She Treads Softly: Something to Look Forward To

Friday, August 8, 2025

Something to Look Forward To

Something to Look Forward To by Fannie Flagg
8/19/25; 288 pages
Random House

Something to Look Forward To by Fannie Flagg is a heartwarming, very highly recommended collection of thirty short stories, several of which are interconnected. I loved every one of these delightful, humorous, nostalgic, and insightful stories and the memorable characters in them. The story telling is superb and flows quickly and smoothly. Once I started reading, the stories immediately grabbed my complete attention and they were so enchanting that it was impossible to stop reading.

Flagg has a special way of bringing her characters to life, making them believable, relatable, down-to-earth, and human. The characters are from several different towns and cities across America. Velma Ruth Vanderhoff is in several stories and I grew to love this sweet grandma from the small town of Cottonwood, Kansas. I commend Helen from Ithaca, New York, and how she handled her cheating ex-husband. Darla Womble's experiences showcased exactly what member of her family cared. Special Agent William Frawley from Planet 8676 visits Fort Wayne, Indiana, and learns about humans.

Something to Look Forward To is a must-read, especially for fans of Fannie Flagg. Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.