FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE

By Fannie Flagg

Release date: August 12, 1987

Insensitive old woman regales miserable middle aged woman with rose colored tales of life in early 20th century Alabama.

Whilst visiting her crotchety mother-in-law at a Birmingham nursing home, Evelyn Couch befriends Ninny Threadgoode, who shares stories of life during the “good old days,” when people could use offensive language to describe people of other races and abilities and the status quo was largely maintained by way of the KKK. These aspects of the novel contrast sharply with the general acceptance and encouragement of the lesbian relationship between Idgie Threadgoode, Ninny’s sister-in-law, and Ruth Bennett, a Sunday school teacher who has left her abusive husband to return to Whistle Stop and Idgie, with whom she fell in love at age 16. The novel jumps back and forth in time between the past (1910s-1940s) and the present (1986). It is a wonder that the people of the Whistle Stop of the past appear to be, in many ways, more enlightened and progressive than Ninny is at present, who spends a fair bit of time lamenting the changes in society that have lessened the inequality among races and ethnicities. A reader can be lulled by the tender tale of Idgie’s mother supporting her in her crush on Ruth, only to be jolted in the next chapter by Ninny referring to someone with a disability as a r*****d. A significant portion of the novel focuses on Evelyn, who is going through a mid-life, menopausal crisis of identity, battling weight and sexism, while pondering on expectational and anatomical differences between men and women. The memories shared with Evelyn inspire her to push the boundaries of societal norms, yet those nudges don’t have the same effect as those a half-century earlier. 

The writing is descriptive and lively, but be prepared to encounter some ideas that have (thankfully) receded into the past.