Our very first letter, from J:
I’m a 35-year old single mom who had to move in with my parents. Their love and support is wonderful and I am so grateful for sure… But sometimes THEY DRIVE ME CRAZY BECAUSE I AM 35 AND LIVING AT HOME WITH MY PARENTS.
Help.
Xo,
J
Dear J,
It sounds to us like you need a coming-of-age story. And not just any coming-of-age story, but a grown up one. See, the coming-of-age genre is one of our favourites, but we’ve realized that there is a dearth of these types of stories about adults; most of them centre around teens, or people in their early twenties, because that’s when we tend to think of people as “growing up”. But honestly, do we actually do all of our growing up at once, at only one specific time or age? Or do we do it slowly, in fits and starts, over the entire course of our lives?
We here at Literopathy believe that it’s the latter.
For this reason, our prescription for you is to read Fannie Flagg’s 1987 gem, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. We think that watching Evelyn’s transformation from miserable, lonely wife to empowered fighter who wants to challenge societal norms will inspire you. We hope that Idgie, Ruth and Evelyn’s stories will help you realize that people can change and grow into their lives at any age. We’re sure that the idea that a person can be use friendship and stories to help them find themselves and break free from the things that are holding them back will resonate with you. And, finally, we believe that the theme of the importance of family, and, through our families, our connections to the past, will help ease the frustration you feel about living with your parents.
Plus, the book is also chock-full of amazing recipes. So if you ever need to take a break from reading, you can try your hand at cooking.
Another great read along the same vein is Flagg’s Welcome To The World, Baby Girl!, which is about a successful woman who suffers a breakdown and has to move back to her home town and start her life over. If you find that Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe does not alleviate your symptoms, we recommend following it up with a dose of Welcome To The World, Baby Girl!
We hope that you enjoy this book, and look forward to hearing back from you once you’ve completed your course of treatment. Literopathy can be administered at any time of day, though we do find that it’s most effective when done just before bedtime.
We would also love to hear any other suggested literopathy treatments from our readers. Think there’s another book that would suit this patient much better than the ones we’ve recommended? Please let us know in the comments!
“You know, a heart can be broken, but it keeps on beating, just the same.” – Fannie Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
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