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    Can't Wait to Get to Heaven: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Can't Wait to Get to Heaven: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Can't Wait to Get to Heaven: A Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    Can't Wait to Get to Heaven: A Novel

    Written by Fannie Flagg

    Narrated by Fannie Flagg

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Combining southern warmth with unabashed emotion and side-splitting hilarity, Fannie Flagg takes readers back to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, where the most unlikely and surprising experiences of a high-spirited octogenarian inspire a town to ponder the age-old question: Why are we here?

    Life is the strangest thing. One minute, Mrs. Elner Shimfissle is up in her tree, picking figs, and the next thing she knows, she is off on an adventure she never dreamed of, running into people she never in a million years expected to meet. Meanwhile, back home, Elner's nervous, high-strung niece Norma faints and winds up in bed with a cold rag on her head; Elner's neighbor Verbena rushes immediately to the Bible; her truck driver friend, Luther Griggs, runs his eighteen-wheeler into a ditch-and the entire town is thrown for a loop and left wondering, "What is life all about, anyway?" Except for Tot Whooten, who owns Tot's Tell It Like It Is Beauty Shop. Her main concern is that the end of the world might come before she can collect her social security.

    In this comedy-mystery, those near and dear to Elner discover something wonderful: Heaven is actually right here, right now, with people you love, neighbors you help, friendships you keep. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven is proof once more that Fannie Flagg "was put on this earth to write" (Southern Living), spinning tales as sweet and refreshing as iced tea on a summer day, with a little extra kick thrown in.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 4, 2006
    ISBN9780739304112
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Can't Wait to Get to Heaven

    4/5

    525 ratings47 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This was a very entertaining, funny, and well written book. It begins with Elner, the main character climbing a ladder to pick some figs to make preserves. Unfortunately, she runs into a wasp's nest and falls from said ladder. At the hospital she dies, however her near-death experience involves getting to Heaven in an elevator, no pearly gates, and God taking form of Neighbor Dorothy and her husband Raymond with whom she chats while Neighbor Dorothy's Heavenly Caramel Cake is finishing baking. After a slice of cake they tell her she has to return to her life where her body is down in the hospital morgue surrounded by her family. Needless to say they're freaked out when she says, "I know you're mad at me, Norma, but I wouldn't have fallen if those wasps hadn't gone after me."In the meantime news of her death has spread throughout the town of Elmwood Springs, her obituary has been written, and her death has been announced on the radio. Her neighbor Ruby, has helped tidy up Elner's house, including washing the dirty laundry and at the bottom of the dirty-clothes basket she finds a gun and takes it from the house so Norma won't be upset by it. The gun and why she has it is a secret Elner has kept all her life. Then Elner comes back to life after being dead for five hours and how this affects everyone at the hospital, Elmwood Springs, and her family is the rest of the story
    • 4/5
      Nice recreational reading
    • 5/5
      It seems Flagg wanted to revisit the idyllic town of Elmwood Springs, and I'm so glad she did. The character of Aunt Elner is so wonderful and wise, each one of us should take a page from her book. She doesn't know what she means to the people around her, which makes her all the more endearing. This is nearly a comedy of errors but with a lovely, heartwarming thread running throughout. Very much enjoyed.
    • 4/5
      A read that does the soul and the body good...complete with recipes at the end!!!!!
    • 5/5
      I just loved the sound of this book, and it came highly recommended, by Janet Evanovich among others. I read it and loved it. It is quite similar in theme to a memoir I read some time ago, Does This Church Make Me Look Fat? - about Ellen, raised in a Christian home, who is Christian and yet resists a lot of the cultural and family baggage that goes with that; her husband divorces her because she can't have children - and he's already found a replacement. She returns home where there are a lot of unresolved issues and new problems between her parents (financial), her sister (emotionally wounded from having to have a baby and put it up for adoption), and her brother (gay). There's a new guy, a really good guy, too-good-to-be-true guy, who has a major secret. And there are a lot of work complications, since her new boss is the husband of her old high school nemesis. I found a great deal in this book rang true to life and my own observations and experiences, so that might be one reason I liked it so much.
    • 4/5
      While I am sure there are some that would find this disturbing with God having various "nameplates" and looking like a good friend of yours, I LOVED this vision of what heaven may indeed be like. The various people's response to this sweet old lady dieing is exactly the way many of us want to be remembered....including the worry about dieing in that old tattered robe.
    • 4/5
      A light, quite humorous book with an array of characters. Funny, funny. Cleverly told with even a good twist near the end and a recipe on the CD. I quite enjoyed this upbeat story. It's about an elderly woman who dies and all the commotion surrounding that, only to find out hours later she isn't dead and is doing fine. That causes even more, varied commotion, and the brief visit to heaven was great fun. The details in the book are funny, too.
    • 4/5
      This was a lot of fun. I love how she tells a story. Her characters are all friends of mine by the time a book is through.

      You don't have to have read her other books to enjoy this one, but a couple of them get a nod ad you may wonder if you've missed an in-joke.

      You won't have. Everything you need for this story is right here.
    • 3/5
      Elner Shimfissle falls from a tree while pickig figs and dies...or does she?A simple tale, with gentle humor and a down-home feeling. The sophisticated would find this book childish and silly. I thought it charming, if a bit lightweight. Flagg is always amusing and in this book, she's dead-on in her portraits of small-town folks. A very pleasant read with a simple lesson: seize the day.
    • 4/5
      4.5
      When you've had enough of murder and mayhem... read Fanny Flagg. She never disappoints for a down-home, quirky story that makes you smile and laugh. Elner Shimfissle, I'll remember what you said!
    • 4/5
      Fannie Flagg spins a story that just feels good, so you find yourself smiling throughout the read. Enjoyable story with memorable characters.
    • 4/5
      excellent--women dies and half of book describes her life and was she dreaming or did she go to heaven (the latter). other half of book about life of neighbors of woman and town --relationship to god and life explored. lots of humor.
    • 3/5
      funny, touching, totally different kind of story. I really never knew what might happen next.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book.I laughed my way through tis book. It shows us how living in a small town can be. The biggest mystery of this book was why Elner had a loaded pistol in her laundry basket-the reason will surprise you.
    • 3/5
      A light read with lots of humor. This story about small-town America is very funny, with plenty of quirky characters and goings on. When the well-loved Elner Shimfissle, a feisty old lady with lots of personality, dies after a freak accident, she goes directly to heaven because she lived by the golden rule, treating others the way she wanted to be treated. Once there, she meets up with her dead sister who explains that everyone is ushered into Heaven by someone special to them and the experience is tailor-made for each individual. (This reminds me of The Lovely Bones, where everyone has his or her own version of heaven.) Elner then meets God: his name is Raymond, he’s married to Dorothy, smokes a pipe, is God to all religions and faiths, and has a tendency to make mistakes and misjudgments. Very heretical for true believers who I’m sure went nuts because the after life was depicted as pleasant and not all hell and damnation! Although the plot is silly, Flagg manages to cover some serious social issues, such as racism, terrorism, and religion. Ultimately, it has a nice message: carpe diem and do good and maybe you’ll have a positive impact on someone along the way.
    • 3/5
      Audio book read by Cassandra Campbell

      From the dust jacket: Life is the strangest thing. One minute, Mrs Elner Shimfissle is up in her tree, picking figs, and the next thing she knows she is off on an adventure she never dreamed of, running into people she never in a million years expected to meet. Meanwhile, back home, Elner’s nervous, high-strung niece Norma faints and winds up in bed with a cold rag on her head; Elner’s neighbor Verbena rushes immediately to the Bible; her truck driver friend, Luther Griggs, whom Elner has known since he was a boy, runs his eighteen-wheeler into a ditch – and the entire town is thrown for a loop and left wondering, “What is life all about anyway?” Except for Tot Whooten, who owns Tot’s Tell it Like It IS beauty shop. Her main concern is that the end of the world might come before she can collect her social security.

      This is a sweet, gentle tale of one woman’s influence on her community, that reminds us all to consider the cycle of life and how we fit into it. Flagg populates Elmwood Springs with colorful characters who, for all their eccentricity, are completely recognizable. We have a matriarch who touches everyone with her genuine kindness, straightforward advice, and simple life lessons. There are the local busybodies with hearts of gold who rally around to help anyone mired in one of life’s tragedies. And no community would be complete without the juvenile delinquent headed for a life of crime but for the kind person who sets him straight and gives him a reason to stay on the right path.

      Is this an unrealistic community? Maybe, but I still recognize the parable. Flagg reminds me that the things I most cherish have nothing to do with material goods, and much to do with relationships I’ve developed over the years. It’s not great literature. It’s not even Flagg’s best work. But I did enjoy the time I spent with Elner and the residents of Elmwood Springs.

      Cassandra Campbell does a good job on the audio; I particularly liked how she voiced some of the excitable characters like Norma and Tot.
    • 3/5
      Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg
      384 pages

      ★★★ ½

      Amazon Description: Life is the strangest thing. One minute, Mrs. Elner Shimfissle is up in her tree, picking figs, and the next thing she knows, she is off on an adventure she never dreamed of, running into people she never in a million years expected to meet. Meanwhile, back home, Elner’s nervous, high-strung niece Norma faints and winds up in bed with a cold rag on her head; Elner’s neighbor Verbena rushes immediately to the Bible; her truck driver friend, Luther Griggs, runs his eighteen-wheeler into a ditch–and the entire town is thrown for a loop and left wondering, “What is life all about, anyway?” Except for Tot Whooten, who owns Tot’s Tell It Like It Is Beauty Shop. Her main concern is that the end of the world might come before she can collect her social security.

      This is the first time that I have read Fannie Flagg and I have to say that I enjoyed her writing. This story is sweet and comforting. The message in this book being that one person can make a difference in many lives and also, enjoy every moment of your life. Many people mentioned that they found this book funny, personally I did not which was sort of a bummer because I was expecting more of a laugh. I didn’t find anything awe-inspiring within its pages but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this simple, delightful book. The characters are likable, if a little unrealistic. It was a feel-good story that kept me reading and it was something I needed at this point. I look forward to reading further books by this author.
    • 4/5
      Octogenarian Elner Shimfissle is the glue that holds the tiny Missouri town of Elmwood Springs together. Of course, she doesn’t know that – and neither do the townspeople – until she falls out of her fig tree and winds up suspended between life and death in a Kansas City hospital. Some of my favorite books and movies (Defending Your Life and Golfing with God come immediately to mind) center around the author’s concept of heaven. And what a heaven Fannie Flagg has conjured up! This is the type of book for which it’s best not to give too much away – so I won’t. It’s a light-hearted romp that offers a visit to a place where most people are good-hearted (and those who aren’t can change) and readers know from page one that everything will work out just fine.
    • 5/5
      Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Flannie Flagg was an amazing book about how one women's life can affect an entire community and help so many people! Elner Shimfissle is a very crazy and outgoing old women who brings light to almost every page of the book. her personality is so vibrant that you cant help but laugh along with her and the other characters on her adventure to Heaven and back.
    • 5/5
      This is a great feel-good read. It tells the story of Elmer Shimfissle who lives in a small town in Missouri. The whole feel of the writing is very warm and sweet-natured. This is not the kind of thing I usually read but I found it really heart-warming. There are some really well-drawn characters and a lovely message.
    • 4/5
      As much as I love Fannie Flagg, I never felt that she quite "got there" with this novel. As she did with "Standing in the Rainbow", Fannie brings us back to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, and the hilarious hijinks of Aunt Elner Shimfissle. Although I wasn't overly thrilled with the book, I did enjoy the time I spent reading it.
    • 5/5
      I always love Fannie Flagg's books, I've worked my way slowly and enjoyably through them all, and this one lived up to all my expectations. I liked the characters, the odd twist on an old theme and just the whole feel of the story. I could have kept on reading, and reading. The characters came alive for me and I'm now sorry to not be getting my daily 'fix' from them.
    • 5/5
      Once again the author takes us back to Elmwood Springs, MO to tell a poignant story with a little magical realism and a whole lot of heart. Elner Shimfissle is a terrific character.
    • 5/5
      Sweetly entertaining account of the end of life adventures of Elner Shimfissle. Flagg establishes once again that she can successfully mine all life experience for a chuckle.
    • 3/5
      Charming, humorous story (as Fannie Flagg always is) about life.
    • 3/5
      Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven is feel good Southern American fiction. It’s about an elderly woman who falls off her ladder while picking figs and has an afterlife adventure while all her friends and family adjust to her sudden and unexpected death, and even more unexpected recovery. It’s funny, sweet, and entertaining. A good read for people who want to reminisce about their own loved ones who’ve passed away, as well as people who just enjoy some good fluffy reading, with good moral and family values.
    • 4/5
      Fannie Flagg is one of my favorite "feel good" authors. Her characters are always so down-to-earth funny and often remind me of my relatives on my mother’s side of the family (the non-Italians). Here we have the elderly auntie Elner, whose age is undetermined because her sister destroyed the family bible and no one knows exactly when she was born. Suffice it to say, Elner is old. She is also fond of making fig jam, and climbing ladders to pick the fresh figs, thus ignoring any advise from her niece Norma about behaving herself as proper ladies should. Norma isn't so much worried that Aunt Elner will hurt herself as she is about what the neighbors will think. So of course Elner falls from the tree after being stung by wasps and goes to heaven where she meets one of her heroines--“Neighbor Dorothy” of the famous Midwest radio show of the mid 1900s. Elner also meets God (aka Raymond), visits with Thomas Edison, and then, much to her regret, gets sent back to earth to tell people to enjoy life and stop worrying so much.Needless to say, no one believes her, and the interactions and reactions of the townspeople when they find out that Elner isn’t dead after all are priceless. The scene where Elner sits up in the emergency room after five hours of 'flat line' is worth the price of the whole book! This is a laugh-out-loud funny book with enough message to get it past the fluff stage. A definite curl up for an afternoon and enjoy the hot chocolate book. Alternately, if you're into audio, this is another great one to keep you going while you're exercising.
    • 4/5
      Flagg revisits familiar characters from Standing in the Rainbow and Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! bringing us up to the present. As usual, it's a fun and breezy read jumping between a dozen characters in short chapters. She presents a loving portrait of a community responding to a threat to a beloved member. Just underneath the surface is the philosophy "live each day as if it were your last." Each of the characters learns this lesson and takes it for their own. This is not a deep book, but Flagg does her thing very very well.This is a fun read. I highly recommend it.
    • 4/5
      You know Fannie Flagg. Nobody reads Fannie Flagg and lives in the South without saying, “I know that guy. I know that lady.” Wacky Southern characters with a powerful love for life. I’m happy I read this book before I mailed it off.
    • 4/5
      Slight spoiler alert for book summary!This is the story of how Elner falls out of a tree and dies--and then of how it ends up that she didn't actually die afterall, and of all the many ripples through the fabric of her community that Elner's life and not-quite-death made. The many characters of the town and other farther out places are touched by Elner's positive and loving personality, and her presence and actions make a lot of differences for the good in their lives. This was a very enjoyable read, once you realize that Elner isn't dead from the first page of the book, though it takes a while to get back to that point. The true pleasures in the story are all of the connections that Elner's life has brought through the town, and how all these different characters, family members, neighbors, and others are intermingled in the fabric of life, and how Elner is used as the literary focus to show how one person can positively affect so many others, just by being herself, and by always trying to do her best.