It was such a fun read catching up on the Whistle Stop characters. For those who haven’t read the earlier book they will find it easy to get to know everyone.  I did get confused a bit with the jumps in time, I had to make sure I read the chapter titles.

What a perfect book to read on a cozy winter day! As a big fan of Fried Green Tomatoes I was so excited to read this book and reconnect with those beloved characters.  Charming, heartwarming, and delightful.

Fiction | Adult
[Cover image]
With frigid temps keeping most of us indoors in British Columbia (and the ROC), it’s a great time to cozy up with our favourite folks from Whistle Stop. Flagg returns to this fictional Alabama railroad town and its quirky characters, in a novel that spans nearly 100 years. The Wonder Boy is Buddy Threadgoode, the little guy who loses his arm in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. It opens in 1991. No one is using the railroad and Whistle Stop has been abandoned. The buildings are still there but the kudzu vine is taking over, and all that remains are memories of the lively, bustling activity that surrounded Opal’s beauty shop, the café, the post office, and more. Flagg flips back and forth through time, advancing the story from the 1930s through to modern times as she reveals where everyone is and what they’re up to.
Buddy and Peggy were posted to Germany, then returned stateside, to set up practice in Massachusetts. At college, their daughter Ruth falls in love with a Southern boy, and gains a judgmental mother-in-law. Idgie goes to Florida, Opal sets up a new shop in Birmingham, Dot and Wilbur move to Fairhope, Alabama, but she continues sending out missives to keep all up to date (a useful literary device!). We keep up with everyone’s activities, and throughout, Flagg offers her trademark southern storytelling, with Idgie getting into scrapes and risky adventures as she saves the day more than once. Even Evelyn Couch, who’s inspired to take control over her life in FGT (played by Kathy Bates in the movie), makes a key appearance. But the bulk of the story involves Buddy and his daughter Ruthie, and what happens when Buddy decides to try and visit Whistle Stop one last time. It all comes together in a series of threads, like a knitter forming a shawl, as we fall in love all over again with the citizens of Whistle Stop. Because of how it’s written, it’s not a standalone book – if you haven’t done so, read FGT first, so you get to know these characters, and that will make this a truly enjoyable read. My thanks to Random House for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51457328

Catching back up with Idgie and Ruth's boy was wonderful. Reading The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop felt like I was sitting around the kitchen table with my extended (very southern) family catching up on everyone. With the charm of fried Green Tomatoes and the nostalgia of times gone by, this is a novel many of our customers will love to read. Thank you kindly for the opportunity to read The Wonder Boy!

Who doesn't like a Fannie Flagg book? This was a nice catchup on characters from Fried Green Tomatoes.. Mainly, it's Buddy and his daughter Ruth. I always loved he named his daughter after his mom.

If you are new to Fried Green Tomatoes you would want to read the first book before reading this. You'll truly love it.

Thank you Ms. Flagg for another wonderful book.

This is a sweet and nostalgic read for any Fannie Flag or Fried Green Tomatoes fan. This is a heartwarming book that is perfect for a cozy winter day. I loved revisiting all my fav characters from Whistle Stop and getting to learn about Bud Threadgoode and his wife and daughter Ruthie. I highly recommend this for anyone who loves southern lit, cozy reads, or are fans of FGT

Reading a Fannie Flagg book is like putting on your most comfortable PJs or sweats, putting soup or chili in the crockpot and reading away a cold, snowy winter’s day.  “The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop” is about Buddy, the son of one of “Fried Green Tomatoes” main characters, Ruth.  This story is seamlessly told from the multiple voices of those who loved Buddy and whom he loved in return.

It’s hard to summarize the plot of this story, because it is like being dropped in another town in another time and place.  You will feel like one of the town’s citizens who look forward to Dot’s updates of the townsfolk who have moved away, you will laugh remembering Idgie’s antics, shake your head at Ruthie’s snobbish mother-in-law, and long for one more Christmas Day dinner at the Whistle Stop Cafe.  

Fannie Flagg’s books are the ultimate in cozy, feel-good reading.  Choose this book if you want to turn the last page with a smile and a warm, fuzzy feeling in your heart.  You will also feel a twinge of sadness because you know it will be a bit until the next Fannie Flagg book is published.  

Recommended read-alike for those who love Ann B. Ross’s Miss Julia stories or Haywood Smith’s Red Hat Club stories.

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg takes readers back to the Whistle Stop Café and all the fun characters we met in Fried Green Tomatoes. There's Evelyn Couch, Buddy Threadgoode, Idgie, Ruth, Dot Weems, Opal, Big George...the list goes on and on. The book jumps around different time periods and from different perspectives. A lot of the emphasis is on Buddy and his daughter Ruth, who meet Evelyn. The three of them rehash the days of the Whistle Stop Café and become fast friends. I enjoyed reading more about the characters and seeing what life looked like for them after the Great Depression and all of the adventures and antics of the first book. I imagine I could have kept reading about them for a long while too! Lots of fun, with laugh out loud moments and a sweet sense of family and coming home, The Wonder Boy is a great read. Pick it up! I think you will find that you enjoy it!
Thanks to #NetGalley for the chance to read it. All opinions are my own. 
#Bookstagram  #all_the_pages  #FannieFlagg

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop follows a few familiar characters from Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, namely Buddy Threadgoode, now in his eighties and with a child of his own, Ruthie. 

As a follow up, this is a good story. You get to see just what your favorite old characters got up to in the years following the other book. Idgie moved to Florida and sold honey, Buddy got married and had kids, served in the armed forces, Evelyn started her own business and became rather wealthy. If you've read the first book, this one will feel like meeting up with old friends. 

Without considering the first book, this one leaves a bit to be desired. You spend a lot of time jumping around in the past in ways that don't always seem cohesive. It's not until the very end that things start to fall into place. Overall, the book lacks structure and depth. If I hadn't really wanted to visit these characters again and be in Whistle Stop again, I can't say that I would have enjoyed it much.

4 stars! I really enjoyed this! It was nice to revisit the Whistle Stop folks again. Also, to give some of them endings. A lot of gaps were filled in and I smiled a lot, getting to spend time with some of my favorite characters. (the bee charmer Idgie)

I got this from NetGalley really early on and was quite excited to have an ARC and get to read months ago. Life got a little too busy for me and I was not able to get to it. As a treat, I used one of my audible credits and downloaded it before heading out of town for Christmas. It was a real treat too! I loved listening to it being read by Flagg herself and highly recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC to read for review. If you have read and loved Fried Green Tomatoes, you must add this. It's a gem.

Many people can say that "Fried Green Tomatoes" is one of their favorite movies based on the just as famous book"Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe." 

Flagg has returned to her famous town and its cast of characters again, although this time the characters are older and even their children and grandchildren take center stage.  We get to see Ruth's son, Bud, grown up, get married and become a vet. He has a daughter, Ruthie, who goes through her own life's journey. To make the story full circle, Evelyn Couch even makes an appearance in an attempt to save the tiny, disappearing town of Whistlestop. 

You know that Flagg could go deeper and darker with these southern characters if she wanted too- how Bud's abusive dad wasn't in the picture, the real love between Ruth and Idgie, etc. Flagg likes to keep it light and a little bit too sanguine at times, but I still enjoyed coming back to the town of Whistlestop and all of the characters.

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg was the real surprise of 2020, and one of my favorite books of the year. This is a sequel to Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe that catches us up on all the characters from the first book and follows Buddy Threadgoode through his entire adult life. I thought this was just going to be a quick novelty read, but it was actually so much more satisfying than that. It made me laugh and moved me to happy tears. It will only make sense to people who have read the first book, but for those readers it is such a treat.

I’ve read few books by Fannie Flagg with The Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe being my all-time favorite. Fannie Flagg’s novels are feel-good books for me and I like to read them whenever I am craving a sweet and heartwarming book with lots of colorful and lovable characters. The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop was another hit for me and I enjoyed every minute of it. Once again, I fell in love with the author’s writing style and all the vibrant characters created by her.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys cute and heartwarming books set in small town environment.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

RATING: 4 STARS
2020; Random House

Last year I reread Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe so I could refresh my memory in prep for the sequel, The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop. I was a bit hesitant to start, as I usually am with sequels, so I was happy that I got to my audiobook a bit late. Even as I started the first two chapters, I wondered if I would feel the same endearing nostalgia I felt with the first book. Thank gawd, soon I was smiling as I listened to Fannie Flagg read about Bud as a child and Bud as an adult. We meet his daughter Ruthie, who is middle age in present day. Oh, and Evelyn Couch makes appearances so it definitely did the first book justice. I liked that we still visited Whistle Stop back in the days of Idgie and Ruth, but we also go to know what happens from 1980s onwards. I did miss Minnie but that also made the characters feel more real. Time moves on. As I neared towards the last pages of the novel, I started worrying how it would end. I think most fans will like the ending as it's so Fannie Flagg, and it made my heart happy. I am longing to watch the movie again so I will need to do that soon. I wanted to visit the books first, as they really take you into the characters' lives and story. If you have not read the first book, I highly recommend reading that one first, or a lot of this book will read like a secret you aren't in on.

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

What a gift it was to return to Whistle Stop.  I enjoyed revisiting with all the characters from the previous book.  It was a heartfelt book that only Fannie Flagg’s writing style can give us.  I love her storytelling style that draws you into all her books.  It was a real page turner and hard to put down.  I recommend this story and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this advanced copy for my honest opinion.

This review contains spoilers. The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop is Fannie Flagg’s return to Whistle Stop, the setting of one of her earlier books, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which also became a popular movie, Fried Green Tomatoes. The original story is full of humor and intrigue, with a little murder thrown in. It was very popular, possibly due to the mousy, middle-aged female main character whose unexpected friendship with a nursing home resident who tells her stories about The Whistle Stop Cafe from her younger days gives her confidence and a new outlook on life. Upon reading Fannie Flagg’s companion novel, it seems that the author took what had been a winning formula for the first Whistle Stop story and recreated it for this one. Unfortunately, without the murderous twist of the original, it falls a little flat. The twists in this companion novel are predictable, and the relationships are, too. Everything ends up working out better than expected, which should have made me content, but instead left me disappointed because it felt too neat and tidy. There is a lot of humor here, and there is some sadness as some beloved characters die of old age. There is even a violent character with a grudge that added a little more suspense. Despite all of these additions, the plot didn’t go deep enough for me. I have always enjoyed Fannie Flagg’s novels (The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion even prompted me to take a field trip to Avenger Field and the WASP museum there), but I felt like this book was not up to her usual quality. For anyone wanting to relive their Whistle Stop memories and get more details about their beloved characters, though, it is a quick and light read. If someone is wanting a novel that has the same complexity of plot as the original, though, they might find themselves wishing for more. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Opening a Fannie Flagg book is like sitting down to visit with an old friend. I have been a fan of Ms. Flagg since Coming Attractions and of course knew and loved the characters from Fried Green Tomatoes. This book catches us up with the future progeny of the original Whistle Stop and does not disappoint. I hope we get another book about these folks. I’d love to read more about Alberta and Big George and Sipsey. Bravo!

I've been reading a lot of books by Fannie Flagg this year with a group of friends and of those I've read so far, this one is my favorite. I loved getting back with those characters we met in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and this book brings us both forward and backward in time, as well as introduces us to new characters related those those we met and loved in FGT. I really liked that the little town of Whistle Stop plays a role in this story as well! That part was fun to watch unfold. The only issue I had with this book is that we kept jumping all over time, backwards and forwards, with no real patterns (at least that I could see) and it would take me a minute to get my bearings but overall, I really enjoyed this one.

When I saw that there was another book set in Whistle Stop, I wanted to read it, of course, I also love Fannie Flagg's wonderful story telling, so that was also a pull. This is a story that is set many years later. Bud Threadgoode is a senior living in an assisted living village. Bud decides to take one last trip to Birmingham, but once there, decides to venture off to see where his beloved Whistle Stop used to be. This sets off a series of events that tell a wonderful story about what Whistle Stop can be once again. When I first started to read this one, I was a bit disappointed. It seemed to be a series of vignettes from both the past and the present and I couldn't quite see the connection. Loving other books by this delightful author, I persevered and I am glad I did. We learn more about Idgie, Ruth and Buddy that we didn't know from Fried Green Tomatoes. We also find out what happened to them in the interim and what is happening in their lives and those of their descendents in the present. It was a heartwarming story about friendship, small towns, caring about others and not giving up on life. I am glad I finished this one. I recommend it to those who enjoy southern fiction, dual timelines and just a nice enjoyable story about human decency and caring

Oh my goodness, reading this book was like a big hug! This book follows the stories from the Whistle Stop but could be read as a stand alone. The grit and character of the people in the Whistle Stop are so endearing and inspiring. I think reading this book would be great any time of year but I read it at Christmas and it was especially charming. There are surprises in the storyline and the author jumps around between characters and timelines but in a way that weaves a seamless storyline. I thought it was absolutely lovely!