Standing in the Rainbow, Fannie Flagg
Standing in the Rainbow, Fannie Flagg
7 Rating(s)
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

Standing in the Rainbow

Author: Fannie Flagg

Narrator: Kate Reading

Unabridged: 14 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/13/2002

Categories: Fiction, Humorous, Sagas, Women

Synopsis

Good news! Fannie’s back in town—and the town is among the leading characters in her new novel.

Along with Neighbor Dorothy, the lady with the smile in her voice, whose daily radio broadcasts keep us delightfully informed on all the local news, we also meet Bobby, her ten-year-old son, destined to live a thousand lives, most of them in his imagination; Norma and Macky Warren and their ninety-eight-year-old Aunt Elner; the oddly sexy and charismatic Hamm Sparks, who starts off in life as a tractor salesman and ends up selling himself to the whole state and almost the entire country; and the two women who love him as differently as night and day. Then there is Tot Whooten, the beautician whose luck is as bad as her hairdressing skills; Beatrice Woods, the Little Blind Songbird; Cecil Figgs, the Funeral King; and the fabulous Minnie Oatman, lead vocalist of the Oatman Family Gospel Singers.

The time is 1946 until the present. The town is Elmwood Springs, Missouri, right in the middle of the country, in the midst of the mostly joyous transition from war to peace, aiming toward a dizzyingly bright future.

Once again, Fannie Flagg gives us a story of richly human characters, the saving graces of the once-maligned middle classes and small-town life, and the daily contest between laughter and tears. Fannie truly writes from the heartland, and her storytelling is, to quote Time, "utterly irresistible."

About Fannie Flagg

For anyone who is a bit older, the name Fannie Flagg is quite a familiar one. It was common to see her on various television shows in the 70's and 80's. Her crowning glory however, was her novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. What a very unique, unforgettable story line carried out by colorful characters. It was so well done that it was adapted into the 1991 motion picture, Fried Green Tomatoes. It gave her an Academy Award nomination for her screenplay adaptation.

Flagg was born, Patricia Neal, but when she was applying for membership in the Screen Actor's Guild, she found out that her name was already registered by the famous actress, Patricia Neal. Flagg was born in Birmingham, Alabama where she spent most of her growing up days. As she had the encouragement of her father, Flagg became interested in writing and performing at a young age. She wrote her first play at the age of 10. When she was a teen, she entered the Miss Alabama Pageant, and won a scholarship to a local acting school for one year. After school, Flagg began hosting a local morning show on TV in Birmingham. Then, came her move to New York, when she was denied a pay raise by the local station.

Flagg distinguished herself as an actor and writer in television, films, and theater. She wrote the NY Times bestsellers.......Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!, and Standing in the Rainbow. She was nominated for the Academy and Writer's Guild of America Awards, and won the Scripter's Award. Flagg lives in California and Alabama.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Rachel on December 23, 2010

I felt such a sense of nostalgia when I read this book, for a place and time I never experienced. It's the same feeling I get when I watch A Christmas Story or It's a Wonderful Life. When you're little and you get sick, you always know there's a place for you on Mom's lap - there is a comfort in kn......more

Goodreads review by Ron on January 02, 2014

Fannie Flagg, the queen of fried green tomatoes and small town farce, comes on like a thunder storm of sentimental humor. You can run for cover under the awning of Great Literature, you can put up an umbrella of sophisticated disdain, but it's no use: Once you're caught in this warm downpour of kits......more

Goodreads review by Danielle on April 19, 2008

This is my first Fannie Flagg book, but it won't be my last. I really enjoyed this book. Reading it was like talking to my 86 year old Nanie on a Sunday afternoon. You could be talking about the neighbor's dogs with her one minute and the tone never changes when you switch and talk about a relative......more

Goodreads review by Book2Dragon on September 15, 2020

I can't remember when I have enJOYed a book so much, I mean it was fun to read, and had my smile going almost every page. Probably it was when I read Fried Green Tomatoes. This is even better. If I could give it 10 stars, I would. I really feel like I have been sitting on the porch with Neighbor Doro......more

Goodreads review by Julie on February 18, 2012

I'm sorry, but this book was just 'okay' for me. While it shared the same tone and humor as "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" it lacked the heart and soul. Like FGTATWSC, it chronicles the lives of a family and community of a small town; it begins in the 1940's and extends into the '90......more

Quotes

Praise for Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

“A real novel and a good one [from] the busy brain of a born storyteller.”—The New York Times

“Courageous and wise.”—Houston Chronicle
“Try to stop laughing.”—Liz Smith
“It’s very good, in fact, just wonderful.”—Los Angeles Times
Praise for Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

“Another winner . . . an assortment of zany, lovable, and intriguing characters.”—Chattanooga Free Press

“A well-choreographed story of loyalty and survival that zigzags deftly across the postwar years . . . Flagg can cook up memorable women from the most down-to-earth ingredients.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Flagg gives popular fiction a good name. . . . Let others pretend to literary greatness. Fannie goes for literary goodness--and achieves it.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Awards

  • Audie Awards
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