I promised to review Nine Parts of
Desire this week but I must confess that I got sidetracked with another
book.
Whenever I go into Calgary I like to
take a quick trip into Chapters and always head straight for the bargain books
at the back. Often popular books in
hardcover get reduced after a year and that’s when I find some real
treasures. This week I happened to
discover Fannie Flagg’s latest book “The All Girl Filling Station’s Last
Reunion”. How I laughed. Fannie does it every time, creating
characters who talk in such an insane way you can’t help but want to be their
next best friend.
The story is another one of those back
and forth stories about 1930’s Wisconsin and current Alabama. Fritzi is a young Polish-American girl who
takes up flying in the early 1930’s and along with her brother and sisters ends
up in the Army during WWII. Meanwhile
Sookie is living in Alabama and trying to control her 88 year old mother. Sookie is beyond delightful and had me in
stitches at almost every page. Fritzi
had me imaging the young Gena Davis in the role.
An interesting feature of the story was
the WASPs, female pilots who flew planes from the factory to their army
terminals across the USA during the war.
It’s a little known part of Woman’s history and sadly these brave and
talented female pilots were not recognized for their contribution to the war
effort for decades. As well there is
some history around how gas stations were first introduced across the country,
how they fared during the war and how they eventually died away as family
businesses.
This is an easy, light read with plenty
of laughs and some enlightenment along the way.
Two thumbs up for Fannie Flagg.
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