Fannie Flagg's enduring Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café was published in 1987 (and made into a movie in 1992). The heartwarming novel explored the friendship between a disillusioned, middle-aged housewife and Ninny Threadgoode, an elderly woman living out her days in a nursing home. Ninny had astonishing tales to tell about a bustling railroad cafe in a small Alabama town east of Birmingham in the 1930s.
Flagg's
long-awaited sequel focuses on Buddy Threadgoode, Jr.,
son of the late Ruth Jamison, who once ran the Whistle Stop Cafe with Imogene
"Idgie" Threadgoode, an adventurous, rebellious tomboy. Through a patchwork
quilt of scenes, Bud's history unfolds from the 1930s: how he managed life with
a missing arm, an injury incurred in a train accident when he was six years
old, and became a veterinarian; how Aunt Idgie became Bud's best friend and
cheerleader, even after she sold the café and moved to Florida; how Bud fell in
love with and married his childhood sweetheart, and they raised a daughter,
Ruthie, a woman with her own story to tell.
As in Fried
Green Tomatoes, Flagg infuses short chapter vignettes with cozy
snippets of gossip about Whistle Stop townsfolk--memorable characters from the
first book--who left town and set down roots elsewhere. Bud--now in his 80s,
retired and widowed--looks back lovingly and longingly at his Whistle Stop
days. The story blossoms in vintage Flagg style--folksy and feel-good. An
abundance of Southern charm will delight both readers eager to journey back to
beloved Whistle
Stop and also those wanting to visit for the very first time.
The
Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop: A Novel by Fannie Flagg
Random House, $28.00 Hardcover, 9780593133842, 304
pages
Publication Date: October 20, 2020
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NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (October 27, 2020), link HERE