Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

A Novel

By: Fannie Flagg

Narrated by: Lorna Raver

Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the now-classic novel of two women in the 1980s; of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women - of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Rut - -who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present - for Evelyn and for us - will never be quite the same again...

©1987 Fannie Flagg (P)2010 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Airplanes and television have removed the Threadgoodes from the Southern scene. Happily for us, Fannie Flagg has preserved a whole community of them in a richly comic, poignant narrative that records the exuberance of their lives, the sadness of their departure. Idgie Threadgoode is a true original: Huckleberry Finn would have tried to marry her!" (Harper Lee, Author of To Kill a Mockingbird)

"A real novel and a good one...[from] the busy brain of a born storyteller." (The New York Times)

"It's very good, in fact, just wonderful." (Los Angeles Times)

Everybody already knows this was a great book, but

I have to add that Lorna Raver's narration was top-notch, excellent, epic. She should get a special award for this performance, and maybe she did. I hope so.

Should be a classic!

What did you love best about Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe?

It's your best friend book. I love it!!

What other book might you compare Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe to and why?

If Steel Magnolias was a book... :-)

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed, I cried and my husband made fun of me, haha.

Any additional comments?

I love the movie and I love the book!

A heading is required......

I have seen the movie several times. One of my all time favorites. The story line quite different in the movie from the book in many areas. Enjoyed the book very much. Loved the narrator! She really nailed it! Do not pass up reading the book just because you have seen the movie adaptation. You are in for a treat. Read the book!

Great

I really enjoyed this. It's a great story and well read. I was sad when it was over.

Surprising and insightful

Having loved the movie, I was shocked at how different the book was. It was better (of course). But I believe it may have been ahead of its time and really spoke to so many current affairs and issues. It was great!

Be Prepared to Cry!

This is one of, if not THE best book I've ever read/listened to! I don't even know where to begin, the narrator has the perfect voice and southern accent to bring you right into the book. Fannie is amazingly clever she'll have you laughing one minute and crying the next. This book makes me wish I could go back into the time and fiction to meet all the folks at the whistle stop cafe and listen to the stories from the sources, even though the true source is the author. I absolutely love this book and could listen to it over and over and over again!

Loved it!

Loved the book, movie and now the audiobook. Well done! Definitely recommended. Good narrator too.

so very good

I can see why it is a classic. Funny and exciting. Very relatable. I will read it again.

fried Green tomatoes

I love the movie so I knew I like the book. I had no idea how much literally love this book. I don't remember feeling so much emotion from a story before. this is one of the best books I've read in, a very long time. a definite must read. overall, performance, and story were unbelievably fantastic.

Good characters

The characters are three dimensional and interesting. You just don’t want the stories to end. I wish there was more about the whistlestop cafe characters. I just want to peek in on every day of their lives. Good funny stories with heart.