Fannie Flagg's comfy quilt of Americana, Something to Look Forward To, is a disarming collection of 30 linked short stories. Flagg's warm, humorous, slice-of-life observations often lead to witty, lightly philosophical conclusions about the human race. Settings include Indiana, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Alabama, New York, and elsewhere; years fleet from 1956 to 2025.
The opening story, "Special Agent William Frawley," presents an objective perspective from Planet 8676 of Earth's residents "staring at their hands." Frawley (yes, as in I Love Lucy) is sent to a Fort Wayne, Ind., Marriott hotel to figure out why. He captivates a Baskin-Robbins clerk with his gobsmacked enthusiasm. Focus shifts in "Beware the Weatherman" to Milwaukee, Wis., where a TV news personality returns home and stumbles into the wrong funeral and a pleasant surprise. In Pot Luck, Ark., 66-year-old widow Darla Womble discovers who among her "no-account family" really loves her when it seems she's dead.
Farmer Velma Ruth Vanderhoff, in Cottonwood, Kan., appears in several stories over many years, adjusting to generational differences with her "educated, socially responsible" granddaughter and nonbinary great-grandchild in Berkeley, Calif. The title story, set in Shenandoah, Iowa, is a very funny, very clever take on reincarnation: a publicity man for Warner Brothers Studio ends up as a grub worm. Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes; The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop) is superb with ironic, punchline endings. An epilogue underscores her true intentions, perceptive subtexts on how humans "just keep going." A terrific, light-hearted, and fun read with important lessons about all of us. --Robert Allen Papinchak, freelance book critic.