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Fiction. Literature. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER �?� The bestselling author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is at her superb best in this fun-loving, moving novel about what it means to be truly alive. WINNER OF THE SOUTHERN BOOK PRIZE Elmwood Springs, Missouri, is a small town like any other, but something strange is happening at the cemetery. Still Meadows, as it�??s called, is anything but still. Original, profound, The Whole Town�??s Talking, a novel in the tradition of Thornton Wilder�??s Our Town and Flagg�??s own Can�??t Wait to Get to Heaven, tells the story of Lordor Nordstrom, his Swedish mail-order bride, Katrina, and their neighbors and descendants as they live, love, die, and carry on in mysterious and surprising ways. Lordor Nordstrom created, in his wisdom, not only a lively town and a prosperous legacy for himself but also a beautiful final resting place for his family, friends, and neighbors yet to come. �??Resting place�?� turns out to be a bit of a misnomer, however. Odd things begin to happen, and it starts the whole town talking. With her wild imagination, great storytelling, and deep understanding of folly and the human heart, the beloved Fannie Flagg tells an unforgettable story of life, afterlife, and the remarkable goings-on of ordinary people. In The Whole Town�??s Talking, she reminds us that community is vital, life is a gift, and love never dies. Praise for The Whole Town�??s Talking�??A witty multigenerational saga . . . [Fannie] Flagg�??s down-home wisdom, her affable humor and her long view of life offer a pleasant respite in nerve-jangling times.�?��??People �??Fannie Flagg at her best.�?��??The Florida Times-Union �??If there�??s one thing Fannie Flagg can do better than anybody else, it�??s tell a story, and she outdoes herself in The Whole Town�??s Talking. . . . Brilliant . . . equally on the level as her famous Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.�?��??The Newport Plain Talk �??Delightful.�?��??The Washington Post �??A ringing affirmatio… (more)
User reviews
Flagg's stories are charming but never saccharine. For the most part, reality confronts the most well-meaning characters and idyllic settings.She does not fail to include dramatic tension in the plots.
Flagg lets her creativity loose in “The Whole Town’s Talking.” I will relate no more than it deals with the afterlife . . .
The dialogue is priceless and so representative of the characters. When describing Lordor Nordstrom who is seeking a mail-order bride, Mrs. Knott writes to the potential bride that “It is pleasant here . . . We have pigs. You may expect one as a wedding present. Lordor is a good eater and has all his teeth.”
Adages are sprinkled through the stories, such as “Sometimes, Birdie, you just have to take the worm out of the apple.”
This is a book (410 pages) that you have to read in as short a time as possible because you need to remember all the characters and their relationships. I agree with the comment that a list of people and their connections would have been helpful. Also, you won’t want to stop reading it. I hated to see the last page. Hopefully, Flagg will give us another great book in the near future.
Quirky plot, a little silliness, likeable characters, well most of them, a few intrigues, always have to have those and just a general niceness and people who pretty much like each other. We are there at the start of the town, a follow the generations down the lime to the end of the town. There is also a subplot concerning the town cemetery that was alot of fun. At times it was a bit to sweet, a bit too corny but all in all it was delightful, just what I needed.
ARC from Netgalley.
What a sweet and entirely thought provoking book. This is written in very short chapters by many different points of view and spans time from the
Funny at times, sad at others I imagine that you'll be as surprised at the ending as I was and then sent into a what if mood.
But I think it's worth it - I may even read it for a third time over the weekend.
It is the perfect calming book - no chase scenes or sword fights, no great angst or lust filled sex scenes, just quiet loves and lives lived to the fullest. Not always the best of lives; just the fullest.
*ARC Supplied by publishe
Lordor advertises for a wife and Katrina replies, a young Swedish woman living in Chicago. They exchange pictures and letters. The women in the town try to help Lordor's cause, assuring Katrina that "Lordor is a good eater and has all his teeth" and that it "is not like Sweden here. We do not let the men rule with an iron hand. We are all free American women in Missouri." Katrina accepts his invitation to come to Missouri and Lordor pleads with her to "Please hurry. All the ladies around here are busy trying to improve me as well. By the time you get here, I may be over-improved and not much good for anything.
After the opening Flagg introduces us to the citizens and families of Elmwood Springs and follows the happenings decade by decade. It's an epic novel for those who like sentimental lighthearted novels that are extremely well written. Flagg has always been a wonderful story-teller and she brings that innate gift to bear on The Whole Town's Talking. It is a pleasant, feel-good story, but it is also a witty, funny tour through the decades with the citizens of Elmwood Springs. There are a few serious and sad moments, but the citizens pull together and keep a positive outlook on life.
Soon enough readers will learn that once you have reached your final resting place in Still Meadows, you may be resting, but the meadows are anything but still as those interred there are able to talk to each other until they mysteriously seem to just quietly disappear. Just as the community below the hill is active, the discussions are also ongoing on the hill top. I especially appreciated the thoughts at the end from Macky who is worried about the country because he felt something was rotting from the inside, a slow decay of what was right and wrong. If you would find the idea of souls living on talking to each other objectionable, then you might want to skip this one. If that isn't going to bother you, then this is a pleasant comforting stroll through the decades with the citizens of a small town.
Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
The Whole Town’s Talking is the history of Elmwood Springs from its humble beginning and into the future. The Whole Town’s Talking is not quite what I expected (from reading the blurb). There are many (dozens) characters in the book, and it can be hard to keep them all straight. Some of them are quirky like Elner. Lordor and Katrina are the best developed characters in the book. Elner Shimfissle (what a name) is the most endearing (and unusual). The beginning of the story (the first hundred or so pages) is the best part. After that the story is not as engaging. I did not know that The Whole Town’s Talking was a part of a series (not until I went write the review and did a little research). The other three books are Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!, Standing in the Rainbow, and Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven. I give The Whole Town’s Talking 3.5 out of 5 stars. I did feel that Fannie Flagg could have pushed the afterlife section a little further (I am trying not to give away any spoilers). It was not as magical or special as it could have been. The epilogue was strange and the ending was a letdown. The Whole Town’s Talking seemed to be lacking Fannie Flagg’s usual sass (or spark) and humor (that can be found in her earlier works).
She included characters, dialogue and scenes that are endearing, well thought out and quite natural for the time and location. However, the only time, after the first third of the book, there is any dialogue or “interaction” between characters is when it occurs between and among the “residents” of the town cemetery. “Still Meadows”. As I read, I wondered why she chose to write the book in this format. It is definitely not a format I have seen in any other books I have read, though it may have been used elsewhere. This dialogue between and among residents of Elmwood Springs who have passed provides good information about the town and how life progresses through many, many years, but it seemed unnatural to me.
The characters are well presented, but there is little depth to any of them. The town definitely is the center piece of this book, not the characters. The story line flows well, but, as I said, it reads like an expository history of the town rather than a novel about the town. I enjoyed reading the book, but not as much as I would have had the author presented the same information in a manner I am more familiar with from her other books and from those of other authors. If you enjoyed her other books, especially those that follow the format we have come to expect (i.e. dialogue between characters as well as interaction between character throughout, etc.), this may not be the book for you. However, as I said, the book is well written and enjoyable, which makes up for some of its shortcomings. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.
Fannie Flagg introduces the reader to the sturdy
Thank you Random House and NetGalley for an advance copy.
The book tells the story of Elmwood Springs from the beginning, even before the town even had a
I read Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!(Elmwood Springs #1) over ten years ago, so it was good to find out more about the characters. Some of the names seemed familiar, but I didn't remember all of them. Now I want to read more of the Elmwood Springs books!!
Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group and the author, Fannie Flagg, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.
This is the fourth book about the residents of Elmwood Springs (though it is not listed as part of the series). In this volume, Flagg tells the history of Elmwood Springs, beginning with the 1889 founding of the settlement by Swedish immigrant Lorder Nordstrom,
This isn’t great literature, but Flagg spins a darn good yarn. It’s entertaining and full of lively characters – both good and bad. There are marriages, births and deaths. People form alliances and work together to build the town. I like the way world events impact the residents of the small town, and how life changes for them through the decades. It’s a somewhat idyllic view of small-town life, though some residents struggle with alcohol addiction and drug use, and there’s at least one murder.
I liked the “residents” of Still Meadows being able to discuss what was happening in town, though they had to rely on new arrivals and the occasional visitor to their gravesites who might talk aloud, in order to learn what was going on. It reminded me somewhat of Thurber’s Our Town. On the other hand, I found the Epilogue anti-climactic; it almost seemed as if Flagg was at a loss for how to end the story.
Kimberly Farr does a great job performing the audio. She has good pacing and sufficient skill as a voice artist to handle the large cast of characters. Farr really brings the various characters of Elmwood Springs alive, but I particularly loved how she voiced Lorder, Katrina and Elner.
I just adore how I can get lost in her tales. This is a story about a small town. And if you
I have no idea how she does it. How Fannie Flagg creates such great characters. Every character is someone I know. I can just picture every one in Elmwood Springs, MO. Heck…I went to school with most of them.
The only issue I have with this novel and it is a completely minor issue, is it seems rushed in places. It starts in 1889 and ends in 2016. There are more details about the time periods during the 1800 through 1940, but many details were lacking in the later decades. I just wanted more. This does not take away from the great characters or the town. I just felt these later decades were lacking in specifics and substance.
I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.
The first part was the story of Lordor Nordstrom coming from Sweden to Missouri. He founded the town by buying, clearing some land
We are taken from the beginning town to present day with an assortment of stories of the Norstroms, their descendents and other original settlers and their offspring. We also hear a continuaion of their stories up on the hill at the town cementery. I loved it because of the great per sonal details and how the characters reminded me of my own family.,
So when I saw this audiobook at a FOL sale, I picked it up.
This follows the townspeople of a Elmwood Springs, Missouri, from it's first settling in
The original group of settlers grows, marries, has children, becomes elderly and die. We then see their offspring and their offspring's offspring through several generations.
'The Whole Town's Talking' is a gossipy column in the local newspaper. It also refers to those buried in the cemetery who continue to observe and comment on events; until one by one, the dead mysteriously disappear.
I enjoyed the pioneer section of this novel. And I also liked the moments of humor, especially with the wonderful Elner Shimfissle.
But as this novel progressed through the generations, there became dozens of inhabitants living ordinary lives. And while the day to day can be certainly beautiful, unfortunately, these characters and their brief appearances in the novel did not really catch my attention. I thought most of them had little depth due to their very numbers.
I listened to the audiobook while driving and it worked well for that. But it's not on my recommended list. I will, however, try Fannie Flagg again.
I've been a fan of Fannie Flagg's writing and have read most of her books. Her books are like comfort food, like tea and a duvet on a rainy day, or like a hug from an old friend.
The book started out
All-in-all, a fun read.