Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg - 416 pages, ⭐☆☆☆☆
This is one of the few books whose movie adaptations are far better than the original work. The book tries to do too much at once. It tries to be character-driven, but has too many characters, all of whom are too underdeveloped to carry the plot. It tries to tell a non-chronological story in two separate timelines, from two different characters' perspectives, while also interspersing newspaper articles written by a third character throughout, without a clear reason for the unusual structure, juxtaposition of past and present, or the multiple points of view. It tries to be a love story, a history of Whistle Stop, a crime drama, an intergenerational friendship story, and a woman's journey to find herself. It tries to address racism while viewing the Old South with a nostalgic lens, without understanding the contradictions inherent in that. Simply put, this is an incredibly ambitious book, but whether due to lack of skill, lack of experience, or lack of revision, Fannie Flagg could not pull so many elements together into a cohesive whole.
Fortunately, many of the book's issues were fixed in the movie adaptation, which Fannie Flagg was involved in writing. The number of characters got trimmed down for the movie, the remaining characters are more developed, and the plot follows a more chronological progression. I would consider the book to be the first draft, and the movie the final draft.
Although I enjoyed Idgie and Ruth's love story in the novel (it's toned down substantially in the movie), I found the rest of the book boring and infuriating rather than folksy and charming. I quickly grew tired of hearing about Dot Weems's "other half" in the newspaper clippings, and wished Evelyn would just walk away from Mrs. Threadgoode so Evelyn could eat her candy bars in peace, and I no longer had to be the captive audience for another of Mrs. Threadgoode's stories. More so than anger or boredom, however, I felt immeasurable disappointment. There is a good concept here, as evidenced by the excellent movie adaptation, but it's weighed down by trying to do and be too much at once. It reads more like an experiment in new techniques than a finished novel.
I am happy that Fannie Flagg was able to overcome the fear and embarrassment she felt about writing due to her dyslexia, but this book is, quite frankly, a mess. Shannon Hale once said, "I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box, so that later, I can build castles." Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is not a castle -- it's sand in a box. It reads like an early draft, but is presented as a finished work, which leaves me no choice but to rate it based on the same standards I would rate other finished works. Therefore, I rate it one star out of five.
