I Still Dream About You

Yay for Fannie Flagg. No one else can capture the southern heart like she does, and no one else can be so subtly funny either. I just finished reading a book before this one that, although very good, was very sad and quite depressing. This book was a wonderful antidote for me. I laughed so many times throughout this heartwarming little treasure. The main character is Maggie Fontenroy, an ex-Miss Alabama who really hasn't seen much change in her 60 years. She is back living in Birmingham Alabama, and selling real estate. Ms. Flagg paints such a poignant picture of life in 2008 in Birmingham that I felt that I really knew the place and the wonderful characters that she created. The whole book is about Maggie's quest to "go away", and show more being a proper southern lady, she wants to make sure that all her affairs are in order and that she leaves owing no debts and that she causes as little trouble as possible to her friends with her absence. But life happens and Maggie has to keep changing her plans and her time. And she discovers that she is not the only person in the world who has a dark and secret past. I absolutely loved Maggie, and wish I could actually meet her some day. She is that real! show less

If anyone can tell a story about a woman contemplating suicide and make it funny then Fannie Flagg is the person to do it. Her tongue in cheek humor shows up at all the right times in her newest novel I Still Dream about You. Her main character, Maggie, a former Miss Alabama, can’t find any reason to go on with her life; even though she’s a successful realtor, in good health and still as beautiful as the day she won her title. The problem is that her life at middle age isn’t what she thought it would be. How many of us can relate to that? As she tries to plan a dignified exit, it seems like her friends and life in general, keep interrupting her mid-life crisis. Then there is a disturbing discovery at a beautiful mansion and a show more mystery that needs solving….well you know, things just get complicated. In spite of its morbid premise this is an enjoyable read. show less

Fannie Flagg's narration of this charming and sometimes surprising story of a former Miss Alabama floundering in middle age is perfectly Southern. The voices she gives her characters ring true and bring them to life. Maggie is a unique character and Flagg's storylines about Maggie, her friends, and an iconic house in Birmingham, Alabama, are entertaining. It would be a spoiler to explain why I gave it less than 5 stars but still well worth reading.

Fannie Flagg is a brilliant story teller and this is another novel where she avoids being saccharine and gives the reader twists and turns, wonderful characters and fun. Maggie has reached the age of 60 and has decided to end her life as she has had enough. A former Miss Alabama and now an estate agent in Birmingham, Alabama, Maggie has a well thought out plan for the end of her life. The novel is light-hearted as Maggie's plans are twarted time and time again, one time involving a goat! A joy to read.

I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU by Fannie Flagg
This fun read still has an emotional punch. Flagg is an expert at creating characters one cares about – even the ones that are not very nice! In this outing Flagg joins a “fat” African American, a midget, an ex-beauty queen, and a thoroughly detestable real estate agent to tell a tale of what might have been, what is and what may yet be.
Pathos and hilarity join forces for a romp in Southern charm and dirty deals. Flagg manages to tell a good story without stooping to vulgar language or explicit sex. Written for the adult female audience I STILL DREAM can be enjoyed by all audiences including teens. There is enough here for an interesting book group discussion that might cover family dynamics, show more faith, integrity, racial harmony, interpersonal relations and much more.
Similar in feel to FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, this book would also make a good movie.
5 of 5 stars show less

I Still Dream About You is a novel about Maggie Fortenberry, a former Miss America beauty pageant runner-up, who has decided she's had enough of life's disappointments and plans to commits suicide. The first half of the book is about Maggie's plans to put her suicidal thoughts into action, along with a lot of nostalgia and regrets about her past life. With such depressing content, this made the first half of the book a bit difficult to read, especially for long stretches, even though Flagg does her best to pepper in some amusing anecdotes, mostly by way of Maggie's fellow co-workers in the real estate business. Unsurprisingly, something occurs that stops Maggie's plans of suicide and the second half of the book becomes almost farcical show more with its series of random mishaps, including a lovelorn goat, a literal skeleton in the closet, and other unlikely events. Still, this second section read quickly and did have many humorous parts. Some elements of the ending are rather predictable, but there are certainly some twists that were unexpected. And while there may be an element of cheese to this nicely tied-up "Hollywood happy" conclusion, it's sometimes pleasant to read a book that ends on a high note of reaffirming life and faith in the idea that everyone eventually gets their just desserts.

For me, what sold this book most was the characters; they kept me plowing through even the beginning half that was a bit more tedious than I would have liked. Maggie is such a perfect gentlewoman that she's haunted by disappointing people, and I think there's an element of her concerns in all of us, making her relatable on some level. Her best friend Brenda is optimistic about changing the world, even if she has difficulty fixing her own overeating habits. Their other co-worker, Ethel, is an elderly woman with a penchant for all things purple and ranting about how the modern world is going to hell in a handbasket, unlike the good old days of her youth. But the star of the show is their deceased boss Hazel, who was such a force to be reckoned with, that not a day seems to go by without one of them remembering her enthusiasm and energy.

In the supplementary materials with the edition of the book I have, Flagg explains about this book that "I think as we get older and we all have something we still dream about -- a time, a person, a home, etc. I suspect we all tend to dream about a time when we were happy, and had a rosy future. So I wanted to explore that theme." In addition to exploring ideas about nostalgia, past disappointments, aging, and the uncertainty of the future, Flagg touches on issues of race and racism, ability/disability, and classism. She also examines underlying themes related to optimism vs. pessimism, the 'grass is greener' mentality, learning to let go, the power of friendship, and the role of women in terms of power and position in society. And throughout the book, Flagg seems to be writing a love letter about the city of Birmingham, her own hometown, by describing its history and culture. In short, like with her more famous work, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, Flagg manages to pack a lot in a relatively short book with a deceptively simple plot line!

While the beginning of the book was a bit slow to get into, the only real downside for me in this book was the too obviously "villainous" character of Babs Bingington, a rival realtor. The character was entirely unrealistic in that she had no redeeming qualities at all but was simply without sympathy, empathy, or basic human morals. To make matters worse, she was the only character in the book who wasn't a native Southerner. There were in fact several references made to her Northern origins, despite her having lived in Alabama for decades at the book's start. For all Flagg's embracing of people of all races, classes, ages, and abilities throughout the rest of the book, it seemed like that civility couldn't cross the Mason-Dixon line. That was a disappointing sour note, but otherwise this was a book that I'm glad I picked up and read. show less

La Flagg fa parte delle mie autrici preferite: dei suoi romanzi mi piace l'atmosfera semplice e fresca delle cittadine di provincia del secolo scorso, dove tutti si conoscono e si vogliono bene. Sembra fantascienza, è vero, ma è un mondo così lontano dal nostro che da come lo descrive la Flagg pare vero. Leggere un suo romanzo è come prendersi una vacanza per andare a trovare dei vecchi amici con cui si sta sempre bene.
Con rammarico devo ammettere però che questo suo ultimo lavoro mi ha delusa parecchio sotto diversi aspetti.
Lento ai limiti del noioso, per metà dobbiamo sorbirci i vaneggiamenti di Maggie aspirante suicida, combattendo con la tentazione di andare da lei e prenderla a schiaffi perché al mondo c'è ben di peggio: show more avesse almeno una depressione da menopausa capirei, ma è semplicemente stupida, punto. La sua amica Brenda è una degna compagna, con le sue abbuffate segrete e le lotte al girovita che lievita. Ethel, la vecchietta con i capelli lilla, è confinata a fare da tappezzeria ed è un peccato perché avrebbe le potenzialità di una zia Elner, per chi già conosce la Flagg. Paradossalmente i due personaggi più riusciti sono una defunta e un'agente immobiliare che è ben più che antipatica, azzeccatissima ma estremamente fastidiosa.
Nel cuore della storia compare anche un tocco di giallo, con un misterioso scheletro nell'armadio in senso letterale: un'altra occasione sprecata. La storia del legittimo proprietario dei poveri resti è affidata a sentito dire e riassunti di articoli di giornale, decisamente poco per una vicenda che da sé avrebbe meritato un romanzo intero.
Epilogo scontato fin dalle prime pagine, non riserva nessuna sorpresa: l'ultima pagina è una liberazione.
Oltre la trama, l'autrice fa cilecca anche con lo stile: i capitoli sono un'accozzaglia di punti di vista che si alternano senza soluzione di continuità né logica e addirittura in quelli dedicati alle vicende accadute nel passato di punto in bianco compare Maggie con i suoi patemi, senza nemmeno un intervallo di paragrafo.
Due stelle solo perché mi piange il cuore a dare alla Flagg una misera stellina. show less