Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

11 reviews

alloutofwords's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fatphobia and Death of parent

falltumn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

merlesstorys's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gosh, how much I fell in love with the characters at the end. And that there was a Happy End for everyone (in some way or another).

The story seems so simple at the start, but as soon as I started reading, I discovered layers and layers.
Like the high possibility, that Idgie and Ruth queer were but never said out loud. It just showed that queer people always existed and that we always will.
Ninny‘s story was kinda heartbreaking. How she lost her husband and child, just to be alone in the retirement home at the end, but moved there for her best friend. And that she was so selfless in general, but gave Evelyn all her things.
And Evelyn, poor Evelyn. I‘m so happy for her and that she felt a lot better at the end. She found her way. 

The structure of the book was interesting. The many chapters, consisting of flashbacks, newspaper articles and in-person-experiences were a lot at first (confusing and difficult to follow), but after a while I got a hang of it and it got easier to read.

In general I enjoyed reading this book a lot. Because I took my sweet time with it, the ending felt even for rewarding in the end - because I loved reading this book in a slow and steady pace. Normally I rush through a book, but I didn’t feel the need for it with this one.

Just a few things I love about this book that are maybe more of a spoiler than my review already is:

I love that Idgie‘s love for Ruth was never judged apon by her family, just accepted. And that Frank got what he deserved, even though the fact that Sipsey was the murderer was surprising. And the ending, the bittersweet but loving ending. How Idgie still looks after Ruth’s grave, even though she was already dead for forty years… so much to love about this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

Just wanted to add that this book is pretty old and therefore has some outdated content. Reading it was great anyway!

morenowagain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

celery's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cwg's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

Unorganized Thoughts Below:

Read this Summer of 2022 when I was feeling dour. Cheered me up a bit.

Light-hearted reading. Easy to read, easy to love characters. 

Interesting narrative structure (past and present, narrative embedded within narrative). 

Product of its era, not just in the sense of it being set in 1920s and 1990s South (approximation) — do mind the TW’s if you’re wary — but if you can get past that, it’s a lovely story about community. 

It’s also got elements of “found family,” which, while I won’t give details, was easily my favorite segment within the book (of course it’s the relationship

between Idgie and Ruth

, but also the way the people of the Whistle Stop Cafe work as a family). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Eating disorder, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

artstitute's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Blood, Dementia, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Vomit, and Pregnancy

itsmackie's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Hate crime, Rape, Terminal illness, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

laurataylor's review against another edition

emotional funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

lily1304's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

3.25

Fried Green Tomatoes reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, in that the pace of the plot is slow, if there even is a plot. The emphasis is on the charming characters across generations, and a kind of nostalgia for the early 20th century. It's a cute little story, worth reading but not very exciting or memorable.

It's flagged as "LGBTQ+" because it prominently features a committed relationship between two women, and no one in the novel is ever weird about it. Racism and sexism are strong themes, but there is apparently zero homophobia in Whistle Stop, Alabama. It's honestly kind of refreshing, but also confusing. Everyone treats this couple like they're married, but they're described in really vague terms, almost like a "Boston marriage" romantic friendship. It's like the opposite of The Price of Salt.

The way racism is depicted is particularly interesting - the novel features the Ku Klux Klan and an old white lady with a mild discomfort around black men and everything in between. It's difficult to tell which mildly racist opinions are the author's and which are just the characters'. The N-word and the word "colored" are used with abandon. The novel also makes a big deal out of colorism among the black characters.

One of the characters, Evelyn, an older lady in 1986, goes on a whole journey about how sexism has affected her life - and her story concludes triumphantly with her at weight-loss camp, and losing a significant amount of weight is one of her victories. Unironically. Evelyn's relationship with Ninny makes it seem like the story is about to take a strong body-positive stance, but it's a total bait and switch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, and War

Minor: Kidnapping and Pregnancy