She was born Patricia Neal in 1944 and went on to become an actress and a novelist. Fannie Flagg won me over when she was on Candid Camera. My mom and I used to laugh ourselves silly at how she tricked the unsuspecting. Well, she may have tricked others but she didn't trick me. Not for a minute!
I loved her book, Fried Green Tomatoes and I have read most of her novels. I like her folksy writing style. I recently bought her novel, Standing in the Rainbow (2002). I read the opening: set in 1940's to present day in Elmwood, Missouri. My era, my home state, and my kind of writing. I invested part of my day off in leisure reading.
I was hanging on every word, falling in love with the characters, and then Fannie did me wrong. She set the scene in a fishing cabin; the 1945 calendar turned to a pin up girl wearing short-shorts, fly fishing. Fannie had me hook, line and sinker.
Then, she changed the scene and took the characters, a young boy and his dad, to St. Louis to watch the World Series between the St. Louis Browns and St. Louis Cardinals. Little Bobby rode a Yellow Cab to the huge Rexall Drugstore downtown, and he rode the North Grand streetcar to Sportsman's Park and had a great time in the big city. He even had his picture taken under the big steel Gateway Arch.
What?! Was this a Candid Camera moment? Gotchya? She didn't get me. The Gateway Arch was not built until the 1960s and I watched the last top section (that didn't fit) being hoisted into place from my high school window.
This is a major detail for folks from the Show Me state, not a minor little thing I can overlook. Oh my, Fannie. It is too late to correct. Your royalites are still rolling in, and I am happy for you, but I am upset with you. Nonetheless, I will read the book, but it now feels like there's a chicken feather lodged under my collar.
Readers, do YOU know what I mean?