Product Description

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."


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27112 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-03
• Released on: 2004-08-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

From Publishers Weekly
From the talented storyteller whose Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe became a beloved bestseller and a successful film comes a sprawling, feel-good novel with an old-fashioned beginning, middle and end. The predominant setting is tiny Elmwood Springs, Mo., and the protagonist is 10-year-old Bobby Smith, an earnest Cub Scout also capable of sneaking earthworms into his big sister's bed. His father is the town pharmacist and his mother is local radio personality Neighbor Dorothy (whom readers will recognize from Flagg's Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!). In 1946, Harry Truman presides over a victorious nation anticipating a happy and prosperous future. During the next several decades, the plot expands to include numerous beguiling characters who interact with the Smith family among them, the Oatman Family Southern Gospel Singers, led by matriarch Minnie, who survive misadventures galore to find fame after an appearance on the Arthur Godfrey show in 1949, the same year Bobby's self-esteem soars when he wins the annual town bubble gum contest. Also on hand are tractor salesman Ham Sparks, who becomes amazingly successful in politics, despite his marriage to overwhelmingly shy Betty Raye Oatman, and well-liked mortician Cecil Figgs, a sponsor of Neighbor Dorothy, who, as a bachelor in the mid-century South, also enjoys a secret life. The effects of changing social mores are handled deftly; historical events as they impact little Elmwood Springs are duly noted, and everything is infused with the good humor and joie de vivre that are Flagg's stock-in-trade.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Flagg brings her readers back to 1940s Elmwood, MO, when a family of white gospel singers bursts into town.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Flagg, who made quite a splash with Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987), knows how to deliver a gentle read like no one else. We first met many members of this cast in Welcome Back to the World, Baby Girl (1998), one of whom is Dorothy Smith, the host of the daily radio show Neighbor Dorothy. The story begins in 1945. The war is over, the American economy is booming, and there is no better place in the world than Elmwood Springs, Missouri. At least that's what Bobby Smith thinks. He is the 10-year-old son of Neighbor Dorothy, and he's got the world wrapped around his little finger. It's through Bobby's eyes that we first enjoy the simplicity of these lives and times; the characters are realistic, not melodramatic or cliched, eliciting a beautiful mix of compassion and envy. Take, for instance, Beatrice, the "Little Blind Songbird," who sings on Dorothy's show. She is blind, true, but her spirit longs to see the world. And then there's Betty Raye, of the gospel-singing Oatmans, who dreads each day's performance and the endless travel. Dorothy, ever the mediator, arranges a swap, and the entire world is better for it. Such touching moments border on syrupy, but Flagg's straightforward, unadorned prose keeps them sweet and pure and grounded in everyday life. If there's a flaw in the narrative, it's the 50-year span; too soon Bobby grows up, times change, and one pines for those days once again. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Sweetly drawn story of small-town life
I am an avid fan of Fannie Flagg and have read all of her novels. Her latest, Standing in the Rainbow, is nothing short of miraculous. I loved it! The writing, as always, is quick, light and honest, but it is the genius storytelling in this novel that makes it a 5-star read for me.

Standing in the Rainbow tells the story of the lives of the citizens of Elmwood Springs, Missouri, spanning through five decades beginning in the 40s. We have Dorothy Smith, hostess of the radio program, The Neighbor Dorothy Show that is transmitted live from her own living room. And Tot Whooten, the town hair stylist, who seems to be a walking, talking advertisement for bad luck. Also in town are the Goodnight sisters; Ida Jenkins, a wanna-be socialite; the Oatman Family Gospel Singers; Hamm Sparks, a very ambitious salesman; and Doc Smith, the local pharmacist. This novel has them all and more -- every character under the sun, a perfect blend of a neighborhood.

I wasn't even born during most of the time frame this novel takes place in, but Fannie Flagg sure makes me wish I had been! A highly atmospheric story that evokes feelings of nostalgia and longing for the good ole days. The characters are unforgettable, Elmwood Springs is the perfect town, and after reading this book, you will feel as if you've lived there your entire life.

Not much by the way of plot, however. Standing in the Rainbow is more of a slice-of-life novel, a darn good story about the lives of people in a small town and the events that take place throughout the years. Engrossing, funny, sweet, wistful and warmhearted, all Fannie Flagg fans will delight in this novel, and new fans will discover a treasure of an author within these pages.

A wonderful study, in beautiful colors, of smalltown America
Fans of Fannie Flagg's earlier novels will love this new one, and I predict she'll pick up a whole lot of new fans, too. This book is just wonderful: an unforgettable and yet comfortable voice tells us everything we need to know about everyone in town, yet never tells one thing more than we need to know.

The true subtlety of Miss Flagg's work lies not in the richly softspoken sentences, the dead-on dialogue, the gentle humor and tart observation that are her comic hallmarks. It's what she leaves out of the story, the parts she knows not to tell.

I happen to think Fannie Flagg is the most underrated American author, except by her readers, who love her. She's the finest comic voice working in fiction today, and when things take a serious turn -- as they do in this sweet, lovely, summery novel -- she can flat break your heart.

charming and kindhearted, yet more meringue than filling
Fannie Flagg holds an important place in our national heart. Blessed with a down-home ability to tell stories and possessing a warmhearted view of the human condition, Flagg, at her best, combines humor and pathos to construct novels which educate us through laughter and tears. Her most recent effort, "Standing in the Rainbow," is a likable, kind and compassionate work, but it lacks both the power and integrity of her best work, "Fried Green Tomoatoes." Ultimately, reading "Rainbow" is much like trying to eat a five-pound box of chocolates. What begins as a treat ends as a sugar-saturated burden.

"Rainbow" is actually contains three distinct narratives, any one of which would have been subject material enough to carry the novel. By chopping her novel into these distinct segments, Flagg diminishes the impact of the whole. The best of the three is the fist two hundred pages; in it, we are transported back in time to the post World War II era. Young Bobby Smith, whose mother Dorothy serves as the modest voice of midwestern maternal sensibility on her morning radio show, explores life with a zest and innocence. His beautifully drawn character shines, and Flagg expertly creates a mid-century everychild whose hopes, frustrations and energy mirror the ebullient optimism of the period.

Unforunately, when Bobby disappears from the novel, he is replaced by Hamm Sparks, an aspiring politican who is part Huey Long and Bill Clinton. The middle section of "Rainbow" sadly reads as a dumbed-down "All the King's Men." Since the scope of "Rainbow" is a half-century, Flagg spends the final hundred pages whirling the reader through the last three decades of the twentieth century. Although historical compression tidily moves the plot to its conclusion, the author unintentionally flattens the characters to whom she has so diligently given dimension the first two-thirds of her work.

Fannie Flagg can create memorable characters, and "Rainbow" has its store of them. Yet, unlike "Fried Green Tomatoes," where her characters stood for something and faced challenges with humor, grace and strength, the men, women and children who populate Elmwood Springs, Missouri are never permitted the luxury to grow. Instead, their appearances are episodic (just as is the novel), and lacking the time to develop, they eventually become predictable, even bordering on stereotypical.

This is not to say that "Standing in the Rainbow" should not be read. Fannie Flagg is a national treasure, and some of her msot recent vignettes are absolute gems. My disappointment stems from admiration; she is capable of far more emotional depth and character development than her most recent effort. "Rainbow" reminds us of that the author is capable of much, much more.