Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man

by Fannie Flagg

Paperback, 1992

Call number

FIC FLA

Collection

Publication

Warner (1992), Edition: Warner Books ed, 320 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:“A hilarious, endearing novel.”—Los Angeles Times In Fannie Flagg’s high-spirited first novel, we meet Daisy Fay Harper in the spring of 1952, where she’s “not doing much except sitting around waiting for the sixth grade.” When she leaves Shell Beach, Mississippi, in September 1959, she is packed up and ready for the Miss America Pageant, vowing “I won’t come back until I’m somebody.” But in our hearts she already is. Sassy and irreverent from the get-go, Daisy Fay takes us on a rollicking journey through her formative years on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. There, at The End of the Road of the South, the family malt shop freezer holds unspeakable things, society maven Mrs. Dot hosts Junior Debutante meetings and shares inspired thoughts for the week (such as “sincerity is as valuable as radium”), and Daisy Fay’s Daddy hatches a quick-cash scheme that involves resurrecting his daughter from the dead in a carefully orchestrated miracle. Along the way, Daisy Fay does a lot of growing up, emerging as one of the most hilarious, appealing, and prized characters in modern fiction. Praise for Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man “Sheer unbeatable entertainment.”—Cosmopolitan “Unforgettable and irresistible.”—Chattanooga Free Press “Side-splittingly funny.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member susiesharp
Daisy Fay Harper is now one of my favorite characters! She is spunky and independent and surrounded by a great cast of characters. This book spans Daisy Fay’s life from 1952-1959 at the beginning of the book she is 11 years old. Daisy Fay’s daddy is a drunk but she stands by him through thick
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and thin, he isn’t a mean drunk so that’s ok LOL.

It is so fun to read about her discovering life especially since this book is set in the 50’s.One of my favorite scenes is when they are living in Shell Beach and Daisy likes to sneak in and watch the entertainment at the local Blue Gardenia Lounge like the one-legged tap dancer and Ray Layne the young singer but the one she is so looking forward to is a real dancer from New Orleans named Tawny the Tasseled lady and her reaction to that was “She isn’t even a real dancer!” “All she does is spin them tassels one way then the other and shake around” I laughed so hard picturing this!

Not only is Daisy a great character but everyone else is this book is too from her bingo addicted grandma, to her daddy’s best friend Jimmy Snow who is a crop duster but seems to crash his plane a lot! Oh my I could just go on and on about this book this is the 3rd book by Fannie Flagg I’ve read and I think it is now my mission to read everything she has ever written.

If you like southern fiction and great characters who will make you laugh out loud you must read this book!

5 Stars
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LibraryThing member Traceygilbert
This is the story of Daisy Fay, in the form of her diary, from the age of 11 through to young adult hood. It focuses on her relationship with her father, and his difficulty in being a good Dad.

There is a lot of humour and at times I was laughing out loud. There are also poignant moments, when your
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heart goes out to Daisy and you just want to be there, on her side.

Fannie Flag writes character wonderfully and there are many rich examples in this book, including the Mrs. Dot frustrated at not living the high life she thinks she deserves, and Kay Bob Benson, a posh girl who looks down her nose at Daisy.

I really loved this book and on the back of it have read several other by the author.
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LibraryThing member madamejeanie
This one was a delight to read. Total fiction, this is a coming-of-age
story, told from the point of view of Daisy Fay Harper through the pages of
her diary from April 1, 1952 when she turned 11, through September, 1959,
when she was crowned Miss Mississippi. This kid has a very unique outlook
on life
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and some of the strangest family members and neighbors I've ever
read about, and the descriptions of the daily life at the Gulf Coast's Shell
Beach resort was rich and colorful.

The characters that populate the pages of Daisy's diary are vivid and leap
to life. There's hard-drinking Jimmy Snow, her father's best friend who
uses his crop-dusting plane to not only make a living but to seek revenge
against his old lover. And Mrs. Dot, a former socialite who married far
beneath her and finds herself living in the back of the local Bait Shop,
where she tries to hold Junior Debutante meetings for the young ladies of
the resort community. There's Kay Bob Benson, the snotty high-faluting
daughter of the richest folks in town whose nose is stuck so far in the air
that Daisy can't help but want to rub it in whatever she can think of. And
Pickle Watkins, Daisy's best friend through high school whose dreams seemed
destined to never come true. And Daisy's own parents, a very mismatched
couple indeed -- an alcoholic father with more get-rich-quick schemes than
you can shake a stick at, and a nervous mother, trying to be a lady and
raise her daughter "right" in the face of enormous obstacles. Daisy is
blunt and quite frank, telling us literally everything that matters to her
in her life, and in such a straight-forward and comical way that I found
myself laughing out loud over and over again as I went through this book.

Fannie Flagg is the author of "Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle-Stop
Cafe" and has a real talent to make common places and people come to life on
the page. I really do recommend this one for anyone looking for a good
light read that will bring a smile to your face and just might end up with
you looking at the world in a slightly different way. It gets a 5.
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LibraryThing member jlapac
I was loaned this book by someone who wouldn't brook me not reading it. She would ask me over and over every time I saw her, so as soon as I got it, I started right away. UGH! It was a very hard start. I read the first 50 pages or so and then put it down for a couple of months. The knowledge that I
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would be seeing the book's owner soon got me back on board. The first part of the story, all of which is written in diary form, is a slog to get through. The middle/late middle to the end of the book really pick up and get much more interesting.

I can't say I loved the story. It was about a girl growing up with dreams who lives with her alcoholic father and, occasionally, her mother who seems to be driven by the drinking to be a shrew. There are a lot of dreams that don't work out in this book.

Mr. Cecil was my favorite character and I also liked Daisy Fay's interactions with people who were a little off the beaten path in terms of society.

The story takes place in the 1950s in Mississippi, which is out of my experience, but the author does a good job making Daisy a believable girl and moving the story along.

I think the story is well written. I am not sure what could have been done to make the beginning more interesting. I did end up enjoying the last part of the book.
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LibraryThing member JenJambon
Fannie Flagg is one of the best at character development. I dare any Southern Baptist not to laught out loud at the sene where Daisy is surrounded by lifesize cutouts of the apostles! Great funny read.
LibraryThing member BeautifulAnarchy
Truly amazing story, and Fannie Flagg's story-telling is just beautiful. This was the first one of hers I read and I've gone on to read all her other publications. This one would still have to be my favourite, even though I've never encountered a Fannie Flagg book that didn't make me cry, this one
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made me cry, and laugh, and cry with laughter. Just stunning.
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LibraryThing member Fliss88
This is the fifth novel I've read by Fannie Flagg, and I've thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. Fannie Flagg has the wonderous ability to create characters that just jump off the page and into your life. The story is all about one Daisy Fay Harper a girl born in Jackson, Mississippi, her coming
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of age, her family and their life growing up in the 50's in the "Gulf Coast's shell Beach, which is The End of the Road of the South". Great reading, I loved it!!
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LibraryThing member StoryB
An impressive read.
Written as a diary, this is a highly spirited one.
Its entries are long for a diary but that's because the feisty protagonist, 11 year old Daisy, has so much to write about.
Don't let that turn you down from reading this delightful book, for that is its uniqueness.
Innocent and
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brave, Daisy's outgoing nature fits in perfectly with her surroundings. Encompassed by a cast of witty characters, Daisy shares her adventures and frustrations, starting in the 1950's.
The ending is a bit rushed and the diary entries three quarters of a way through the book don't get as personal as when Daisy wrote at the age of 11, but never boring, always something happening, this book is a gem.
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LibraryThing member MarysGirl
What a fun story! I love Fannie Flagg and was not disappointed. Flagg delivers her usual mix of quirky characters, spunky girls, and commentary on the foibles of everyday life with a large dose of affection and humor. We see this world through Daisy Fay's journal over the course of six years - age
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12 - 18 and she's a worthy guide.
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LibraryThing member Izabella
a bit weird, but a good read
LibraryThing member Bonni208
I love Fannie's ability to tell a good story. This coming-of-age tale is gritty, humorous, and complex. The only complaint I have is that the ending left a bit to be desired, at least for those of us who like closure...
LibraryThing member Marlene-NL
This turned out to be a quick read. I finished it today, started yesterday.
I liked this book better than another book I read by this author. Whistle Stop cafe? The first part where they moved to the new place on the beach was a bit better than the second half. Okay I did not really laugh out loud
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like some readers did but I did enjoy it.
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LibraryThing member addunn3
Daisy Fay is a 12 year old living in Mississippi during the 50s. Her family is a bit dysfunctional, to say the least. In a series of short diary-like entries, she describes her many adventures with an interesting cast of characters. The first 2/3 of the book seem a bit disjointed with no clear
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direction, but the last part saved the day with Daisy Fay heading to a beauty pageant as an unlikely entrant. Never did figure out who the miracle man was.
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LibraryThing member kebets
I loved this book. It has all the best of the South in the 50's - movie stars, innnocence, and ridiculous characters. Daisy is the only child of an alcoholic father and a socially frustrated mom. Daisy with her chipped front tooth, gullible and accepting attitude and the sweet innocence of a girl
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on the edge of womanhood.

From there the book flows from one interesting character and incident to another. From Daisy playing poker in the black pool hall to her and a friend peeking in the curtains of the girlie show. Each get-rich-quick scheme of her father's from raising worms to having the best soda shop on the out of the way beach to having Daisy die and come back to life. Each escpade has it's truth and it's fiction and it's hard to know what to believe and what not to..much like it is for Daisy Fay.

The final joke is on her when she enters a beauty contest to win the runner-up prize to college in NYC. Who is laughing when she actually wins...

This is a fun read!
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LibraryThing member estimmons
One of my all-time favorites. I've never read anything by Fannie Flagg I didn't like, but Daisy Fay is my favorite. I've read and re-read this book and never cease to find it completely hilarious. Between Daisy's friend Pickle, her father and Jimmy Snow's constant get rich quick schemes and antics,
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you won't want to put it down!
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LibraryThing member Rascalstar
Hilarious! Really, especially for those born in the 1940s, '50s, or 60's and also for those who know the southern US. This book is funny all the way through and one short chapter had me rolling. Deftly written from the perspective of an 11-year-old girl, who ages in the book 7 years, from
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1952-1959. It's hard to write humor, folks, and this is splendid. The voice is perfect. The setting is mostly Mississippi. Characters are priceless. It was a joy to read and I hated that it ended. I've read other books by this author, not all of her writings, and this one stands out for me. This is the author of Fried Green Tomatoes that was made into a movie. This book would also make a great movie.
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LibraryThing member LibraryCin
Daisy Fay is an 11-year old growing up in Mississippi in the 1950s. Her parents don’t always seem to get along. Her dad drinks, and doesn’t seem to have much luck with the businesses he sets up. It’s told in diary/journal form when Daisy Fay is 11, 15 and 17/18 years old.

It was good, but
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nothing special. There was some humour. Still not exactly sure who the “Miracle Man” is.
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LibraryThing member Auntie-Nanuuq
Well I wanted to like this, I've liked two of her other books.... but what can I say, except: I never warmed up to the characters, they seemed flat and I just don't see the humor in a dysfunctional family.

I did like Grandma & her BINGO playing friends....

Daisy Fay's father invests in an Ice Cream
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Parlor and moves the family from Alabama (?) to a small resort town Florida.... and the story is of that family's life as the years pass.
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LibraryThing member thosgpetri
I thought I had read this book before, but apparently not. It was all new to me and a great read. Funny all the way through, with some thought provoking asides. Another Fannie Flagg book I can heartily recommend.
LibraryThing member kimkimkim
I recently read a book that reminded me of Fannie Flagg’s writing and took a look back at what I had read by her. For whatever reason I missed her debut novel but not anymore. Flagg is the type of writer that you can pick up anytime and become reacquainted with her style and humor. Written from
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the perspective of a young girl who has such an interesting “take” on her surroundings and relationships you can’t help but love Daisy Fay. Some of her thoughts are laugh out loud funny while some come close to breaking your heart.

Never stale, always enlightening and entertaining I am so glad I took a step back in time.
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LibraryThing member AprilAasheim
This was Fannie Flagg's first book that I guess wasn't published until after she hit it big with Fried Green Tomatoes at Whistlestop Café. Its the story of a young girl and her troubled parents and it seems highly autobiographical. The girl oftentimes plays the adult in this family.
Its very
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entertaining and I love the way it is written but I don't think its for everyone. It has a darker edge that some of the other books written by this author but it also has more weight to it too.
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LibraryThing member Whisper1
I simply love this book. I laughed; I cried. Fannie Flagg is a wonderful story teller who weaves an incredible heartwarming story.
LibraryThing member WellReadSoutherner
I sure got some laughs out of this book. It is definitely a picture of the 50s in the South.

Pages

320

ISBN

0446394521 / 9780446394529
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