Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

We will be discussing Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Please arrive between 6:30 and 7 so that you can browse and shop in the store - Time Tested has a lot of great new and used books! - and get situated. The meeting discussion will begin at 7.

Reminder: Time Tested is happy to order a book for you if they don't have it on the shelves - and it's easy! Just call or stop by... they put in orders on Tuesdays and it is often available that Thursday. Be sure to let them know you are with the Sacramento Women's Book Club.

Book synopsis:
Set in a small Alabama train stop town in the 1930s, this gem of a book almost could have been shelved as just another light romantic comedy. Various women's voices tell anecdotes of Whistle Stop, as the chapters jump back and forth through time. We hear from Mrs. Threadgoode, reminiscing fondly from her nursing home in the 1980s, and the chatty Dot Weems, editor of the gossipy town newsletter (1929-1969), and then listen in on spirited dialogue set in the town of Whistle Stop itself. The storytellers never find use for the label "lesbian," nor do they see fit to take us behind closed doors, but this is nevertheless the irresistible story of a fierce and true love between two women, Idgie and Ruth. After Idgie saves Ruth from an abusive marriage, these two friends become partners in running the Whistle Stop Cafe, where no one, "not even hobos and colored," is turned away for inability to pay. Readers are set down in the corner booth to eavesdrop on the comings and goings of an array of eccentric, ragtag characters who drop in for buttermilk biscuits, Big George's barbecue, and, eventually, news about their own hometown murder mystery. Among revelations big and small, Fannie Flagg mixes direct and empowering confrontations with racism, sexism, and ageism with the colorful and endearing language of the depression-era South and the cafe's recipes for grits, collard greens, and, of course, fried green tomatoes.

Please bring a dish to share with the group (whatever you like!) or let us know in your RSVP if you want to provide drinks. Thanks!