The Whole Town's Talking

This was not a novel I would have normally chosen on my own. It came to me as a recommendation from a friend. It's a story about a small town, from its initial settlement to its maturation a century later. On one level, it was a great depiction about the development of this town and the people who developed it. On another level, it provided quirky characters that you can only really encounter in fiction. And finally, the idea of all the deceased residents of the town continuing to live on and converse years after their death really attracted me.

Many would point to Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café as her opus to rural America, but the broader scope of The Whole Town’s Talking pulled me in instantly.

She draws out a full history of a small town, its good and bad and the people that made their mark there, some from birth to death. Even after death, their voices remain an active part of her tale, remaining as unbashful observers from the cemetery on the hill.

So much of rural America has fallen into disrepair, as does Flagg’s fictional Elmwood Springs, but I hold out… show more.