Standing In The Rainbow

Books are due at the library tomorrow, so before I take them back, my thoughts on the two as yet not mentioned of the four last checked out:
Fannie Flagg writes much like she speaks - she is funny. I have enjoyed reading her books including this one, Standing In The Rainbow.
The time is 1946 until the 1990's. The setting is small town Elmwood Springs, Missouri. The story is told by ten year old Bobby, son of radio personality, 'Neighbor Dorothy'. The after World War II scenes are so reminiscent of my own childhood. Neighbor Dorothy even visits KMA Radio and Evelyn Birkby, the radio homemaker my mom and grandma listened to.
Reading Flagg is like talking with a friend. If you liked Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (one of the few movies which I liked as much as the book), you will enjoy all of the Fannie Flagg books. Our library just got her latest, I Still Dream About You. It is on my reading list.

I've read almost all of Dorothea Benton Frank's novels. When her first one, Sullivans Island, came out in 2004, I read it and loved it. So, when I checked out Return to Sullivans Island, I expected another good read. Sadly, I was very disappointed. It just does not seem up to the standards of writing as her other books. It doesn't even do a good job of painting a picture of the place I've been wanting to see for myself since reading her first novel about the island off the coast of Charleston, SC.
The story line picks up with Susan's daughter, Beth, now out of college and returning to the family home, Island Gamble, to act as caretaker for a year. Beth resents being coerced into the job. Perhaps that is why I could not warm up to this seemingly portrayed immature, scatterbrained brat.

I've said it before about some other authors who start out good and are well received; it just seems like they say to themselves, "Time to churn out another book" (or perhaps it is their publisher or agent saying it?), so they write three hundred to four hundred pages and say "done". I kept waiting for this book to get better. It didn't. It will be interesting to me to see what Frank writes next. If it is "Return to Shem Creek" or "Return to Bulls Island", I'll probably skip reading it.