(Book) Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a novel written by Fannie Flag. The story is told from two settings, the first revolving around Evelyn, who is a woman suffering from a mid-life crisis, and the second revolving around the lives of the people living in the small town of Whistle Stop, as told from the reminiscing of Evelyn's friend, the elderly Mrs. Threadgoode. This story is more widely recognized for it's film adaptation.

I have made two controversial observations concerning the literary field. The first is that every Canadian author I've ever read has been boring, and the second is that I've never read a quality book written by a female that wasn't marketed toward youth. After reading this book, I revoke my second judgement. Fried Green Tomatoes was written with a level of quality superior to most great novelists.

I enjoyed this book more than anything else I've read since graduating high school, with the possible exception of 100 Years of Solitude. The writing is so smooth that you can barely feel the presence of an author. It simply puts you in the place and perspective that the book wants you to be. It doesn't do any high-level preaching or pass moral judgements. It doesn't avoid controversial perspectives or ignore facts that challenge the book's themes, and it doesn't make excuses. It gives you a place, a time, and a person, and what the reader takes from it is dependent on the judgment of the reader, not the author.

For example, Evelyn manages to overcome her crisis based largely on her friendship with Mrs. Threadgoode. But while Mrs. Threadgoode's positive influence is strongly emphasized, another part of Evelyn's improvement is through successfully managing to lose weight, which Mrs. Threadgoode discourages.

When Evelyn learns to feel anger, it's shown to be a positive thing, but then, learning to let go of her anger is also shown to be positive.

When Evelyn finally confronts her husband on a lifetime of resentment, he doesn't respond as the ugly creature her perspective painted him as, and he doesn't get played up as some repressed hero, either. He's just a guy that's been caught up in life's little traps, like Evelyn.

Take the comparison between siblings posed by Jasper and Artis. You've got Jasper, the “good” son, who's responsible and obedient, who seeks further success and endures hardship uncomplaining. Then you've got Artis, who never aspires to much outside the pleasures of the moment, who has to be restrained after stabbing his brother multiple times because “It felt so good he just couldn't stop”, who murders his brother's murderer, who is drawn to oppressive and impoverished places, where he is in constant danger.

But take the scene where his friend's dog is being stolen away by the pound. Artis confronts them, pleads with them, does everything he can to save the dog. Obstacle after frantic obstacle arises and he doesn't give up. Eventually, when everything fails and the dog's about to get carted off, he cuts it's cord and sends it away, in the process leading him to be beaten and arrested on false charges.

In this scenario, Artis is the hero, looking to every peaceful solution before resorting to force. Even then, he doesn't resort to violence. He puts the well-being of the dog and his friend ahead of himself. Put Jasper in that situation, and he would definitely have surrendered the dog as soon as the authorities told him they were in a hurry. Kind of blurs the idea of good vs. bad.

These are just a few examples where the book manages not to get tripped up in literary trends.

Despite being well-written, the book made a few decisions that I wasn't too fond of near the end.

Railroad Bill turns out to be Idgie, for one. After all the mystery surrounding Railroad Bill built up throughout the book, his being revealed to be the book's resident heroine and foremost badass just comes out lukewarm. Idgie didn't need another stunt to prove her greatness, so if she was going to be Railroad Bill, it would have been better if we'd gone along on her trips and shared that experience.

Then, after long-term, heavy speculation that Smokey Lonesome was in love with Ruth, we get treated to a chapter where Smokey's true feelings are brought to light. It gets built up and strained throughout an entire segment, and finally, Smokey's true love turns out to be... Ruth. Again, you don't have to hype a reveal if the reveal is going to be the most obvious answer.

Stump hooking up with the girl he'd had a crush on since childhood came off as kind of cheesy, and sort of borders on overdone when you look at how the other relationships came about.

I guess she had a bit of difficulty capping off the various threads, but most of the endings and conclusions were still well done, and though a little disappointing, I wouldn't hold it against the book too bad. Awkward endings seem like a problem lots of great authors struggle with, for some reason.

Apparently the movie edited out the lesbianism and didn't kill off Mrs. Threadgoode. Lame!