Rating: 
Summary: Storytelling at it's best!
Review: Fannie Flagg weaves a wonderful story taking us along in her witty, clever way to a small town in a bygone time and introducing us to a cast of characters so rich and interesting that they seem life-like. It's a delightful journey with old fashioned charm.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I love how this book follows the lives of the characters through the 20th Century. I think their lives are so interesting, reading how things change with the "progress" of the century. A great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty awful
Review: I found that the characters personalities were all the same. It seemed that Fannie was looking back through rose colored cataracts. If this was her first novel, she would have had trouble getting it published. There are so many good books out there, this just isn't one of them
Rating: 
Summary: Small town tales.
Review: If you're in the mood for homesy-folksy stories of likeable people living quite ordinary lives, Standing in the Rainbow is for you. The small Missouri town of Elmwood Springs is one of those towns where everyone knows everyone else's business (and all the old skeletons in the closet) Neighbour Dorothy runs a daily radio program from her living room and does so for 38 years, and has lonely farm women from neighbouring states and counties tuning in each day with recipes and tips on household management. The other main characters in this tale are the Oatman family, a Southern Gospel group who travel around the country and who have a huge following. It's a likeable book..a feel-good book which can be picked up and put dowm at leisure without any brain strain.
Rating:
Summary: Just enjoy
Review: There aren't a lot of books that can be compared to this one, and only just a few authors who can draw characters as authentic and living-breathing-real as Fanny Flagg, but only a very few. I'm thinking of McMurtry in "Lonesome Dove" and McCammon in "Boy's Life." This book is authentic. It doesn't need gimics or overdrawn sex and violence to draw its readers into Elmwood Springs and lets them walk around and smell the air and hear the sounds see the sights of an era mostly now past. Best of all, though, is that she makes it easy for the reader to care about the characters. I wish I could read it for the first time all over again, but I'll have to settle for just reading it again once in a while to wander the town and the era and explore. It's a "relax and enjoy the ride" book. And while the plot is not complicated, it will make you turn the pages in anticipation. It is a wonderfully told story.
Rating:
Summary: Her Very Best!
Review: I have enjoyed reading all of Flagg's other novels, but this one has become my new favorite. As you read about all the characters from Elmwood Springs, you will become caught up in their lives. Sometimes after a chapter, I would look up and be surprised not to see Neighbor Dorothy doing her radio show out of her living room. Flagg does a wonderful job creating these charcters and it is one of those books that makes you sad when you finally read the last page. It was a true joy to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair... just fair
Review: I usually love Fannie Flagg's works with her rich characters and plot twists. But "Rainbow" was lagging a bit in both departments. Beginning in the 40's, the book spans over 40 years of life in small town Missouri... or does it? Flagg seems to get lost in an overabundance of characters and plot lines. I wanted to know more about Betty Rae's relationship with her husband's mistress, or how Doc and Dorothy's children really did in the world. I wanted more of life on the gospel road with the Oatman's, and more about Jimmy and the Blind Songbird.... but alas, all the characters got muddled toward the end, and it felt like Flagg was on a deadline to finish the manuscript and just tied some neat little bows on the plot without real resolution.The audio book was a great way to pass time on the road, but I felt very disappointed at the end... I wanted more and it just wasn't there!
Rating: 
Summary: Ficticious Version of Chiecken Soup for the Soul
Review: Not much storyline, plenty of colourful characters shrouded by a feel-good plasma, that's how I would describe this book. This is where nothing bad ever happens and even if it does, it leaves a sweet (not bitter) after-taste. This results in the flaw in this book, your emotions are never affected by the book to a large extent because it also leads you back to a feel-good environment. Fortunately, the colourful characters and the light-hearted writing style more than makes up for the flaw
Rating:
Summary: Did not like this one at all
Review: I've read all of Fannie Flagg's books & I did not like this one at all. In this book, the characters are good, and I enjoyed the connection to "Welcome to the World...". However, I was unable to develop enough of an interest in any of the characters to want to learn more about them or even care what happened to them. As I got closer to the end of the book, I found myself skimming the pages just to get it over with.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Ever read a book that just made you feel good? Where you became so attached to the main character that you wished she were part of your family? Such is the case with Dorothy, Fannie Flagg's protagonist in Standing in the Rainbow. Neighbor Dorothy has a daily radio broadcast from her living room, and very faithful listeners who tune in religiously to jot down recipes, buy the books she recommends, enjoy her regular guests as well as the new ones. A full cast of characters surrounds Dorothy, from her husband and children, to their friends, neighbors, and a few gospel singers. Flagg delves into the lives of each one of these interesting people throughout the novel. The pace of the writing is slow, which helps bring to life the small town of Elmwood Springs, Missouri of the forties. The novel spans the decades up to the nineties, bringing laughter, happiness, sadness, and a little bit of mystery to the reader. You won't want to miss a word!
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