People fight, drink, and carry on, but their reasons allow you to love them. Real people do bad things, even the very, very good people. I think Flagg’s main talent is to temper her sweet stories with truth. She is a lifeline for Oswald and the love Flagg shows through the story is heartwarming without being sappy.

Not only Oswald, but the entire town take it upon themselves to care for and raise this little girl. Not only is Patsy alone and poor, but she has a physical deformity (caused by an untreated injury) that makes her drag her foot behind her. In addition to the new adults he meets, Oswald’s heart is stolen by an abandoned little girl, Patsy. The majority of the story is about Oswald learning to care about the others in this small community and especially how to allow them to care for him in return. Through a series of coincidences and misunderstandings, Oswald is able to rent a room for very little money in Lost River and packs up and migrates south. We begin our story with an older man, Oswald, living in Chicago who is told he must move to the southern climate if he hopes to survive more than six months. Like all of her other novels, this is set in small-town, Lost River here, and Lost River is as much a character as any of the people. You know what I mean, like when someone talks about how dumb or ugly someone is, but throws a “bless their heart” in every once in a while to take away the sting. She sounds so sweet and forgiving even when describing someone on a drinking binge. I grew up in West Virginia so Flagg’s accent reminds me of any number of my relatives. I audio-ed this and for anyone who has read Flagg and is familiar with her friendly style of storytelling, I cannot recommend listening to her read her own books enough.

Fried green tomatoes book author