Book Thoughts: The All-Girl FIlling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I read this as part of the book club at the library. One of the things I enjoy about book clubs is that it often introduces you to books that you wouldn't otherwise read. This is one of those books for me. That said, while I found the the book to have good pacing, very easy to read, and a quick read, and the primary character, Sookie (Sarah Jane) is interesting and invokes at least some level of empathy from the reader. I think the book ended up being disappointing, just because some of the "shocker" reveals were, I felt, predictable, and there wasn't more depth of exploration of the relationships that made the book initially interesting. In other words, I was hoping the book would go deeper, but it never did.

Some things that felt like they could have been discussed -

(1) The concept of adoption and identity - there was a possibility of some exploration when Sookie was having her clandestine meetings with the town psychiatrist, but those came more about how those meetings were kept secret from everyone, and less about the exploration of the emotional issues involved.

(2) Exploration of Lenore - Lenore, Sookie's Mother, looms over the story, as a domineering personality, and as a domineering influence, positively or negatively, on Sookie. She is generally presented as an unsympathetic character; but then we get one small glimpse - the fact that her own mother left when she was 5 (and she lied and told everyone that her mother died in childbirth) - but nothing further; so I think it leaves a reader unsure what to think about Lenore. And that uncertainty, I think, hangs over the novel.

(3) The introduction of WASPs and their impact on WWII is interesting, but some of it is beyond belief, and I think draws from the book's seriousness. And the connection that Sookie eventually forms with the remnants of her biological family just feel so tenuous, even superficial, that it feels "insulting" (there needs to be a better word) to the themes the author addresses.

Ultimately, I thought the book was okay, and it was easy to read (finished in two nights), but because I found some of the themes introduced to be interesting, I was hoping for a deeper exploration of the same from the author; and the book didn't deliver in that regard.

View all my reviews