While on vacation in Colorado (more on this to come), I finished listening to Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.I remember the "facts" of the story (such as there can be facts in a work of fiction), but I didn't remember them unfolding in quite the order that they do.
As with most stories which have multiple story lines running through them (think: Return of the King, Love Actually, Paris), over time I come to like one story line more than the other. In Fried Green Tomatoes, I cared a lot more about Idgie and Ruth than I did about Evelyn and Ninny. If it weren't for the great movie performances of Kathy Bates and especially Jessica Tandy, which constantly ran in my mind whenever Ninny spoke, I probably wouldn't have cared about the more contemporary story at all.
There were some moments of brilliance in the writing, though most of it was good if somewhat unremarkable. My favorite quotation focuses on one of the secondary characters, and describes one of those moments that happens often, but is rarely so well-encapsulated: "Smokey Lonesome looked up and said nothing. The rest of them said the same."
This is one of those stories that just a little bit past believable, but so entertaining and easy to listen to that you don't care.
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