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    The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion: A Novel
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    The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion: A Novel
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    The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion: A Novel

    Written by Fannie Flagg

    Narrated by Fannie Flagg

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    The one and only Fannie Flagg, beloved author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Can't Wait to Get to Heaven, and I Still Dream About You, is at her hilarious and superb best in this new comic mystery novel about two women who are forced to reimagine who they are.

    Mrs. Sookie Poole of Point Clear, Alabama, has just married off the last of her daughters and is looking forward to relaxing and perhaps traveling with her husband, Earle. The only thing left to contend with is her mother, the formidable Lenore Simmons Krackenberry. Lenore may be a lot of fun for other people, but is, for the most part, an overbearing presence for her daughter. Then one day, quite by accident, Sookie discovers a secret about her mother's past that knocks her for a loop and suddenly calls into question everything she ever thought she knew about herself, her family, and her future.

    Sookie begins a search for answers that takes her to California, the Midwest, and back in time, to the 1940s, when an irrepressible woman named Fritzi takes on the job of running her family's filling station. Soon truck drivers are changing their routes to fill up at the All-Girl Filling Station. Then, Fritzi sees an opportunity for an even more groundbreaking adventure. As Sookie learns about the adventures of the girls at the All-Girl Filling Station, she finds herself with new inspiration for her own life.

    Fabulous, fun-filled, spanning decades and generations, and centered on a little-known aspect of America's twentieth-century story, The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion is another irresistible novel by the remarkable Fannie Flagg.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateNov 5, 2013
    ISBN9780739354025
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

    4/5

    518 ratings106 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This was exactly what I expected from a Fannie Flagg novel. There are two interconnected storylines: in one, Sookie is a middle-aged Southern housewife who suddenly discovers she is adopted, and tries to deal with her new identity and her narcissistic mother. In another storyline, we learn about her birth family, including a group of sisters who ran a filling station and flew with the WASPS in WWII. Both storylines are charming and funny, and Sookie's sweet malleability is contrasted with her ancestors' spunk and rebelliousness. Ultimately, there is a happily sappy ending, and we see how the older women's feminism paved the way for Sookie's self-discovery.Total fluff, but totally enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      What can I say.... I expected more. The first chapters were so boring that I almost put the book down, then I happened upon Fritzi and her learning to fly. Then the book mostly turned around.

      But here's the thing I really didn't care about Sookie or her family, I liked the Fritzi & her family and that is what kept me reading.

      Sookie inadvertently finds out that the woman who she has known as her mother had adopted her..... However, since Lenore always bullied Sookie, hoping Sookie would be someone/something she wasn't; Sookie puts off telling Leoner that she knows.

      Meanwhile every-other chapter was about Fritzi, her family and the history of the WASPS, and I found those chapters delightful and very interesting.

      The coming together of Sookie & Fritzi was interesting but a bit of a let down.
    • 4/5
      OH, what a wonderful book. I was drawn in from the very beginning with Sookie's struggles with her identity and have an overbearing mother. I loved the back and forth from Fritzi Jurdabralinski's journey and Sookie's (Sarah Jane Simmons). I saw a lot of myself in Sookie and I saw a lot of the courage and fortitude that I admire in Fritzi and her family. I laughed and cried while reading this book and that is a rarity. I think I ma of a certain age to appreciate Fannie Flagg. I tried reading Fried Green Tomatoes years ago and didn't finish it. Maybe I'll try it again. If it's half as good as this one, it'll be great.
    • 4/5
      This is a fun read. The premise of the book is as fresh as new mown grass. A family in Wisconsin starts a gas station and then World War II happens, taking the men away. The females of the family take over not only the duties of running the filling station, but bring their feminine touch to the task along with roller skates and home baked biscuits. But wait! They also become cracker jack flyers, and even join the armed forces although not officially.Meantime, Sookie Poole AKA Mrs Earle Poole Jr, daughter of the redoubtable Lenore Simmons Krackenberry, lodged loosely in time present or just about time present is about to find out she is actaully adopted and not a true Simmons after all. She is of course a Jurdabralinski of flying and filling station fame, by genes. We hover over the notions of nature vs nurture a bit, but mostly we are more or less dumbfounded that Sookie of Alabama is as caught up in the minor eccentricities of her life as she is, no matter what her true genetic code may have to say. Feeding the smaller birds while the blue jays have the run of the seed, worrying about the SImmons legacy of a certain foot, nose, or penchant for slipping into dementia in old age consumes Sookie. Her tolerant and kindly husband, Mr Earle Poole Jr, does just about everything he possibly can to make her life smooth as a vanilla milkshake, and darned if he doesn't succeed on every level there is, apparently. Even though there are a couple of rough patches not even the kindliness of a beneficent spouse cannot smooth completely before the delicate Simmons foot must come in contact with that particular pebble. What I liked most about this book is it takes place in a kind and gentle world, even with a war going on, and even with death. The death is the sort of death you encounter in funeral parlors, where the caskets are lined with white satin. The idea of the Jurdabralinski girls performing acrobatics on the wings of airplanes in the air is much more soothing than acts of random violence. The untoward acts of some, with terrible outcomes, are not the drivers of the story. This is a gift basket sort of book. You can give it to a sister who may suspect your motives in a very arbitrary way, tuck in some hot cocoa and tea towels, and by golly you have a sweetly sentimental gift that will not offend even the most delicate of persons, of the female persuasion. It is a good read, if a little breathless at times.
    • 2/5
      2.5
      Oh my, the last two books written by Flagg have just not been that great. The story is thin, and requiring it to fill an entire novel has really stretched it to its limits. That being said, I love her ability to form these great characters that are easily pictured by her great prose. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to this one.
    • 2/5
      It's not the book's fault, or Fannie Flagg's fault. I just can't get into her books!
    • 4/5
      Absolutely delightful! I cried with proud joy at the end. A great read for any woman rediscovering or recreating herself because she should always remember she is supported by many, many great women before her.
    • 4/5
      The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg charmingly weaves a present day story with the flashbacks of World War II. The main character Mrs. Sookie Poole navigates the reader as she begins to recline from the stress of her life and just starting to enjoy the days ahead. Until one day she learns of a family secret that her mother, Lenore Simmons Krackenberry has been keeping for far too long and so begins a quest to find out who Sookie and her family are. So begins a road trip through the past discovering details about her family she never realized, as she comes to learn about a woman named Fritz. Does Sookie find a unique path for her life after her long journey from family revelations? You have to read the book to know, but Fannie Flagg does an incredible job of showing the reader how the events of the past can and will make the road to the future for the next generation.
    • 5/5
      At age 59 and with nearly all of her children married, Sookie is ready to settle down and rest a while when a shocking revelation knocks her socks off -- Sookie was adopted as an infant and her proud Southern mother (who has a bad habit of driving Sookie to the brink) is not her biological mother at all! As Sookie begins to learn about her genetic family, a wonderful story emerges about four sisters who man their father's gas station and later join the semi-militarized Women Air Service Pilots (WASPs) program during World War II.Of the two books I've read by Flagg in the past, one was fantastic and one was just so-so; I was thus wary going into this one. The beginning was a bit rocky with tons of names being thrown at the reader (many of whom are not super important characters as it turns out). But the book quickly gets into the crux of the story and then shines spectacularly. Sookie's coming to terms with her identity is an interesting part of the book and provides plenty of fodder for thought/discussion regarding nature vs. nurture, family relationships, etc.However, the truly remarkable part about this book was the historically based sections, particularly the WASPs storyline. Despite having read quite a bit about World War II history, I was unfamiliar with the WASPs. This book provided a lot of well-researched information about them as well as inspiring me to find out more about these brave women.The big "reveal" was something I saw coming, but the book does still manage to have a lot of surprising twists. While there are a few flaws here and there, I overall enjoyed this book very much. Despite potentially dark and depressing topics, the book remains largely light-hearted. It is an entertaining read that will have you thinking about heavy topics long after you put the book down.
    • 2/5
      There were two main characters in this book. A current and a past. I thought the woman's story from the past was interesting. I found the current woman to be a bit whiny.
    • 3/5
      Not bad--like the section about the sisters who were WW II pilots. Sookie needed to gain some backbone but with such an overbearing mother it is understandable why she had confidence issues. All and all a good book.
    • 4/5
      Another fun read by Fannie Flagg. I thoroughly enjoyed it as I have all her books!
    • 4/5
      Yesterday and today - an enjoyable read. Enjoyed the historical aspect of this book, but the modern day portion was a bit underwhelming. Great characters except for the main character Sookie.
    • 3/5
      My least favorite thus far of what I've read of Fannie Flagg's. As a sorority friend of the protagonist in Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!, Sookie Poole was a somewhat amusing minor character in that novel. Here, in The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion Sookie has top billing. I found her really irritating and somewhat over the top in her histrionics and her own thought processes. For example, she kept obsessing over how the blue jays kept stealing bird seed from the small, brown birds.Not only did I find Sookie tiresome, I felt that other characters were drawn out in an almost caricature-ish way. Even the names of them seemed contrived. Such as the Jurdabralinskis and how other characters constantly kept butchering the last name. It got a bit repetitive. And then there was the yoga teacher (I think?) with the weird name of Edna Yorba Zorbra.After about halfway through, I ended up skimming through to the finish.It's too bad, because the potential was there-- I learned a glimmer of history that isn't well-known-- how there were women that flew planes during World War II, serving in the Army Air Corps. I wish the novel had concentrated more on that rather than Sookie's constant mental ramblings.Maybe it was just me. I see that this book has an average four-star rating which is pretty far off from what I'm giving it (2.5 stars).My feelings about this book isn't enough for me to quit reading Fannie Flagg though.
    • 5/5
      A great history lesson with wonderful characters. Fanny Flagg is the best story teller.
    • 4/5
      The "all-girls filling station" turns out not to be the main point of this big-hearted novel, which is actually two stories in one -- discovering who you are and what it means, juxtaposed with a loving tribute to the WASP flyers of WWII.
    • 3/5
      This story was really slow for me and because of that I had to stop and not finish it. I've read others reviews saying this book is exciting especially with the twists and turns but I couldn't seem to find that point. I've already read half the book and the author is just stretching the story out to make it longer (too wordy) and nothing exciting is really happening. It seems like she's waiting to the very end to announce all the exciting tidbits. Also I didn't care so much about the present story. I thought Sookie and Lenore was annoying and they drove me nuts. But I did enjoy the past story a lot and because of that I might (maybe) in the future pick this up again and give this story another chance.
    • 4/5
      The heart of this book, and what it makes it a really worthwhile read - is the story of the WASPS - the women who trained as pilots and ferried planes around the country during WWII. It was decades before they got the credit and recognition they deserved.
      I never knew of this awesome group of women, and Fannie Flagg introduced them in a way that was delightful and spunky.

      Also, nobody does Southern women in all their strength and zany affectations like Flagg. The modern-day characters are painted in broad vivd strokes, and this book is like taking a trip to Alabama.

      A quick worthwhile read (I read it in two afternoons, and I'm a slow reader)If you've never read Fannie Flag, but saw the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" this is a great book to start with.
    • 4/5
      The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg is a cozy, gentle story about family, caring, and learning about yourself told in the author’s warm, folksy manner that draws the reader into her heart-felt stories. Sookie Poole is a warm-hearted, generous yet timid woman who tries her best to satisfy her family and live up to her overbearing mother’s expectations. She has been raised to honor her Southern roots so she is thrown for a loop when she discovers that she was adopted as a baby, and her real background appears to be a Polish-American family from Wisconsin.Over the course of the book, Sookie slowly discovers more about her birth background and in doing so discovers that her adventurous relatives include four sisters who ran a filling station and flew planes during World War II. The story opens up into a history of the Woman’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) who flew non-combat flight missions and were the first women to fly military planes in America.With plenty of plot twists, humor, adventure, heartbreak and family loyalty, The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion was an interesting, joyful and comforting read.
    • 4/5
      A good, pull you straight through read. Whether in a small coastal Alabama town this century or in WWII Wisconsin, or with the WASPs in Texas, this has strong women living their choices. The ending could have been wrapped up in a third the pages, but hey, there had be the reunion, and the final wedding to close the parentheses.
    • 5/5
      LOVED IT! A little history mixed into a great story! Didn't think this could live up to "Fried Green Tomatoes" but it did and THEN SOME!!
    • 5/5
      If I could give it 10 stars I would! Fantastic. Loved it. Captures the conundrum of being an adopted child perfectly - then bang boom! You meet Fritzy & the Polish family, the sisters and brother Wink, and then when you're so entertained you think it can't get any better, you meet WASP!!! OMGosh Bravo!
    • 3/5
      This story was really slow for me and because of that I had to stop and not finish it. I've read others reviews saying this book is exciting especially with the twists and turns but I couldn't seem to find that point. I've already read half the book and the author is just stretching the story out to make it longer (too wordy) and nothing exciting is really happening. It seems like she's waiting to the very end to announce all the exciting tidbits. Also I didn't care so much about the present story. I thought Sookie and Lenore was annoying and they drove me nuts. But I did enjoy the past story a lot and because of that I might (maybe) in the future pick this up again and give this story another chance.
    • 5/5
      I love everything she writes but this one has her signature blend of history, letters, and news reports mixed in with narrative. Great subject too!
    • 5/5
      Great storytelling, as usual for Fannie! Twists and heartstrings. Charming.
    • 4/5
      This book has been on my TBR for a long time, so I decided that it was finally time to get to it. At the story began, I wasn't even sure I would like it. Sookie Poole is a 59 year old Southern woman living in Point Clear, Alabama. She and her husband have just married off their last daughter and she's looking forward to devoting her days to bird feeding, gardening, and dealing with her overbearing mother, Lenore Simmons. Lenore has spent her entire life lecturing Sookie on living up to her family's expectations. When Sookie opens up a letter from the Texas Board of Health and discovers she was adopted as an infant, her entire world falls apart.

      What starts out as a kind of silly southern manners comedy turns into a fascinating historical fiction story of the Women's Airforce Service Pilot's (WASPs) group that used women's to train pilots and transport planes during World War II. Sookie's biological family as part of that group, as well as Polish immigrants who came to America in 1909 and opened a gas station in Pulaski, Wisconsin. The book alternates between Sookie's story and Fritzi Jurdabralinski's story.

      The chapters are short and fast paced, and the author puts a lot of emotion into every nuance of her characters. I thought it was inspiring to see how Sookie changes throughout the book, and I missed the characters once I was finished with the book. It started out a bit slow but then I became more involved in the story and could easily envision the characters. I understand this is not one of Fannie Flagg's “best” books but I liked it very much and would recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Ms Flagg uses the same Template for all of her book sometimes with greater success than others. This falls in the better category though the title is a bit of a red herring as the tale is more about the WASPs. A good store that captures the time leading up to WW II and the women ho shuttled the planes. A good read.
    • 5/5
      I have to say, I love Fannie Flagg's books. All of her characters are quirky, eccentric and rich with life. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion was a wonderful blend of people with seemingly different lives, but they are all tied together in the end with common bonds. I found myself laughing out loud at the antics of Sookie and her truly loony mother, Leonore. The back stories centered around the All-Girl filling station, World War 2, and little known female pilots of those days were a colorful look at how life was during the war.

      This is a story filled with humor, love, kindness, and history. I loved reading it, and I did not want it to end!
    • 2/5
      The book just did not keep my attention. I felt bored.
    • 5/5
      A truly heartwarming yet somewhat tragic tale full of rich history and humor.