An alien observer, the creation of the universe, conniving relatives, and a discussion on the pros of reincarnation between a squirrel from Cincinnati and a grubworm who worked in Hollywood. These all can be found in Fannie Flagg’s 2025 short story collection: “Something to Look Forward To.”
Fannie Flagg is known for her 1987 novel “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe” which had a popular film adaptation “Fried Green Tomatoes” in 1991. Though she’s written many books since, it is the only one I have read prior to “Something to Look Forward To.” Throughout my youth I would on occasion see the film playing in my living room, and mentally categorized it as a “mom movie,” or something my mom would watch that I had zero interest in. But after my reading of “Fried Green Tomatoes…” last year, it has stuck with me as an incredibly powerful and humorous novel that explores: love, friendship, aging and racism. I still haven’t seen the movie though.
Now why am I talking about “Fried Green Tomatoes…” when I’m supposed to be talking about “Something to Look Forward To?” I think comparison is a very strong tool and despite a great deal of enjoyment I found “Something to Look Forward To” a bit lacking.
“Something to Look Forward To” is a short story collection containing thirty one short stories. Most of these are standalone with a handful that are continuations.
Now with there being thirty one stories a good assumption would be that there’s at least one you’ll like, and that was definitely true in my case. The ones that really worked for me were a little more on the weird side: the titular “Something to look forward to” a story about a man reincarnated as a grubworm, “New Arrival” the tale of a guardian angel assigned the most risk prone man alive, and “The Science Project” which is about a boy’s science experiment. These delivered such a curve ball with their far more fantastic premises I couldn’t help but smile.
Not to say the fantastical stories always landed as I was not a biggest fan of the two stories centered on a character named Special Agent Willian Fawley, an alien disguised as the “I Love Lucy” actor sent to observe humanity and is used to set up the book’s premise of being a peek into some interesting lives. The parts of his stories that focus on his time experiencing the earth and forming a friendship with a Baskin-Robbins worker are fun and at times sweet. Though I really liked the idea of such an odd outsider’s perspective on humanity—just about anything to do with the alien planet or his mission were very jarring and made me want to move to the next story.
I’m not saying that all of the less weird stories weren’t enjoyable, though they didn’t quite grip me to the same extent there were some great stories and moments to be found. The more grounded ones that really stood out were: “Darla Womble” about a woman who leaves town and is mistakenly believed to be dead and follows her family’s dubious reaction, “Don’t Mess With Texas” following a car jacker who bites off more than he can chew when he targets two hair dressers, “Don’t Forget to Write” about an extremely devoted wife who suddenly finds herself being divorced, and my favorite of this batch “Little Church of Signs and Wonders” where a man reflects on how he got a special scar. These deliver compelling narratives, “Don’t Forget to Write” had me feeling for the protagonist Helen and actually managed to blindside me with its conclusion. And the humor presented here kept me grinning throughout, I mean have you ever mistaken a hair dryer for the .44 magnum from “Dirty Harry?” Me neither, but the thought of someone doing so had me chuckling.
Now I think something that did impact my personal enjoyment was a mismatch in demographics, the primary target audience clearly being older women while I’m a twenty six year old man. Though there’s plenty of humor, be it ironic, a little slapstick or absurdist, and stories that I think are universal, a good chunk of the stories have, as a Kindle reviewer put it “Granny Energy.” I’m not saying this is a negative, there are a few stories that I’m certain would click for the primary audience but did not work for me. Then there’s the social commentary, and this may be a me problem but a lot of the themes and messages felt a little too familiar. There are several pokes at how much people look at their phones, older characters having a hard time adjusting to how social behaviors/sensitivities have changed, or how no one seems to get along, ect…and I don’t want to sound like these things should not be discussed, it’s just how these topics are presented nothing felt truly profound. I find this disappointing as in comparison “Fried Green Tomatoes” which is a full length novel, really got to dig into its topics. I feel like the short story format limited how much Flagg could explore in “Something to Look Forward To.”
Then there are the stories that feature a Grandmother: Velma and her granddaughter: Cathy, which I found to be some of the hardest stories to get through, despite actually being a story line that very effectively delivers its themes and on reflection I really liked. These stories all have the format of being a correspondence between the two over the phone, with Velma attempting to get Cathy and her family to come and visit her.
Velma is this kinda eccentric yet simple country woman who is having a blast in her small Kansas town and Cathy is a caricature of a California dwelling millennial yoga instructor. This little story line has roughly five segments and really the only downside is the character of Cathy. I think Velma is an interesting portrayal, she’s this goofy, aging woman who has a hard time keeping up with things around her house let alone evolving culture but is shown to be very understanding and tries to adapt.
Cathy on the other hand, is shown to be overly sensitive to everything and stagnant, additionally her dialogue is so packed with buzzwords at times she comes off as a caricature and it becomes very distracting. I know that was the point as a primary theme of the stories being about how the two relate to their communities and how it impacts their enjoyment of life — Velma embraces her community and they embrace her despite her odd behavior and antics, while Cathy’s judgemental mindset closes her and her family off from a community that is shown as very understanding and willing to cater to them. I also enjoyed the theme about procrastination that is presented, though there are some very legitimate reasons Cathy puts off visiting Velma, she does seem to be intentionally pushing it back and eventually the opportunity is no longer there — and it is a powerful emotional beat….that is eventually shown to make Cathy double down in her ways.
Although there were some points of friction, I really enjoyed my time with “Something to Look Forward To.” The humor and imagination put into the vast majority of the stories is very compelling. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a light-hearted read that makes you feel like you are watching tv with your grandmother.
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