Can't Wait to Get to Heaven

Obviously, Elner Shimfissle CAN wait to get to heaven since when the octogenarian falls out of a fig tree and is declared dead, she recovers hours later in the hospital. While in the hospital, Elner makes a visit to heaven, which seems to be managed by her neighbor Dorothy (known to fans of Flagg's novel STANDING IN THE RAINBOW). Meanwhile, in Cassandra Campbell's slight Southern accent, friends and family recall what a blessing Elner has been to them all. The townsfolk have already made their casseroles, ordered flowers, cleaned out Elner's house, and written her obituary by the time the news hits home that she is alive and kicking. D.P.D. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Starred review from September 4, 2006
The only thing more enjoyable than reading a Fannie Flagg novel is having Flagg read it aloud herself. A born storyteller, Flagg is a marvelous reader with a warm, welcoming Alabama accent. She immediately puts listeners at ease, priming them for an engrossing yarn that will mix laugh-out-loud hilarity with unabashed sentiment in a novel as thoughtful as it is delightful. Returning to Elmwood Springs, Miss. (the setting of two previous novels), Flagg focuses on a handful of days following octogenarian Elner Shimfissle's fatal fall from a tree. As listeners check in on various residents in town to see how they're reacting to the news and remembering how their lives were touched by the old woman, Flagg alternates bite-size chapters detailing Elner's journey to the afterlife. Flagg completely embodies her delightful characters, adapting a slight vocal scratch for eternally optimistic Elner, a flatter drawl for the ever-complaining hairdresser Tot and a sweet innocence as Elner's hilariously nervous niece, Norma. An uplifting delight. Simultaneous release with the Random House hardcover (reviewed online).

Fannie Flagg, the incomparable Southern writer and actress, returns to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, to paint and portray feisty, inquisitive octogenarian Elner Shimfissle. Elner falls out of her fig tree and is presumed dead. While her family and friends mourn, she makes a "temporary" visit to heaven, where she runs into her deceased sister, Ida, as well as Ginger Rogers and Tom Edison. When she "returns," she shares details of her experience with her niece as well as communicating her thoughts on the wisdom of life and its meaning with townspeople. While this touching slice of Southern life stands well on its own, having Flagg herself breathe life, love, and laughter into her heroine and her acquaintances, living and dead, makes for the most rewarding and entertaining experience of the year. M.T.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

November 1, 2006
Flagg takes us back to Elmwood Springs, MO, the former home of the lateNeighbor Dorothy Radio Show . The fall by one of Dorothy's former listeners, 80-plus-year-old Mrs. Elner Shimfissle, out of her fig tree as wasps attacked her, sets the whole town off into soul-searching journeys of self-assessment and discovery. Flagg's listeners will see that she still can mix humor, wisdom, and pathos in highly memorable characters that made the author's earlier books successes. This light, seriocomic novel asks deceptively existential questions about our purpose here on Earth and is read well by Cassandra Campbell, who captures the town folk's quirks, sweetness, and earnestness. Recommended.Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.