Chicks On Lit discussion

Here is the thread for our January book discussion.
The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop

We officially start this read on Jan 1.

My copy is in. I will start as soon as I have it.

I started this yesterday and should finish it today. It is a fast read.

Has everyone reading this book already read Fried Green Tomatoes? I am wondering how this works if you are not familiar with the earlier book and would love to hear from anyone who did not read the first volume.

I am finding that this rests heavily on Fried Green Tomatoes. If I did not know the characters from just having finished Fried Green Tomatoes 2 months ago, I am not sure I would feel like I know them here. I don't think there is as much character development in this book. Those characters who are new here, young Ruth and her family, some of the folks at the retirement home, etc, feel like caricatures. Ruth's mother in-law and her daughter Caroline, are just the steriotype of the materialistic, socially conscious mean rich ladies. They are not real people. The same thing can be said of the director of the retirement home. I also find the repetition of stories from Fried Green Tomatoes unnecessary, but then I just read that. If I had read it when it first came out, I might appreciate these triggers for my memory.

I am not liking this as much as Fried Green Tomatoes. It does not seem as believable. But, that might be a prejudice of mine to generally like the first book in a series and be more critical of subsequent volumes. So, I am anxious to read what others think.dire

Finished. A bit too sweet for my taste. I thought Fried Green Tomatoes had more pain and hardship to balance its sweetness. But this was pure sugar.

The Hummingbird's DaughterThe Hummingbird's DaughterI have to disagree with you. I like the way the chars are developed. They ring true with me. I know these ladies. I like the sweetness of the book.

I am tired of overwritten books like AA Little Life and The Hummingbird's Daughter.

It is nice to have some clean writing without poetic descriptions. I enjoy a sweet story.

Did you read Fried Green Tomatoes before reading The Wonder Boy? Do you think this works as a stand alone novel or do you think a reader needs Fried Green Tomatoes to enjoy this one?

I have read Fried Green years ago. I do think this works as a stand alone. I think the experience is enhanced by knowing the story of Fried Green. But I think it works on its own.

Has anyone else started this book? Any thoughts?

I will start today. I have not read the previous novel so will report back my feelings about back story.

Sorry guys I am late to starting this time! I will start reading it tomorrow.

It will be interesting to see how a new comer to Whistle Stop finds this book. I look forward to your comments.

I started it and was surprised by the short chapters and over-all lightness to the mood. It took me back to when I used to read books like Fried Green Tomatoes and it seems like I've read progressively heavier books since then. It's kinda nice to turn to this as a "palate cleanser" between the Hummingbird's Daughter, Vanished Half and Girl, Woman, Other (other popular bookgroup choices for 2019).

I like the term palate cleanser. I am tired of the dark heavy books that are so prevalent right now. I got the vanished half for Christmas. I think its going into the bin for later reading. I

I want more like this one. I am tired of things that have no hope written into them. I am tired of books trying to be clever by adding so much description that the story suffers. Humming Bird's daughter had a story but the book suffered because of all the description. If I wanted that type of read I would pick up a book of poetry

It is great that there are so many different books that each person's needs or taste can be satisfied. For me, a story in which everything works out perfectly is off-putting. I am a skeptic at heart, so I don't find unadulterated sweetness and happy endings believable. I think that is why I liked Fried Green Tomatoes. There was hardship in the midst of the happy bits that I could buy the story. But, I can understand how Wonder Boy would appeal to a reader.

ok, so I got this and finished it yesterday. It was a fairly short book and super easy to read, so I read it very quickly.
I didn't mind the sweetness and the super crazy coincidences in this book. It's not my favourite thing but once in a while it's nice to read something like that.
The issue for me is that I think I needed to have read Fried Green Tomatoes which I haven't. I saw the film years ago but don't really remember it (I do remember I liked it!). So for me this book was really frustrating because there was no depth to the characters at all. Aside from Buddy and in the second half of the book his daughter, Ruthie, all the other characters just came and went and you didn't really know anything or much about them. I suppose if I'd read FGT I maybe would've known more. I was getting annoyed because I would be reading about one character and getting interested in their story and then it would jump to someone else and 30 years back or forward in time. By the time the book came back to the character I was interested in, I'd forgotten about them and didn't really care. This was also just as well because when it came back to them it was another time period and talking about something different.
After the second half of the book, the story more consistently came back to Buddy and his daughter and I enjoyed that part more.

Vivienne, I read FGT two months ago, so the characters were freh in my mind. But I kept thinking that, had I not been very familiar with these characters, I would have not been able to really relate to them. I thought it relied heavily on the character development done in the prior book. Your comments verified my suspicions.

I finished the book three weeks ago and was glad it went so fast. Didn't think it was terribly worthwhile, but I had said that I wanted to read something lighter than my usual fare. This just wasn't for me.

Robin, Had you already read or watched "Fried Green Tomatoes"? I fell in love with those characters in the first book. This felt like a little update on how their lives turned out. If I did not know and care about them going into this one, I am not sure I would have liked this at all. As it was, I thought FGT was a much better book.

I loved the movie. I had thought I read the book as well, but it's possible I've been relying on my memories of the movie and never read the book...

My f2f book is now reading Wonder boy. It will be interesting to see what they think of the book.

Renee, You will have to let us hear their thoughts.

We meet next Monday. I will let you know.