'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe' Unshelving Project review

A reworking of the seventh prompt for the Book Review Blog Challenge hosted by Ann over at Great New Reads (time, which I ran out of during this actual challenge). I chose a physical book that I have on hand that has sat on my TBR for the longest amount of time (2011, so says Goodreads). That book is Fried Green Tomatoes at Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag. 

a pic of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop CafeC

The Oldest Book on my TBR review + Unshelving Challenge

This book is definitely dated. There's a lot of uncomfortable for me to read racism and ableism. Idgie and Ruth, who are very obviously a lesbian couple are never referred to as such and in fact, Idgie is more often than not just one of the guys and is very rarely thought of as a woman (unless it helps her out of tough spots).

Overall, though, I liked it. It shows this kinda snapshot of a time and culture of the US South that you don't often see anymore. I mean, all those sorts of train towns are just gone. In fact, Whistle Stop fades away in the book.

I did like how it switches between newspaper clippings, a variety of POVs from the past, and the current with Evelyn talking with Ninny in the old folks home. It got a bit tedious at times, certain things left hanging for some time (as how conversations with older folks sometimes go) or being reiterated in more depth by one of the characters that was actually involved in whatever event. I'm not sure I've read anything formatted like it, honestly. Pretty interesting.

There's also a lot of recipes in that back that I'm looking forward to try!

The film adaption, Fried Green Tomatoes, which came out in 1991 and the screenplay is actually written by Fannie Flag as well, stars the always awesome Kathy Bates as Evelyn and Jessica Tandy as Ninny. I watched it years and years ago and I remember liking it but I haven't been able to find it available on any of the streaming services I have, so I haven't been able to rewatch it yet.

The unshelving challenge is just something I saw on Litsy some time ago and I'm not officially involved or anything, just thought it was a good idea. Basically, you go through your own shelf and read the things to determine if you're going to keep or donate. I'm trying to work my collection down to the just the shelves I have in the bedroom in a nice, orderly sorta way instead of all the random stacks and books tucked away in all nooks and crannies. I've determined this will be a keeper.

Read between May 8th and 17th, contemporary family drama, four out of five stars.

Support local and Indie booksellers, buy a copy from Bookshop, here (this is an affiliate link)!