Customer Reviews

Can't Wait to Get to Heaven. Fannie Flagg

5 star:		(130)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

What a wonderful treat Fannie Flagg's newest trip to Elmwood Springs is. The characters we first met in WELCOME TO THE WORLD, BABY GIRL and got to know better in STANDING IN THE RAINBOW have aged, had more experiences both good and bad, but still maintain the small-town, folksy charm of Flagg's earlier works. The laugh-out-loud moments are many amidst the tears, the suspense, and the fantasy.

Norma Warren's aunt, Elner Shimfissle, who was a minor character in the other novels set in Elmwood Springs, comes into her own as the main character and the epicenter of an emotional upheaval in the little town.

While picking figs from her tree in the front yard, Elner accidentally disturbs a nest of wasps and is bitten to death. Or is she? Fannie Flagg takes liberal license with the heaven alluded to in the Bible, but it's all in good taste and puts a very personal spin on a place still quite mysterious to the living.

The best thing about this book is the characters, their obvious love for one another, and the close-knit feeling of community that Flagg captures with her razor-sharp wit and endearing charm.

Remember Tot Whooten from the Tell It Like It Is Beauty Shop? And Neighbor Dorothy with her fabulous radio show? Macky Warren, Norma's high school sweetheart and husband, and Dena Nordstrom, the cousin who was a high-powered New York executive? These and others have all returned and catching up on their lives is an experience not to be missed.

Along the way, the reader is actually told the meaning of life and given the formula for leading a happy and rewarding one. That's certainly more than I expected when I bought this book.

Another bonus is the yummy recipes mentioned in the book all appear at the end. They sounded so mouth-watering that I have Neighbor Dorothy's Heavenly Caramel Cake in the oven as I type this.

I have read (and loved) all of the Fannie Flagg books. I eagerly awaited this new book and bought it the day it was released. I was not disappointed. It was as incredible as all the others. It started out slowly and picked up steam...as time went on, I just could not put it down-yet I was so sorry to see it end. The first big surprise left me thinking of one of my all time favorite shows "Picket Fences".

We again are treated to the lives of the folks of Elmwood Springs. As an extra added twist? It is now 2006 and many modern terms are thrown in. For example, Elmwood Springs has changed and grown. Now there is a Pottern Barn, a Home Depot, etc. Linda has name her baby adopted form China and I think most readers will recognize the name from newspapers and magazines of late. The people are still quirky, folksy and small town, but they have been forced to adapt to life in the 21st century.

The star of this book is Aunt Zelner. We are taken into her life in depth and it is a wonderful trip. Don't want to give anything away, but she touches every one's lives, as well as the reader's life. I laughed and even sniffled a little. This book was so funny and so tender at the same time. This book was full of life lessons that have been said many times, but wrapped in with the folks of Elmwood Springs, they were food for thought.

I loved this book. Makes me want to go and read all the other Fannie Flagg books again.

Fannie Flagg has secured her place as one of the great Southern writers in the tradition of Truman Capote, Eudora Welty, Harper Lee,et al. She is a brilliant story teller with a unique and wonderful way with words. It has been a long time since I have laughed out loud while reading a book and a few moments later found myself with tears in my eyes over an unexpected sad turn of events. This is another "must read" from the gifted Flagg.

I have read all of Fannie Flagg's books and this one is just as good as her others, maybe better. It's so full of spirit, good cheer and optimism. It asks the timeless questions of why we are here and what happens to us when we die. No one really knows, but Elner, the main character in this book, may have the answer for all of us.

Elner, Norma's aunt, was up in the fig tree to get some figs to make a preserve when she disturbed a wasp's nest and got stung and fell off the ladder. This is not the first time she has done that. She has fallen off the ladder other times and drove her niece, Norma, crazy and worried with fear. This time, Elner was knocked out cold. This is just the beginning of an adventure for the townsfolks of Elmwood Springs, Missouri. Elner is taken to Kansas City to the hospital there. Norma and her husband, Macky, followed behind. Ruby and Tots, the local hairdresser takes care of things at Elner's house and the stories just keep on flowing. Bittersweet and heart-warming, it made me, the reader, wish that people would think of me the same way they did Elner. And not only that, it's a reminder to take life a little bit on the easy and slow side because you never know when the last day will come. It may be too late to do all the things you wish you could do or have said.

This book may have a moral to it but it's so wonderfully written. It's a perfect book to read on the front porch drinking your iced tea and relaxing for a day or two. Flagg's writing is always humane and lyrical. You just know these characters as well as you know yourself because you are human as they are. Life doesn't have to be as hard as it sounds ~~ and kicking back once in awhile would do wonders for the soul. Kicking back with this book is definitely the way to do it.

7-25-06

I have yet to be disappointed by a Fannie Flagg book, and I hope I never am. Ms. Flagg has once again graced us with another one of her witty, fun, and outrageous books about our favorite small town in Missouri, Elmwood Springs.

Who knew that so many lives would be affected the day Mrs. Elner Shimfissle fell out of her fig tree and was stung to 'death' by over seventeen wasps? And I just loved meeting up with some of my favorite characters from her previous books 'Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!', and 'Standing in the Rainbow'.

I could sit here all day and write about how wonderful Ms. Flagg's books are, this one in particular (though I do say that after every new Fannie Flagg book I read)...but I won't. All I can tell you is to get out there and read this book as soon as you can get ahold of a copy. You'll laugh-out-loud at Mrs. Elner's quirkiness, and poor Norma's tendency to overreact a bit about EVERYTHING, and all the rest of the colorful towns folk of Elmwood Springs.

Ms. Flagg has a wonderful gift for storytelling, and I just can't recommend her books enough. If you love small town reading, and funny characters, definitely give this a shot. I can't see how anyone couldn't not fall in love with this bunch!

While I have read only one other title by Fannie Flagg, I found Can't Wait to Get to Heaven as enjoyable as the other I read. The book is humorous, contemporary and light. The characters are loveable and down-to-earth.

I felt that the author could have expanded upon Elner's journey to Heaven, but was creative with what was written -despite reviewers who are appalled by Flagg's characterization of God. Since none of us know what the afterlife is like (if there is an afterlife), Flagg has made a creative and playful attempt to explain this great mystery of life or the beginning of life in the hereafter.

Loved the book and I recommend it. While the book will certainly not become a great literary classic, it is a nice, easy read for vacation, a plane ride or a weekend by the fire.

Upon first glance, Elner Shimfissle is an ordinary small-town housewife, like countless others. Throughout her eight decades, she's never cared much for material things, instead delighting upon her cats, sunsets, and sharing the figs from her yard.

It isn't until one tragic morning, however, when Elner is stung by wasps while picking figs and falls off a ladder that it becomes apparent just what this simple woman means to those around her. When Elner is pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital, it seems all of Elmwood Springs is shocked and grieving. Though she never had children of her own, Elner especially loved her niece Norma; Norma's husband Macky, their daughter Linda and her five-year-old daughter Apple -- as well as Luther Griggs, a troubled young man who stumbled into her life as a misguided boy.

Scores of neighbors and friends also reminisce about their years of interactions with Elner, in a series of funny and serious vignettes. They begin to plan her funeral and imagine how life will be without her...only it won't.

Simply put, Elner Shimfissle has returned from the dead, baffling her family and the medical staff alike. Not only is she a new woman, but Elner claims to have experienced a mystical trip to heaven -- which is set in a version of Elmwood Springs from the '50s, and run by Neighbor Dorothy and her husband Raymond.

If you enjoyed "Standing in the Rainbow" and "Welcome to the World, Baby Girl," you'll love this book, as it picks up on many of the same characters. It also shows how one simple life can affect so many others, as Elner's near-death and return to life causes a number of positive events and choices to spiral forth.

Fannie Flagg is at her best. This humorous book is about Elner, a wonderful old lady who falls out of her fig tree, "dies", and goes to Heaven. It's about how her life/death affected so many people she knew. . .her loving niece, her niece's husband during a middle age crisis, a young man she "adopted", the neighbors, and the only other person in the world who knows why the knife was in the bottom of her clothes hamper.

I ordered 6 copies of this book for my close girlfriends because we suffered the loss of one of our best friends in a tragic swimming accident in June of 2006. I like to think that her transition was as peaceful and enjoyable as Elner's. I know my friend is in Heaven and like to think it is like that Fannie Flagg has fictionilized.

I also relate to Elner's niece. I have an eccentric, bipolar Uncle in a nursing home who I am responsible for. Elner=Uncle Robert. Both of them hoots.

Can't Wait to Get to Heaven is Fannie Flagg's best work. It is southern fiction at its finest, which is quite a compliment because when it's done right, it's amazing. We're back in Elmwood Springs with characters we know and love, and Flagg's characterization is pristine. This book is funny, touching and quirky. She's managed to create a town most people would love to live in with down-home charm and a dash of trouble.

I hope Fannie Flagg stays in the South and keeps writing these enjoyable books that manage to stay above trite and yet still delivers a message of palatable hope.

If you enjoyed Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whstle Stop Cafe ( as I did ), you will like Can't Wait to Get to Heaven.
What's not to like, extremely well written, wonderful warm characters, small town America nostalgia, several "put down the book and laugh out loud " moments, fun story line, etc.

And then there is Tom Edison, and Ginger Rogers, too.

Unqualified recommendation, even for those of you who might be like me, not particularly inclined to read warm fuzzy relationship books.