to kill a mocking bird is, but it’s got some bigger problems. & I know that most of this book takes place in Alabama in the 20s-30s so I don’t necessarily think it’s problematic that the book portrays the racism of the time. But there are a few things I do think are problematic
1) artis and jasper. Artis and jasper are two twins. One of them has darker skin, and one of them has lighter skin. I think the primary purpose of the twins in the narrative is to show the difference in the way that they are treated based off of their skin tone. HOWEVER, for some unnecessary reason, Artis (the one with darker skin), has violent urges. Like he’s generally a good person, and the book tells several instances of him going out of his way to help people, but it also mentions he enjoys stabbing people? Like idk. What? It reads really really weird.
2) Evelyn (the middle aged woman who is hearing these tales) and Mrs threadgoode both make some really screwed up generalizations about Black people. And makes factually incorrect statements about how black people and white people are fundamentally different. I know that this was written in the 80s but it definitely does not age well today. Like there’s a lotttt of microagressions and some of just blatantly..