It took me forever to get into this book, and then I discovered I was enjoying it. But not that much. I think you need to be American to really appreciate it. It's certainly well written. ( )

I've had this one sitting on my shelf for 10 years and just got to i7. Takes place in several locations, primarily small town Missouri and New York City, and several time periods, bulk dates 1909-1984.
I found it totally unpredictable and that really kept me turning the pages. The romance part of it (small) was unrealistic, but the mystery of the protagonist and her mother's pasts was great. I never suspected the ending until I got to it. ( )

Written by the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistleshop Cafe, which I haven't read but which has been made into a really lovely film, you can see a certain similarity between the two, with the cutting backwards and forwards between a modern life of a TV presenter in New York (in the 70s) and the life of her parents in backwoods southern Missouri in the late 40s, which snapshots from all sorts of times in-between. It's a story about finding yourself, and finding you're not quite who you thought you were. It's got a bit of a love story. It's full of friends and family caring for each other. It's very very sweet. Put like that it sounds almost sickening, but there's a thread of mystery running through the book too, and a look at the cut-throat world of the start of tabloid-style TV news which is rather bleak, and you just can't help but like most of the characters. And my mum was right, definitely a feel-good book. With a happy ending and all. And just what I felt like at the moment. ( )

Nice light read. I was interested right from the first chapter and enjoyed the entire thing. ( )

Fannie Flagg does a spectacular job of diving into these charachter's lives. The detail she spends helping this book come to life is amazing. Starting off in the early 40's she bounces back and forth between that era and one's later in the 20th century with great ease. As the story develops you find yourself laughing, crying, and worrying right along with these people you have come to love (and sometimes hate). This book was nearly impossible to put down. It ony took me two days to read, as I wanted to get back to their world as muchs my world would allow. This is one good book. ( )