I Still Dream About You
Fannie Flagg, Random, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6593-6
Flagg's whimsical heartstring tugger (after Can't Wait to Get to Heaven) follows the continually interrupted suicide attempt of a former Birmingham, Ala., beauty queen, now 60 and a realtor. The 2008 election is hitting the home stretch as former Miss Alabama, Maggie Fortenberry, plans her exit from a world she can no longer bear. Still grieving over the loss of her best friend and unceasingly optimistic boss, Hazel Whizenknott, Maggie feels like a failure: the business is in decline, and she's lamenting a lifetime's worth of chances missed, including turning down her one true love. In fact, she's come up with 16 "perfectly good reasons to jump in the river" and only two reasons not to. Of course, there is hope to be found—professionally, personally, perhaps romantically—even in Maggie's darkest hours. Flagg gives the story some breadth with a subplot about a friend's campaign to become Birmingham's first black mayor. Maggie's quandary, meanwhile, is detailed with Flagg's trademark light touch and a sincere wit that's heavier on heart than sass. (Nov.)
Details
Reviewed on: 10/04/2010
Release date: 11/01/2010
Genre: Fiction
Paperback - 314 pages - 9780701185923
Paperback - 335 pages - 9780812977165
Hardcover - 314 pages - 9781400065936
Compact Disc - 9 pages - 9780739353998
Paperback - 445 pages - 9780739327357
Open Ebook - 239 pages - 9780679604044
Paperback - 314 pages - 9780099555483
Open Ebook - 336 pages - 9781446484791
Audio book sample courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio