Standing In The Rainbow: Summary and book reviews of Standing In The Rainbow by Fannie Flagg, plus links to an excerpt from Standing In The Rainbow and a biography of Fannie Flagg.

Good news! Fannie's back in town--and the town is among the leading characters in her new novel. Along with Neighbor Dorothy, the lady with the smile in her voice, whose daily radio broadcasts keep us delightfully informed on all the local news, we also meet Bobby, her ten-year-old son, destined to live a thousand lives, most of them in his imagination; Norma and Macky Warren and their ninety-eight-year-old Aunt Elner; the oddly sexy and charismatic Hamm Sparks, who starts off in life as a tractor salesman and ends up selling himself to the whole state and almost the entire country; and the two women who love him as differently as night and day. Then there is Tot Whooten, the beautician whose luck is as bad as her hairdressing skills; Beatrice Woods, the Little Blind Songbird; Cecil Figgs, the Funeral King; and the fabulous Minnie Oatman, lead vocalist of the Oatman Family Gospel Singers. The time is 1946 until the present. The town is Elmwood Springs, Missouri, right in the middle of the country, in the midst of the mostly joyous transition from war to peace, aiming toward a dizzyingly bright future. Once again, Fannie Flagg gives us a story of richly human characters, the saving graces of the once-maligned middle classes and small-town life, and the daily contest between laughter and tears. Fannie truly writes from the heartland, and her storytelling is, to quote Time, "utterly irresistible."

Media Reviews

Publishers Weekly Because Flagg doesn't patronize her characters, her novels beat out other feel-good fiction.   Kirkus Reviews Hilarious, charming, authentic--a winner all the way.   Booklist - Mary Frances Wilkens Starred Review. Flagg's straightforward, unadorned prose keeps them sweet and pure and grounded in everyday life. If there's a flaw in the narrative, it's the 50-year span; too soon Bobby grows up, times change, and one pines for those days once again.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Anonymous
I have been an avid reader since age 8, but when I finished reading Standing In the Rainbow I did something I have never done before; I turned back to page 1 and read it all over again.

Rated of 5 by Keith Chawgo
I have just finished reading 'Standing in the Rainbow' and all I have to say is what a brilliant and awe inspiring work. I felt that I had become a part of these characters lives and the changes for which each character undergoes was trully...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Anonymous
simply brilliant...

Rated of 5 by Anonymous
Fannie Flagg brings a past era to life in such vivid detail that we who were not alive during that era look back upon it with a great deal of nostlgia. Each character becomes a friend and at novels end we feel that we have lost something...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Alice
Good Read. Very relaxing. Light, but yet with little twists you don't see coming. The characters really came to life for me, and I became addicted to each one.

Rated of 5 by Ricky Kopp
This was one of the best books I have read in years. I couldn't wait to get back to it each night and see what was going to happen next.
The characters began to feel like family and friends.
Thanks to Fannie for a wonderful time.
Would...   Read More

...2 More Reader Reviews

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