Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe | A Discussion
- 1/22/2019
- By Maegan Mariee
- 0 Comments
TOWANDA!
I don't think there is another book quite like Fried Green Tomatoes. It's both hard and easy to explain, both funny and breathtakingly morose. It's uplifting, depressing, horrible, wonderful, and absolutely one of the best books ever written.
In my opinion.
You know, a heart can be broken, but it keeps on beating, just the same.
A little history on my relationship with this book; I never knew this was a book. 🤷 I found the movie first, probably when I was seven? I'm not sure, but my mom owned the movie, which was made in '91. So what age I was is a little irrelevant. What's funny, is that watching this I thought it was a true story. I thought the people, events, this town, was real. Maybe that says something about how well it was directed and written. It introduced me to subjects that I was ignorant too. Racism? Spouse abuse? Homelessness? Same sex couples? Murder? Depression? Anxiety? Societal norms/expectations? All of this were things I didn't think existed and most definitely didn't understand.
Eventually I learned it was just a story, made up by someone, and went on with my life. It was only this year that I decided I would pick up a copy of the book for myself and read it for the first time. Followed by a personal screening of the movie, borrowed from my mothers collection. (Thanks, mom!)
Mrs. Threadgoode lives at a nursing home that Evelyn's malicious mother-in-law also resides. During one of these visits, Evelyn happens to stop by Mrs. Threadgoode's room and an amazing friendship is made. Mrs. Threadgoode tells Evelyn, not quite the story of her life, but of a time when racism, home values, and simple living was running rampant. But also of the incredible life of her sister-in-law, Idgie Threadgoode.
Not just about Idgie, of course. There's kind and sweet Ruth and a whole slew of incredible characters. To Evelyn, a housewife with increasing anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, these people are larger than life. She takes the stories of these people and applies them to her own life, suddenly becoming someone with spunk and a take-no-shit kind of attitude.
Face it girls. I'm older and have more insurance.
Unf. Honestly, this is just one of those books that you need to read. You get all the emotions, all the hope that you should get out of a book. It belongs on every book shelf.
If you do happen to read and then watch the movie, please refer to this link on IMDB, where they debate if Idgie and Mrs. Threadgoode are one in the same. Because when I was younger, and going into this book blind, this was the exact thing I was confused about.
♥
