Oh, how I love Fannie Flagg’s stories. They make me laugh, they make me cry and they keep me turning pages. “The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion” was absolutely perfect for a long plane ride I took this past weekend. I didn’t notice the cramped seats at all.
The story opens with Sookie Poole, a southern lady trying to relax after her daughters’ weddings. But Sookie has to deal with her overbearing mother, Lenore Simmons, who lives nearby; in fact she’s been getting pushed into things and pushed around by Lenore all her life. Because Lenore is elderly and a littly nutty, too, all of her mail goes to Sookie.
When Sookie opens one piece of mail, she’s in for a shock. She finds out she is not who she thought she was.
The story flashes back to the early 20th century in Pulaski, Wis., where one Stanislaw Jurdabralinski, an immigrant from Poland, has just settled with his wife and started a family. In between stories of Sookie’s travails in Alabama, we learn about the Jurdabralinskis, their five children and their very successful Phillips 66 filling station.
When airplanes start using a landing strip behind the filling station, the Jurdabralinskis’ oldest daughter, Fritzi, learns to fly. Soon her brother and sisters do, too. But when World War II breaks out, Papa is getting old and there aren’t enough men to run the filling station. That’s when Fritzi and her sisters step in. Thus, the all-girl filling station.
Even that can’t last, what with gas rationing. Just when Fritzi is getting bored with factory work, she gets the opportunity to join the WASPs — Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Flagg weaves the story of the three Jurdabralinski sisters and their adventures in the WASPs in with the story of Sookie and her self-discovery. You’ll have to read the book to learn how they are related.
Like all of Flagg’s stories, this one has mainly female characters, but the men play important small roles. I especially liked the stories of the Polish community in Wisconsin and the pilots of the WASPs.
Flagg wraps everything together neatly for a happy ending with a funny twist. I highly recommend this book.
Also of interest
— Review: ‘Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!’ by Fannie Flagg
— Review: ‘I Still Dream About You’ by Fannie Flagg
— Browse the 400+ book reviews on Book Buzz
