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I Still Dream About You

3.41 of 5 stars 3.41 · rating details · 5,941 ratings · 1,248 reviews

NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER

The beloved Fannie Flagg is at her irresistible and hilarious best inI Still Dream About You,a comic mystery romp through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, past, present, and future.

Meet Maggie Fortenberry, a still beautiful former Miss Alabama. To others, Maggie’s life seems practically perfect—she’s lovely, charming, and a successful agent at Re...more

ebook, 339 pages

Published November 9th 2010 by Random House (first published January 1st 2010)

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Mar 19, 2013 Lucy Hannigan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love Fannie Flagg as a writer. I have only read a few of her books (and not "Fried Green Tomatoes"--I didn't like the movie and have no interest in reading the book), but every time I finish one, I'm ready for another...but then I forget and start reading something by another author and time passes before Fannie is back in my Kindle.

This book is set in Birmingham, Aabama (Fannie's home town)-- a place I have visited and where I found some of the friendliest people in the U.S. As I read the boo...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Phyllis Sommers rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A delightful story, about friendship, relationships, aging and life. With several laugh-out-loud and poignant moments, the highlights of this author's writing are her detailed character portraits. Maggie Fortenberry is a 60-ish-year old realtor, who, along with her best friend Brenda and their older friend, Ethel, work for Hazel Whisenknott. Hazel, the owner of Red Mountain Realty in Birmingham, Alabama, is a "little person" who overcomes her handicap to become the most successful realtor in Bir...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Shana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

To me, Fannie Flagg and Lorna Landvik land in the same category of light, but not too fluffy reading. Their characters tend to be oddballs from the Midwest or the South, real, but still lovable. The stories encompass a community and usually ends happily with lessons learned and wishes fulfilled.

I Still Dream About You fit well within this category, though the pacing of the story really threw me off. I felt that it spent too much time setting the stage for the “big” event, then rushed through it,...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely loved this book, perhaps because I am close to the age of the main character. It may also partially be because the graceful aging of those who have enjoyed great beauty or athletic skill in their youth has always been a fascinating subject for me. In either case, Maggie Fortenberry is no simple minded aging beauty queen as one might think a first glance, but a kind and compassionate woman long past the halcyon days of her youth who is unsure if life is still worth living. Her charac...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fannie Flagg writes about people with a touch of exaggerated wit that is at times ridiculous and is probably not on the tolerance meter of many readers. Having read two previous books, I am always game to venture into another. A theme of Flagg's books I read has been to present a central character who is down on their luck in the sense of having had a huge life tragedy or circumstance from which they feel unable to recover. I Still Dream About You is the story of Maggie who we learn immediately...more Fannie Flagg writes about people with a touch of exaggerated wit that is at times ridiculous and is probably not on the tolerance meter of many readers. Having read two previous books, I am always game to venture into another. A theme of Flagg's books I read has been to present a central character who is down on their luck in the sense of having had a huge life tragedy or circumstance from which they feel unable to recover. I Still Dream About You is the story of Maggie who we learn immediately is taking meticulous and well thought through steps to end it all. We spend the next long group of short chapters learning about Maggie's work associates/friends and it seems a bit choppy if not confusing. I could just have stopped reading several times but then...it is Fannie Flagg!
It takes a major part of the book to learn some of the real sufferings that Maggie has experienced, just like it is with many real people surrounding you in your life. We learn these finally, but only after we have had just cause to understand the beauty and richness of life that Maggie lives and seems not to see or recognize. Flagg adjusts the story so that we are seeing the darkness and light at once and also Flagg is silly humorist enough to make the most horrifying life scenario look ridiculous.
Maggie's focus in life is not to disappoint others, not to cause someone else pain, and we realize that it is this trait (shared by many women especially) that thwarts her plans. I am at the point in the story now where the end is pretty well decided and predictable but there aren't many happy endings even in books anymore are they? Maybe one, once in a great while isn't so bad.
Though I did predict major events of the ending, there were still surprises. Fannie Flagg, whose birth name is Patricia Neal could not use it as her show business career on the Match Game for tv, writing for Candid Camera and movies launched because there already was another major actress by the name Patricia Neal. Her book, Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe became a movie and Can't Wait To Get to Heaven is another book I've reviewed here. A Redbird Christmas is another book of hers I really enjoyed. Flagg manages to see her characters with humor and compassion and has details embellished throughout the story.There is an element of mystery in I Still Dream About You when a skeleton emerges from a decades long hiding place. Flagg manages surprises, mystery and complication all at once in this novel. It's a very fast read.(less)

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Oct 13, 2011 Anne (Booklady) Molinarolo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fall-2011, womens-fiction

Ahhhhh, Birmingham, Alabama, how I miss that city! I was excited to read what was advertised as a mystery by Fannie Flagg. But alas this book did not meet my expectations. While the descriptions of the Magic City were spot on and life in the Old South was true to what I remember, having lived there for ten years; I STILL DREAM OF YOU is not a mystery. Though there is a small mystery within the novel, the story is Maggie’s. And I found her to be whining and a bit boring.

In the last days of the 2...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Glenajo rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Maggie Fortenberry wonders through life, planning the way she intends to exit it. At middle age, she decides that though she has tried her best, she has disappointed everyone by making mistakes and poor choices. Her friends see only her beauty and her inability to move through life without grace and poise, continually polite to all she encounters. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama where her best friends are a black woman, who struggles with her weight, and an elderly divorcee, bitter at the world...more

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Aug 15, 2011 V. Briceland rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Subtle, this book ain't. Rather than let any mystery of character or plot accumulate throughout the book, Flagg stops the proceedings immediately to insert flashbacks that explain everything that happened in the previous chapter. In a novel that hinges on a girl-detective-style discovery of a literal skeleton in a closet, it's like reading a Nancy Drew mystery written for those with the shortest of short-term attention spans.

As for the decades-old mystery at the center of I Still Dream About You...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Stacy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have read every single book that Fannie Flagg has written. I've been a big fan ever since Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. When I discovered that I Still Dream About You came out last year without me knowing it, I wondered, "how come I didn't hear about this?" I promptly went to the library and checked it out. Well now I know. If you want a good book you can rely on when you have a hard time falling asleep, well, maybe this is the one for you. I found myself reading one paragraph...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Nicola rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, no-longer-own

Reason for Reading: I've only read one Fannie Flagg book, Fried Green Tomatoes, but I loved it so much. I'd like to read all her books because I love Southern Fiction and after I read the book I realized she was one of the regulars on Match Game. LOL

Now this wasn't as good as "Fried Green Tomatoes" and since I haven't read any others yet I can't compare but as one of the characters in this book was fond of saying "Close enough!." It is a delightful, entertaining story with a rather macabre plotl...more Reason for Reading: I've only read one Fannie Flagg book, Fried Green Tomatoes, but I loved it so much. I'd like to read all her books because I love Southern Fiction and after I read the book I realized she was one of the regulars on Match Game. LOL

Now this wasn't as good as "Fried Green Tomatoes" and since I haven't read any others yet I can't compare but as one of the characters in this book was fond of saying "Close enough!." It is a delightful, entertaining story with a rather macabre plotline but a feel good, happy ending. A good book for a summer read or beach read as they say.

Maggie is a former Miss Alabama, now a talented real estate woman in Birmingham. Her age is never mentioned but we do know she isn't receiving social security yet. From her state of mind I tended to think of her as pushing up to either the big 6-0 or 6-5. Maggie has decided life has lasted long enough and has a well-planned elaborate suicide all figured out; all she needs to do is pick the day to put the plan in motion. She has a plan for all of her belongings, her money, a note, etc. She'll neatly close her life off with nothing left undone, not even a body for anybody to worry about. When she does pick the day, something happens which she must see to which delays her for a few days. The next time she picks the day something more significant happens and she has to put the date off for a longer period but she's content knowing that eventually she'll end things as soon as she can.

So not exactly the most uplifting plotline; a woman determined to commit suicide. But this woman who has regretted a lot of choices she's made in life suddenly finds herself continually faced with a life that needs to be lived just a bit longer. The story is told in the present but often goes back in time to tell of past events in the life of Maggie and the other main characters namely Harriet, who has died before the book begins, the real estate owner, a 3 foot-four little person exuding optimism; Brenda, Maggie's real estate partner, a large African-American woman with a weight problem who is addicted to food but is determined to run for mayor one day soon and finally Ethel, the grumpy office manager, in her nineties, always wears shades of purple and thinks this generation is the end of civilization. Not to mention their competitor Babs Bingingham, a ruthless real estate agent who will stop at nothing, whether it's legal or not, to steal clients away from others, who hates Maggie with a passion and plans to buy out her business just as soon as legally possible.

A delightful read, with an eccentric cast of characters that even turns into a bit of a mystery when a skeleton is found in an old house just put on the market. Plenty of story lines to follow that all lead back to Maggie and a great humorous Southern fiction romp that is sure to please those looking for a light read. (less)

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Apr 08, 2011 Tricia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg
I have been a fan of Fannie Flagg since I read "Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe."
"I Still Dream About You" tells about four woman who are friends and work together at Red Mountain Reality. Maggie (former Miss Alabama), Hazel (the owner), Brenda (attracted to politics), and Ethel - The Purple Flash.
Fannie Flagg knows how to write good humor with heartwarming and wonderfully endearing characters and plot.
I just loved these people that Fannie...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Lavonne rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books

Where, where do I start with this book? I picked it up because I had loved the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" by the author. However, I never actually read the book and probably never will now. I absolutely hated this book, although it did make me feel like a teenager again. I swear I haven't rolled my eyes so much while listening to anyone since I was 15 or 16.

I can rate this book on two levels:

First, the story, or lack of one. If you have ever heard a trite, over-used saying, it was in this boo...more Where, where do I start with this book? I picked it up because I had loved the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" by the author. However, I never actually read the book and probably never will now. I absolutely hated this book, although it did make me feel like a teenager again. I swear I haven't rolled my eyes so much while listening to anyone since I was 15 or 16.

I can rate this book on two levels:

First, the story, or lack of one. If you have ever heard a trite, over-used saying, it was in this book. If you were lucky, the saying was just uttered once by a character or characters. More often, it was repeated again and again and again. It was such cliched dialog that I got to the point where I could tell you what the character was going to say before they said it. There was not one original sentence or thought in this book. Many of the chapters started out with the same exact wording and sentence structure, to the point that I kept thinking my i-pod was screwing up the tracks and playing them again. No, my ipod is fine, this lady just can't write. The story jumps around in time, which normally doesn't bother me. Here, though, there was no logic to it. The chapters would bounce from the 1890's to 1976, to 2008, to 1955, to 1934. Nothing much happened in the first half of the story. Then about 2/3 of the way through, the author tried to start a BIG mystery, when the two main characters literally found a skeleton in the attic. The "mystery" was so transparent that two or three pages later, there could only be one explanation. It was one of those books, that when you get to the end, you're still waiting for it to begin.

Secondly, the narration: The author herself read the book. She has a sweet, Southern accent and seems like a lady you'd want to have tea with. At first, it was very charming. That quickly grew old, though, when you found you couldn't tell the difference between two characters having a conversation. The male, New York lawyers, a first generation Scottish immigrant, an Alabama policeman, they all sound like Scarlett O'Hara's maiden aunt. And oh, lord! The "oh, lords!" This complaint is actually about the writing, but this book is peppered with this phrase. If they had cut that one phrase out of the recording, it would have been only 4 cd's, instead of 9.

In conclusion, I think I need a new shelf. "Audio Books I finished because I spent so much frickin' time loading them to my ipod". Are we allowed to have that many characters? Oh, lord, I hope so.(less)

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Mar 08, 2011 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction, humor

From the author of "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" we are met with another foray into a world best described as Southern Genteel Self-Loathing. I have read all of Fannie Flagg's books for one reason alone: They are funny and entertaining. But if I were living 300 years from now and trying to compile a sociological study of the south from her books, here are the things I would conclude.
1. Southerners count politeness as the greatest of all virtues...
2. even when murdering and chea...more

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Mar 03, 2011 Mary Ronan Drew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How did I manage to miss out on the entire Fannie Flagg thing? I’ve heard of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café, but somehow I didn’t get around to reading it. I might never have discovered the delightful Fannie Flagg if my belle-soeur hadn’t sent me a copy of this book, I Still Dream About You.

There were a dozen things I liked about this novel, the most important being the two real estate agents who are best friends and work together as a team, Maggie and Brenda. They work at an agenc...more How did I manage to miss out on the entire Fannie Flagg thing? I’ve heard of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café, but somehow I didn’t get around to reading it. I might never have discovered the delightful Fannie Flagg if my belle-soeur hadn’t sent me a copy of this book, I Still Dream About You.

There were a dozen things I liked about this novel, the most important being the two real estate agents who are best friends and work together as a team, Maggie and Brenda. They work at an agency that has been going perilously downhill since the death of the owner, the irrepressible little Hazel. A rival agent, Babs Bingington, “The Beast of Birmingham,” an unethical realtor and a thoroughly dislikeable person, has been stealing their clients. Babs hires a young couple to front as the “buyers” of properties which are really being bought by developers (from whom Babs takes kickbacks.) The developers tear down the houses and build McMansions or apartment houses, destroying the fabric of neighborhoods.

Don’t you love having a bad guy to boo and hiss?

Maggie, an ex-Miss Alabama who missed out on being Miss America because of an unfortunate development at the Miss America Pageant, has never married and is dragging along from day to day with no hope for change in her future. So she decides to kill herself. She has worked this all out in detail, involving a plastic raft and ankle and wrist exercise weights. (She really needs to see a psychiatrist.)

Maggie pays off all her bills, cancels her credit cards, has her phone service cancelled, gives her good clothes to a little theater that can use them for costumes, and leaves a To Whom It May Concern letter explaining what she has done. She then calls a taxi (using the name Mrs Tab Hunter – she always thought he was a wonderful actor) and heads for the river.

Her friend Brenda is vivid and thoroughly likeable. She has, in her day, been colored, Negro, black, and African-American and she no longer cares what people call her except that she wants to be called Mrs Mayor. She plans to run for mayor of Birmingham and she has the network from her real estate work to get her started in politics. Brenda’s major problem is a sister who is a nurse and who is trying to put her on and keep her on a diet. She joins Overeaters Anonymous and gets a former police officer for her mentor: “Brenda, put down the doughnut and step away from the counter.”

Anyhow, complications arise and people from Maggie’s past drift into her life and she has to put her plans on hold for a time (and of course she has to buy some clothes, get the phone re-connected, and retrieve the suicide note.) Birmingham’s most beautiful estate on top of a hill, overlooking the city, has come on the market and Maggie wants desperately to save it from Babs and the developers. But what is she to do? Meanwhile, there’s an incident with mint chocolate chip ice cream that makes Brenda depressed and needing to take advantage of a Kate Spade sale.

Well, this is cozy-style non-mystery (though there is a mysterious dead body that needs accounting for) so we know things will turn out ok in the end. The reader can enjoy the suspense of Maggie’s repeated attempts to get in that raft on the river, the dread that the mansion on the hill will be torn down for a shopping mall, and the threat that Brenda’s health problems will escalate because we know that in the end the good will be rewarded, the bad will be punished, and the sun will set on beautiful Birmingham to the reader’s satisfaction.

2011 No 40 Coming soon: Unknown Quantity by John Derbyshire
(less)

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Jan 08, 2011 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I felt that I really needed a book that might make me laugh, so I decided who better than Fannie Flagg to put a smile on my face. Well imagine my surprise when I discovered early on that the leading lady in this novel is planning her early death by suicide. (Don't worry, it is not a depressing book).

Margaret (Maggie) Fortenberry, imagined a wonderful life. She was crowned Miss Alabama in her younger days, but now forty years later, life has seemed to pass her by. She sees her life as having been...more I felt that I really needed a book that might make me laugh, so I decided who better than Fannie Flagg to put a smile on my face. Well imagine my surprise when I discovered early on that the leading lady in this novel is planning her early death by suicide. (Don't worry, it is not a depressing book).

Margaret (Maggie) Fortenberry, imagined a wonderful life. She was crowned Miss Alabama in her younger days, but now forty years later, life has seemed to pass her by. She sees her life as having been one disappointment after another. She missed the chance of being Miss America, as a result of how Birmingham, Alabama was positioned on segregation issues at the time. She never married, and can't make a decision, always concerned that she will hurt someone's feelings. She is working in real estate, in a terribly depressed market, where she is still missing her former boss Hazel who got her into the field at Red Mountain Realty. So what's a woman to do at sixty years of age, after so much disappointment......well, for Maggie, she has thought it through, by making a list of pros and cons and has drafted her suicide note.

Before she has a chance to put her plan into action, a telephone call causes Maggie to put her plans on hold. Suddenly one hilarious thing after another occurs that helps Maggie to realize that although life is full of disappointments, it is still worth living.

The story is has an array of quirky characters that are sure to make you chuckle. From Hazel Whisenknott, Maggie's former mentor at Red Mountain Realty, who we learn about through flashbacks. Just over three feet tall, the lady was super woman, full of energy and spirit. Then there is Brenda, the self-absorbed sneak eater who obsesses about her weigh. Brenda is also with Maggie when the two discover a skeleton at an old mansion that is for sale. Other characters include the elderly Ethel Clipp from the realty office, and a cut throat competitor realtor named Babs Binington.

Although the story is at times far-fetched and quirky, the author has the knack of making it work. In the end, I found, I Still Dream About You, to be just what I needed. It's one of those books that you'll be glad you read if you need to laugh at all the curve balls life sometimes throws at us. (less)

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Dec 17, 2010 Dianne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg

In Ms Flagg’s new novel, we follow the multiple attempts at suicide of a former Miss Alabaman beauty queen. She is now 60 years old and a realtor in a struggling office. She is desperate to do it right, with no muss of fuss for anyone left behind and therein lies the rub. Man plans and God laughs is the theme of this novel, for no matter how carefully Maggie plans the very last detail of her suicide, something will come along and throw a monkey wrench into th...more

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Dec 02, 2010 Shirley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Amusing story of Margaret, an ex-Miss Alabama, now a 60 year old real estate agent in Birmingham whose goal is to commit suicide. Her arch-enemy is another realtor who sabotages everyone, sells the old classic estates under the guise of saving them, then immediately sells to developers who raze them. Margaret is given the opportunity to sell one of the last classic homes that has a mystery in its past. The owner was lost at sea with no survivors. In preparing the house for sale, Margaret and her...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Felicity rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This probably deserves a 2.5...it wasn't a bad book. But it's Fannie Flagg (I mean, how can you take anyone with such a name seriously?). So the book is one of those syrupy, feel-good (even if it is about suicide), panetheon to female friendship books that you expect Fannie Flagg to produce. And if you're writing a feel-good book about suicide, then you're left--as I was--with this slightly uncomfortable feeling that Flagg didn't really address the kind of serious issues that might drive someone...more

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Nov 28, 2010 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fannie Flagg's charm has always been in her creation of communities where polite, optimistic and kind people are respected and successful. Take a few of those characters, throw in a neurotic friend, and then introduce a less friendly person to the mix, and you basically have the makings of a Fannie Flagg novel. This book is no different. In fact, it adheres to that formula so well that I can't entirely separate it from her previous books. Fortunately, I liked "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" and "A...more Fannie Flagg's charm has always been in her creation of communities where polite, optimistic and kind people are respected and successful. Take a few of those characters, throw in a neurotic friend, and then introduce a less friendly person to the mix, and you basically have the makings of a Fannie Flagg novel. This book is no different. In fact, it adheres to that formula so well that I can't entirely separate it from her previous books. Fortunately, I liked "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" and "A Redbird Christmas," so the similarities weren't entirely unwelcome to me. I laughed at times, read fast, and then fell asleep with the satisfaction of good things happening to good people.

But I never really loved this book the way that I loved Fannie Flagg's earliest books. First, the formula is a little tired by now; I didn't need to read this book to meet the same sort of characters, or have the same sort of "It's a Wonderful Life" conclusion. Second, the main character seems too unrealistic to be taken seriously, and too sad and confused to be taken lightly. Maggie feels that since the news on TV is too sad and there is a mean person rivaling her in real estate sales, suicide is the only answer. Perhaps Maggie's true provocation is the loneliness she feels at living in a model home with few personal effects, and having only one friend. I would get that reasoning, but Maggie never sees those as being her true problems, and Flagg's narrative is unable to bring forth the legitimate causes of depression, likely because keeping Maggie's reasoning silly makes the tone light enough not to drag the book down. (Additionally, the rationale's implausibility lends credence to Maggie's easy decisions to keep postponing her death day.)

The narrative has some other lapses as well. The prologue to the story is merely confusing: does the age of Maggie's flame actually match the age of the boy from the prologue? And if it is the same boy, why doesn't he make a bigger reference to seeing her from afar when she was a young girl? Also, why do Maggie and Brenda remove the skeleton from its trunk instead of logically sending the whole trunk to storage?

The last problem I'll dwell on is that the most interesting character of the book is either Hazel, who is years dead by the beginning of the story, or the skeleton in the attic, who is even more years dead. Even with multiple flashbacks dead characters cannot propel the story as effectively as living characters. It is certainly a problem when the deceased seem more alive and plot-propelling than the living main character.

There are undoubtedly more issues you can take up with the book, but Fannie Flagg's good-hearted characters and themes make me feel guilty for even bringing them up. I wouldn't buy the book, but I can't regret the hours I spent with my library's copy.(less)

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Nov 22, 2010 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really liked this book. It is not like Fannie Flagg's other books, but still explores that themes of friendships, woman power and the South. Maggie was an enigma to me, as I wasn't sure if she truly wanted to kill herself or just thought it would be something different. I did think if Maggie were truly planning to kill herself, she wouldn't have let anything stop her, and I think she was glad for the excuses.

She thought she had to live a certain way and do certain things because of who she was...more

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Nov 21, 2010 Sidna Bookout rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to say I was disappointed in this book. I usually love Flagg's writing,but this doesn't measure up to Fried Green Tomatoes or Can't Wait to Get to Heaven. This book did not make me laugh out loud. I think I was disappointed because I had high expectations, but the book wasn't anything that it could have been.

As soon as I started reading, I was sucked into the book because I thought it was a story about friendship between two women. It turned out to be about only one of them,a former Miss...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Yoonmee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, southern-literature

I loved the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, so when I saw this book on the "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" table at Barnes and Noble by the same author of Fried Green Tomatoes, I had to get it (that and I needed a third book in order to get one for free). Admittedly, I haven't read the book the movie was based on and, admittedly, I had some reservations about I Still Dream About You. I know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the cover on this made me think it was some sort of silly "chick lit" kind of b...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Carrie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Started it as a possible book club pick. 20 pgs in I'm a little annoyed by the writing, so it's a No. However, I'll keep reading.

I think I really liked Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe! (Another Fannie Flagg novel).

This should've been in my started but didn't want to finish pile. It was not good! The story starts with a sixty yr old woman writing her "suicide" note; she's merely going away in her mind, and the story is about her mistakes (boring, she was a previous Miss Alabama &...more

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Feb 18, 2011 Ashley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This one gets two stars only because it ended on such a feel-good, happy note. The first three-quarters of it I was so bored I could barely stand it. I had to read it for a book club and the author also wrote the book and screenplay for Fried Green Tomatoes, so I was expecting something way more interesting. The premise is that Maggie, a 60-year-old former Miss Alabama, is depressed and makes plans to "leave" via suicide. She doesn't hate her life, in fact it's a rather enviable life if you don'...more This one gets two stars only because it ended on such a feel-good, happy note. The first three-quarters of it I was so bored I could barely stand it. I had to read it for a book club and the author also wrote the book and screenplay for Fried Green Tomatoes, so I was expecting something way more interesting. The premise is that Maggie, a 60-year-old former Miss Alabama, is depressed and makes plans to "leave" via suicide. She doesn't hate her life, in fact it's a rather enviable life if you don't want a husband and kids, she's just tired of it and feels like she should leave before old age really gets her down. Problem is, things keep popping up that make her put her plans on hold, since she doesn't want to leave anything half-finished or hanging. I don't think the author really understood the main character at all. I think she thought it would be a funny plotline, but not that she felt WHY Maggie would behave as she did. Hence the disconnect. It was supposed to be funny as well, and I was able to spot the "funny" dialogue and twists, but they just weren't amusing, even the kilted skeleton. Just once did I smile at one of the jokes, and that was at the end. Here it is:

Across town, after Ethel Clipp had poured herself a nice stiff drink, she
was sitting in her living room in her purple velour pantsuit, looking out the
window and watching the pigeons walking all over her yeard. One big fat male
pigeon was all puffed up, strutting around and pestering some poor female
to death. Typical. It could have been her ex-husband, Earl. If she thought
there was any truth to the reincarnation thing, she would have gotten up
and gone out in the yard and swatted it.

There, that was it. I think the author planned the ending of the book first, then filled in the story until she could get there. At least that's how it felt. It just wasn't believable, for me, or particularly interesting. It did end beautifully, and that's worth something, but mostly I regret the lost time reading the first 7/8ths.(less)

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Jul 03, 2011 Ronda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humorous, mystery, realistic-fiction

Fannie Flagg never fails to invent a cast of characters that stay in my mind long after I've finished the book. Maggie, former Miss Alabama/2nd runner up Miss America-turned real-estate agent, has come to a decision. She's over it. Her list of pros and cons (& she has many lists), is horribly skewed toward the pros of jumping in the river. She even has a plan for how to do it. But life just kind of keeps getting in the way in the kind of way of her impending death.

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Mar 03, 2011 Heidi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Maggie is done. Done with life, and she has a very practical plan to finish it off, and a checklist of things to do to prepare, including purchasing an egg timer to make sure the crazy glue dries thoroughly. In I Still Dream About You series of events keeps pushing back the plan and Maggie tries to deal with each new event logically. Within three days of postponing her plan, this normal woman had found a human skeleton, lied to the police and put a foot bone in an empty sack from Baskin Robbins....more

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Dec 30, 2010 Gail Cooke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The irrepressible Fannie Flagg won us with such mirth making, affecting stories as Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Café and Welcome To The world, Baby Girl!, now she reminds us of how much we enjoy her in I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU.

Her latest, a comic/mystery, takes place in Flagg's hometown, Birmingham, Alabama, and centers on Maggie Fortenberry. Now, most would think Maggie had it all - she's a former Miss Alabama, a successful real estate agent at Red Mountain Realty, and has a covey of...more
The irrepressible Fannie Flagg won us with such mirth making, affecting stories as Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Café and Welcome To The world, Baby Girl!, now she reminds us of how much we enjoy her in I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU.

Her latest, a comic/mystery, takes place in Flagg's hometown, Birmingham, Alabama, and centers on Maggie Fortenberry. Now, most would think Maggie had it all - she's a former Miss Alabama, a successful real estate agent at Red Mountain Realty, and has a covey of close friends. At least that's the way it appears - truth is Maggie is seriously depressed because life has not turned out at all the way she planned. She has always dreamed of living in one of the beautiful mansions on top of Red Mountain, cohabiting with a husband who worshiped her and having 2.5 children. Asif that weren't enough, her business is going down the drain thanks to the machinations of Babs "The Beast of Birmingham" Bingington, a double-dealing rival realtor. What had happened to Maggie's dream?

It's all just too much for Maggie to bear to she decides to leave (literally) and pens a suicide note (she does not sign it with the smiley-face that usually accompanies her missives). In the midst of composting this note her friend, Brenda Peoples, calls with the exciting news that the Whirling Dervishes are coming to town for one night only and she has two free tickets. Yes, the real Dervishes from Turkey have been booked at the Alabama Theatre because "The chanting Monks from China or Tibet or somewhere had to cancel."

Brenda insists that Maggie is going with her; she won't take no for an answer. Being a loyal friend Maggie decides that's the least she can do for Brenda, so she simply changes the date on her suicide note.

That's not the only change that takes place because Maggie miraculously comes up with a plan, the "perfect plan" to solve all of her problems.

Only Fannie Flagg could have written the wise. wonderful, hilarious I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU, and I'm so glad she did.

- Gail Cooke
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Jan 04, 2012 Pamela Pickering rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gift

I've always heard good things about Fannie Flagg books but have yet to read one (even though I've seen Fried Green Tomatoes). Apparently I picked the wrong book of hers to read. If reviews hadn't mentioned this one was of a much lesser quality compared to her other books I may not ever bother to read another after completing this one. If this one hadn't been a gift from a family member I probably would have abandoned it. I would have given it a one but it warrants a two star rating due to its cr...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Sterlingcindysu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A happy, feel-good book with Southern overtones. I really don't know what the title refers to, perhaps to the memory of Hazel, the powerhouse beind everyone, or a lost love, or a lost chance, or a lovely house. I did feel bad when Maggie, who lives in a model condo, can't cook because she doesn't want to clean up, or have the house smell--what would be the point of living if you have to eat TV dinners every night or waffles every morning? (copied reivew) Though her friends think Maggie has the p...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Luana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Avendo amato 'Pomodori verdi fritti al caffè di Whistle stop', decisi di leggere qualsiasi cosa recasse la firma di Fannie Flagg.
Forse però, come seconda lettura, ho scelto il romanzo sbagliato: 'Miss Alabama e la casa dei sogni' si è rivelato essere un po'
deludente.

Stucchevole, troppo adagiato su nuvole rose e manchevole dei personaggi forti e cazzuti ai quali la Flagg mi aveva abituata in
precedenza, quei classici personaggi che vorresti essere anche tu per un solo giorno o che vorresti anche...more

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About Fannie Flagg

Fannie Flagg began writing and producing television specials at age nineteen and went on to distinguish herself as an actress and writer in television, films, and the theater.
She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (which was produced by Universal Pictures as Fried Green Tomatoes), Welcome to the World, Baby...more

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“Don't give up before the miracle happens.” — 45 people liked it

“Hazel always used to say There's not enough darkness in the entire universe to snuff out the light of just one little candle.” — 7 people liked it

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