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    Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!: A Novel
    Audiobook5 hours

    Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!: A Novel

    Written by Fannie Flagg

    Narrated by Kate Reading

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! is the funny, serious, and compelling new novel by Fannie Flagg, author of the beloved Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (and prize-winning co-writer of the classic movie).

    Once again, Flagg's humor and respect and affection for her characters shine forth. Many inhabit small-town or suburban America. But this time, her heroine is urban: a brainy, beautiful, and ambitious rising star of 1970s television. Dena Nordstrom, pride of the network, is a woman whose future is full of promise, her present rich with complications, and her past marked by mystery.

    Among the colorful cast of characters are:

    Sookie, of Selma, Alabama, Dena's exuberant college roommate, who is everything that Dena is not; she is thrilled by Dena's success and will do everything short of signing autographs for her; Sookie's a mom, a wife, and a Kappa forever

    Dena's cousins, the Warrens, and her aunt Elner, of Elmwood Springs, Missouri, endearing, loyal, talkative, ditsy, and, in their way, wise

    Neighbor Dorothy, whose spirit hovers over them all through the radio show that she broadcast from her home in the 1940s

    Sidney Capello, pioneer of modern sleaze journalism and privateer of privacy, and Ira Wallace, his partner in tabloid television

    Several doctors, all of them taken with--and almost taken in by-Dena

    There are others, captivated by a woman who tries to go home again, not knowing where home or love lie.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateNov 2, 2004
    ISBN9780739315316
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

    3.5/5

    592 ratings22 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Oh, my goodness, I want to live in Elmwood Springs! The quintessential small town filled with quirky characters who all love each other and help each other out and are just so filled with down-home charm...Dena is a fancy New York news anchor who spent some time in Elmwood Springs as a child, and though she has dedicated her life to her goals and doesn't want to take even a day off from her glamorous lifestyle. However, she's forced to take a look at herself and decide what's really important in life, with the help of this near-magical town.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed reading this book but was sadly disappointed in the ending. Not at all what I expected and not entirely believable. It feels like she had trouble working out how to wrap it up so just randomly picked anything. Despite that I intend on reading more Flagg in the future.
    • 5/5
      Several themes, the main one being the evil work of gutter journalism (press and t.v.) Heartrending in places and lightened, as life generally is, by absurdity and wit.
    • 4/5
      Fannie Flagg is a good author to read when one wants a story that is hard to put down,and as usual this one has Flagg's trademark quirky characters. Dena Nordstrom is a rising NYC television network celebrity that has a mysterious background, even to some Southern family members that she has recently reconnected with. Gradually all is revealed.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book much more than Fried Green Tomatoes. I would recommend this.
    • 2/5
      Definitely not my favorite by Flagg. In fact, I hated it so much I'm reconsidering if I ever liked the other books I read. So full of annoying characters and saccharine plots.
    • 5/5
      I just re-read this for a book group discussion this coming week. Fannie Flagg is such a fabulous writer. I like to believe she truly captures the heart of Americana and human nature. Dena, the main character of the book is on the verge of success as a television celebrity, but for some reason she finds herself undergoing dramatic change. As we learn more about Dena, we learn she has more to hide, but even she does not know why. The characters are all quirky, yet likable (although Norma Warren is a little annoying!)and Dena discovers the truth about her past and what really matters most in life.

      I really like this book; it is just a feel-good sweet and easy read.
    • 5/5
      It's about a small town woman who becomes a famous newscaster and then revisits her home. It was really good as usual for this author.
    • 4/5
      I had fun reading this story. There are so many ridiculous characters that you just gotta love. I also didn't figure out the whole deal with her mother ahead of time. I wouldn't have guessed that. There's lots of sadness and laughs and heart.
    • 2/5
      I love Fannie Flagg.. but I did not love this book.
    • 4/5
      I met Fannie Flagg when she was on tour for BABY GIRL back in Oct 1998. I was her host when she came to the Brookfield Wi Schwartz store where I worked. I remember her being a delight. And she signed my book: "For Ken---Remember--We'll always have Paris. Much love to a wonderful person. Fannie Flagg" Well, I've never been to Paris and I'm not sure if I am a wonderful person, but I still cherish that autograph. This is the first time I've read this delightful novel. At times very funny, at times quite serious...the novel is the story of a woman trying to come to terms with her harried life and the sense of solace she finds in a small town in Missouri where she lived when she was just a baby girl. What a treat!
    • 4/5
      I enjoy Fannie Flagg's books. They have lots of humor, and I'm often pulled along by the story. They definitely fall in the category of comfort reads for me. This one was no exception. Dena Nordstrom has made it big as a TV star, but she's got roots in the small town of Elmwood Springs, Missouri. At first, it seems that she has little in common with her relatives there, Norma and Macky Warren. She's more concerned about advancing her career and concealing some secrets from her past. But as Dena's life changes, so do her priorities. Although these changes were somewhat predictable, I enjoyed the journey.However, there are a few things that kept me from rating this book more highly. The ending was wrapped up a little too neatly and in a way that didn't seem all that believable to me. A big secret was revealed from out of the blue (at least, I didn't see it coming). And the book felt a little long to me. At several points, I thought we had reached Dena's turning point, but she just continued obliviously down the same path. But there were several characters that I loved - including Dena's southern sorority sister Snookie. Having grown up in small town Missouri myself, I thought that Flagg captured some of the quirks of small town life beautifully. Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! wasn't a perfect read, but I enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      I hate when this happens. A book starts out so well; it is clearly going to be one of those how-she-got-to-this-point books, with some nice comparison/contrast between City Mouse (here, a TV reporter named Dena) and Country Mouse (her Missouri cousins and Alabama college roommate). You always sorta know, in these books, that City Mouse is going to chuck it all because life in the country is better, fame isn't everything, etc. Like I said, it goes along so well for about 400 pages. Then the author tries to do to much, make too big a stretch, adds in one of the least believable "love" stories I've come across in a long time, neatly ties up every single loose end, and everyone lives happily ever after. Which turned out to be a really sucky ending to what had seemed like it would be a fun book.
    • 4/5
      Remember the movie The Crying Game? While I'll tell you it's not the same outcome, it's a twist you won't see coming and like a good friend, I'm not going to even hint about it.About a third way through I'm thinking "Christ this is a long book" and at about half-way it finally struck me that Flagg is a southern storyteller--you know the type that just has to take the long way 'round. Once you realize that, it's not bad. While I originally thought that editing it down twenty to twenty-five percent wouldn't have hurt the story overall, I realize it's there to get you comfortable before the bombshell gets dropped.While the "surprise" by today's standards wouldn't be such an issue, I know that it was indeed shocking during the time frame of this novels setting. Flagg presents it in such a way as to be totally believable.
    • 3/5
      This book has fine ideals, but it simply isn't driven by anything. The characters are reported as complicated and layered, but they are still rather superficial. Some of them, meant for comic relief, are simply silly. Heavy-handed with the moralizing.
    • 4/5
      This was a fun and fast read, in spite of the fact it's a big fat book. Flagg writes in short chapters and punchy prose. The author does a great job of pealing the onion of the story. It starts with normal people in small town America and a cousin - Dena, the "Baby Girl" of the title - who is a hotshot reporter in New York. Flagg bounces back and forth in time slowly unfolding Dena's murky history as we realize the investigative reporter has never examined the mysteries in her own life: her father, dead in WWII before she was born; her mother's furtive life moving them from place to place and finally disappearing. The ending is surprising and satisfying. Flagg also delivers a blistering critique of network news and her usual paean to small town living. Highly recommend this one.
    • 5/5
      This was an engaging novel - cheerfully humorous (thanks to the small town charm), insightfully moving and sad.The story follows TV presenter, Dena, as she tries to keep up with a demanding career that has both its virtues and pitfalls for her. Slowly, we also get to see that Dena tussles with a perplexing childhood.Some have described this novel as a mystery, and partly it is, but it's written with soul too.The chapters go back and forth in time - some of these chapters are essential to the mystery. There are times when you wonder if Dena will find the answers to the questions she ponders most about - but the author has her special ways. Much about the mystery comes together eventually (more so for the readers), but it is a relief to see that Dena finally finds the emotional comfort she needed.Fannie Flagg is a storyteller of note. She writes with all the senses flowing, yet so smooth and cozy. Then there are words of wisdom and sayings that strike a chord. Welcome To The World, Baby Girl! was my second novel by Flagg. The first I read was Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man.I enjoyed both and I am glad to have been introduced to them as well as having first watched the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, which was based on Flagg's novel of the same title and whose screenplay she also wrote.
    • 4/5
      Wonderfully funny dialog and right real, I think. The story was good and twisted, part political commentary on media and morals, and part plain yarn with the hollywood everyone (who's living) lives happily ever after, except one of the bad guys.
    • 4/5
      Fannie Flagg does a spectacular job of diving into these charachter's lives. The detail she spends helping this book come to life is amazing. Starting off in the early 40's she bounces back and forth between that era and one's later in the 20th century with great ease. As the story develops you find yourself laughing, crying, and worrying right along with these people you have come to love (and sometimes hate). This book was nearly impossible to put down. It ony took me two days to read, as I wanted to get back to their world as muchs my world would allow. This is one good book.
    • 5/5
      This was the first Fannie Flagg book that I read. She quickly became one of my favorite authors.
    • 3/5
      Very nice book. Really kept you interested. Nice ending. Reminded me alot of my hometown.
    • 3/5
      Novel chronoically life and times in small town America