Excellent book with a different and less ambiguous ending than the movie. If you want to know for sure what happened to Frank, read the book.

Two women in the 1980's, grayheaded Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story
to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is
also of two women-the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her
friend Ruth, who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop
Alabama, a Southern cafe offering good barbecue and good coffe and all kinds
of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.

better than the movie... fannie flagg is such a funny author and the dialogue is superbly realistic

so much better than the movie

This book is wonderful. The movie certainly did it justice too.

A great Southern book by a terrific author. I loved it. Funny, though, I think I liked the movie better.

Loved the movie, loved the book - the book is just different enough that even if you saw the movie first, there will be surprises as you read. Have re-read this one a few times and I enjoy it every time. I love the little side-stories, such as the saga of Opal's cat in the Weem's Weekly.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! It is witty and laugh-out-loud funny. The author builds up the story by going back and forth between newsletter/newspaper articles and life events. One feels a rapport with the characters as the story progresses. Also, I was surprised to realize that two of the lead characters are actually lesbians!

I absolutely love this book. If you like/love the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes", you really should read this book.

Set in a small Alabama train stop town in the 1930s, this gem of a book almost could have been shelved as just another light romantic comedy. Various women's voices tell anecdotes of Whistle Stop, as the chapters jump back and forth through time. We hear from Mrs. Threadgoode, reminiscing fondly from her nursing home in the 1980s, and the chatty Dot Weems, editor of the gossipy town newsletter (1929-1969), and then listen in on spirited dialogue set in the town of Whistle Stop itself. The storytellers never find use for the label "lesbian," nor do they see fit to take us behind closed doors, but this is nevertheless the irresistible story of a fierce and true love between two women, Idgie and Ruth. After Idgie saves Ruth from an abusive marriage, these two friends become partners in running the Whistle Stop Cafe, where no one, "not even hobos and colored," is turned away for inability to pay. Readers are set down in the corner booth to eavesdrop on the comings and goings of an array of eccentric, ragtag characters who drop in for buttermilk biscuits, Big George's barbecue, and, eventually, news about their own hometown murder mystery. Among revelations big and small, Fannie Flagg mixes direct and empowering confrontations with racism, sexism, and ageism with the colorful and endearing language of the depression-era South and the cafe's recipes for grits, collard greens, and, of course, fried green tomatoes.

Read All Book Reviews of "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe"

Liked the book and the movie You will like it too

Good, fun book about friendship, but nothing terribly meaty to it.

I loved this book and the movie! Usually, the movie ruins the book but I think these were both well done. It is written with humor and love of the characters involved

This is a delightful Southern book which will make you laugh, cry and begin to say "Ya'll. You will want to rush out and buy some green tomatoes to fry.

A middleaged woman listens to a story about two friends, a barbecue and a murder.

A light, quick read.

Set in a small Alabama train stop town in the 1930s, this gem of a book almost could have been shelved as just another light romantic comedy. Various women's voices tell anecdotes of Whistle Stop, as the chapters jump back and forth through time. We hear from Mrs. Threadgoode, reminiscing fondly from her nursing home in the 1980s, and the chatty Dot Weems, editor of the gossipy town newsletter (1929-1969), and then listen in on spirited dialogue set in the town of Whistle Stop itself. The storytellers never find use for the label "lesbian," nor do they see fit to take us behind closed doors, but this is nevertheless the irresistible story of a fierce and true love between two women, Idgie and Ruth. After Idgie saves Ruth from an abusive marriage, these two friends become partners in running the Whistle Stop Cafe, where no one, "not even hobos and colored," is turned away for inability to pay. Readers are set down in the corner booth to eavesdrop on the comings and goings of an array of eccentric, ragtag characters who drop in for buttermilk biscuits, Big George's barbecue, and, eventually, news about their own hometown murder mystery. Among revelations big and small, Fannie Flagg mixes direct and empowering confrontations with racism, sexism, and ageism with the colorful and endearing language of the depression-era South and the cafe's recipes for grits, collard greens, and, of course, fried green tomatoes

From the back of the book: "Flagg's new novel is the Lake Woebegone of the South. It is folksy and fresh, endearing and effecting, filled with humor and drama -- and has an ending that would fill with smiling tears the Whistle Stop Lake... if only they had a lake.

great!

Reader's guide available at Randomhouse.com. Read more (including recipes) at WhistleStopCafe.com. The 1991 movie starred Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jessica Tandy.)

From 500 Great Books by Women
Set in a small Alabama train stop town in the 1930s, this gem of a book almost could have been shelved as just another light romantic comedy. Various women's voices tell anecdotes of Whistle Stop, as the chapters jump back and forth through time. We hear from Mrs. Threadgoode, reminiscing fondly from her nursing home in the 1980s, and the chatty Dot Weems, editor of the gossipy town newsletter (1929-1969), and then listen in on spirited dialogue set in the town of Whistle Stop itself. The storytellers never find use for the label "lesbian," nor do they see fit to take us behind closed doors, but this is nevertheless the irresistible story of a fierce and true love between two women, Idgie and Ruth. After Idgie saves Ruth from an abusive marriage, these two friends become partners in running the Whistle Stop Cafe, where no one, "not even hobos and colored," is turned away for inability to pay. Readers are set down in the corner booth to eavesdrop on the comings and goings of an array of eccentric, ragtag characters who drop in for buttermilk biscuits, Big George's barbecue, and, eventually, news about their own hometown murder mystery. Among revelations big and small, Fannie Flagg mixes direct and empowering confrontations with racism, sexism, and ageism with the colorful and endearing language of the depression-era South and the cafe's recipes for grits, collard greens, and, of course, fried green tomatoes.

Read All Book Reviews of "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe"