Standing in the Rainbow

Фэнни Флэгг верна себе - чуточку старомодна, чертовски обаятельна и задушевно иронична. "Стоя под радугой" - роман, в котором собрались многие из героев и персонажей остальных книг писательницы. В провинциально-уютном городке Элмвуд-Спрингс все друг друга знают, но о жизни его обитателей известно и за сотни километров, и все благодаря Соседке Дороти - женщине с улыбающимся голосом, которая заведует show more городским радио и на всю страну рассказывает о том, как живет-поживает ее родной городок. А поживает он весьма разнообразно и увлекательно, ведь каждый горожанин здесь особенный, со своими причудами и фанабериями. Вот, например, Слепая Пташка Певчая - девушка с божественным голосом и отвагой, которой любой зрячий позавидует. Еще есть Сесил, король похоронного бизнеса, и застенчивая Бетти Рэй, которой суждено стать губернатором штата, и бесшабашная тетушка Элмер, и ее правильная племянница Н... show less

Have I mentioned how much I love and want to live in Elmwood Springs? Well, I do. After reading Welcome to the World, Baby Girl, I couldn't wait to get to the next book in this series. So sweet, warm, welcoming...it's the book equivalent of warm apple pie. The town and its people grow and change from the '40's to the '90's, but pretty much stay the same. I kind of wish places like this still existed, except they'd all be Republicans, so then again, maybe not.

I found this in a used bookstore and I bought it even though the copy was severely water-damaged. I do not regret it. The historical sweep of this and the other Elmwood Springs novel I have read (Welcome to the World, Baby Girl) almost reminds me of John Irving. For me that’s high praise, and so I am going to be on the lookout for the others.

Flagg is a great storyteller and her characters are so lifelike and likeable; their eccentricities make them all the more endearing. This book covers a time span of 1940s to 2000, and follows the family of Dorothy and Doc Smith, their friends and neighbors, in Elmwood Springs MO. It's a delightful read. I cried and laughed. Absolutely enjoyable.

I love Fannie Flagg. There are just no two ways about it. She could write her shopping list and I would read it. She writes about people I want to know and places I want to live. Her worlds are the way we want to the world to be, the world we think of when we think back nostalgically to “the way it used to be”.

I read Standing in the Rainbow when it first came out and, of course, loved it. Then awhile back I was clicking through my libraries list of downloadable audio books and saw it listed and thought it was time to reread this wonderful story. Now, I’m just starting to really get into audio books. To be honest I used to think it was kind of cheating to listen to a book rather than read it. I was wrong and a snob and I’ve show more changed my evil ways because I’ve loved listening to audio books.

I think what stands out for me the most with this particular Fannie Flagg story getting to see the passage of time and how Elmwood Springs and all it’s inhabitants change, yet stay the same. We follow the Smith family and all their friends and loved one from just after the end of WWII all the way through the new millennium. What I truly loved was how as much as the world changed the fundamental truths of love and family and friends stayed the same.

What I had forgotten from the first time I read Standing in the Rainbow was just how many stories were told in this story. I remembered Neighbor Dorothy and her wonderful radio show. I remembered several stories of the residents of Elmwood Springs, the Goodnight Sisters and their adventures during and after the war, Beatrice-the little blind songbird and her longing to travel, and Dorothy’s children Bobby and Anna Lee and the trials and tribulations of their growing up. But, I had forgotten about the Oatman Family Singers and wonderful Minnie Oatman. I had forgotten about that Betty Raye Oatman came to stay with the Smiths and how that was to change her life forever. I had forgotten Hamm Sparks (I don’t know how I could have forgotten a name like that) going from tractor salesman to Governor of Missouri and the wonderful Cecil Figgs and the unexpected turn of events that gave him a whole new life. There is a heck of a lot of story in this book.

This audio version was read my Kate Reading and she did a bang up job. There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of characters in this book. And almost all had dialog. Somehow she made them all very distinct and recognizable. I knew who was talking throughout the whole book. I’m in awe of the work these readers do. I listened to this every evening when I would go out to walk and I would get excited about the idea of listening the same way I did when I was little and knew my mom was coming to read me a story. It really is wonderful having someone read you a story when you’re all grown up. I don’t know what I was thinking poo-pooing audio books; I’m now an official fan.

Oh, and when you hear the story that gives the book it’s title you will totally want to stand in a rainbow. show less

You know, sometimes I just need a book that is not going to scare me, get my hackles raised, or make me sad and depressed. This is the perfect book to cleanse the soul after reading some heavy books. I had been reading "The Alienist" and "Wicked", but I found myself feeling so heavy and sad. So I put the books down and went to find something light and airy.

I love this book. It's sweet. It's a throwback to times when neighbors actually knew each other and liked each other. It's a feel good book with many, many characters. No one is alike. So there is a story line for everyone. And it's wonderful. It really made me wish that our society would slip back into that way of life. When things were a bit slower, but more appreciated. When we show more weren't so worried about how people looked at us that we ignored our neighbors. I don't know any of my neighbors. I live in an apartment and there are seven other families living in my building and I have no idea who any of them are.

The book is cozy and will take a load off your mind or your heart. But don't think it's boring because there is a bit of mystery throw in.

This is one of my favorite books. show less

Fannie Flagg is the author of "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop
Cafe," and for those of you who aren't familiar with her work, I recommend
it. I'd read "Tomatoes" and another of her titles, "Welcome to the World,
Baby Girl," years ago, so when I ran across this one at the used book store,
I snapped it up.

"Rainbow" is the story of a fictitious small town in southern Missouri that
could have very well been the place where I grew up. The characters are
well defined and unique. This follows the story of Elmwood Springs, Mo,
from 1946 to 2000, in all it's glorious local color. It's the story of
Neighbor Dorothy, a homemaker who broadcasts a daily radio program from her
living room, with her mother in law, Mother Smith, on the piano in show more the
background, her husband, Doc, who is the town pharmacist, and their two
children, Anna Lee, who must go through the throes of adolescence with her
life virtually on the air every day, and the boy, Bobby, who has one
misadventure after another. There is the young girl who lives next door,
blind since birth, who sings like an angel, and the Oldman Family Gospel
group headed by the flamboyant Minne Oldman, who weighs 250 pounds and
attacks the piano with such gusto that it bounces. There is Minnie's
painfully shy and mousy daughter, Betty Raye, who was switched at birth in
the hospital and went home with the wrong family to live a life she was
never designed to live, while the real Oldman offspring, the girl with heavy
features, stout body, and forthright personality goes off to become a
debutante in the country club world. There's Norma and Macky, the high
school sweethearts who marry and become the backbone of the whole town.
There's Norma's Aunt Elner, an eccentric and plain spoken old gal who owns a
succession of orange cats, all of them named Sonny. There's Hamm Sparks,
the outgoing and gawky tractor salesman with political ambitions and his eye
on poor Betty Raye. There's the Goodnight Sisters, WWII veterans who make a
career out of traveling the country in a camping trailer, collecting
postcards, salt and pepper shakers, and friends along the way. And, finally
there is poor Tot, a woman who's life is one calamity after another, who
runs the town's only beauty parlor, putting her inept touch on the heads of
all the women in town because they have to keep her in business, after all.
And Neighbor Dorothy tells the tale every morning at 9:00 am when women
throughout the Midwest take a few minutes out of their busy days to sit and
have a cup of coffee with her, stubby pencils at the ready to jot down
today's recipe.

This is a real "feel good" book, a fun read and a sheer delight. It seems
so disjointed in the beginning chapters that I wondered how in the world
Fannie was going to pull all those threads together, but she surely did, and
created a town full of people I felt like I'd sat next to in school, stood
next to at the grocery store, and cried with at the funeral home. I'd
recommend this book for anybody who wants to revisit a simpler, happier time
in American history and get back in touch with their small town roots. It's
a 5, but you probably guessed that already, didn't you? show less