Beignets de tomates vertes

[Audiobook] TW : fatphobia, racism
2.5 / 3 ?
I hesitated a lot before deciding the rating of this audiobook.
On one hand, I've enjoyed listening to most of the story; I quickly got hooked to it and I've attached to the characters. It's very gratifying to read a novel written in the 80's whose main characters are two lesbians ; it must be said though that the fact they're a couple is never explicitly said, we "kind of guess" they are, although it's pretty obvious. And, I add, we're in a fantasy world (in the 20's and 30's Alabama ??) where there is no homophobia at all, at least towards women. I find this highly unbelievable.

The characters are nice, but they don't evolve and are quite stereotypical, especially the Black ones. I had the feeling that this book is written by a white woman trying to tell us - to shout actually - that she's not racist.
The story is narrated partly by an omniscient narrator and partly by the main character's aged sister; I would've much prefer to hear the main character's pov.

But I think the thing that shocked me the most was the blatant fatphobia. Evelyn is depressed and struggles with accepting her plus-sized body; the message we perceive at the end of the book is that she manages to regain self confidence thanks to diet, exercise and losing weight. I'm not even going to comment this.

Overall, it's an enjoyable read but quite problematic, although you may say it reflects at least partly the time in which it was written. You may want to read it or not depending on your degree of sensibility.

Evelyn Couch rencontre une personne incroyablement à la maison de retraite. Celle-ci va lui raconter son passé entre les années 20 et les années 60 dans un petit village des Etats-Unis. Petit à petit, Evelyn va se prendre au jeu et suivre avec attention les péripéties qui lui sont contées.
Alternant moments dans la maison de retraite et saut dans le passé, le livre nous fait suivre l'histoire d'une famille américaine, ses rencontres et comment elle évolue. Un bon moment même s'il n'y a guère d'actions dans ce roman.

Je n'ai de ce roman qu'un vague souvenir. L'histoire m'avait bien plu, pleine de bons sentiments et d'amour (aaah, l'amour!!!), mais je m'étais ennuyée à quelques reprises. Malgré tout, ce livre m'avait donné envie de voir l'adaptation. Chose faite quelques années plus tard, mais par bribes, et dans lequel l'histoire d'Idgie et Ruth avait été quelque peu huuum, "poncée" je dirais.
Lien : http://readviewed.skyrock.co..