Book Club - Group discussion questions for Fannie Flagg's 'Can't Wait To Get To Heaven'

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Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven
Questions for Discussion

When Aunt Elner falls out of her fig tree, she embarks
upon a journey she never could have anticipated.
Describe Elner’s surprising view of heaven. How does it
compare with your own idea of the afterlife, or the
conceptions held by various world cultures and religions?
On a personal note, what do you hope is waiting for you on
the other side of the pearly gates?

Elmwood Springs is a tightly knit community in which
everyone seems to know his neighbor’s business. For the
Warrens, what are some of the benefits of living in a small
town? On the other hand, what are some of the
drawbacks? How does your own hometown compare with
Elmood Springs? Would you ever wish to move into Elner’
s quirky neighborhood? Why or why not?

Describe Norma and Macky’s relationship, and how their
marriage grows throughout the course of the novel. What
bumps in the road have the Warrens endured? What
keeps their marriage strong?

On her ascent to heaven, Elner climbs a crystal staircase;
meanwhile, Ernest Koontz drives up to destiny in a brand
new Cadillac convertible with heated seats. Consider your
own wildest fantasy about heaven; how would you choose
to arrive in style?

Norma and Tot’s long-standing friendship is challenged by
Tot’s persistent negativity. Do you, like Aunt Elner,
naturally embrace a positive outlook on life? Or, like
Norma, do you strive, day by day, to “replace a negative
thought with a positive”? Or, like Tot, do you prefer to “tell it
like it is”? How does Norma choose to handle her
differences with Tot? And how do the two friends manage
to reconcile in the end?

For Elner, meeting her hero, Thomas Edison, is a dream
come true. Which figures from history would top your own
list of people you’d like to meet in heaven?

What message does Raymond impart to Elner about the
meaning of life, and how does this view compare with your
own beliefs?

If heaven allowed you to re-experience an episode, a
place, or a time from your past, like Aunt Elner’s trip fifty
years back in time to Neighbor Dorothy’s on First Avenue
North, what scene or event would you choose to revisit,
and why?

Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven is as much a mystery as a
comedy. Do you think Elner truly died and went to heaven?
What do members of Elner’s family believe? Next, just
what is the truth behind the strange golf shoe? And what
about Ida’s hidden family Bible? Finally, discuss the
mystery of Elner’s loaded gun; were you surprised at the
truth behind the mystery?

Reading Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven is like taking an
antidote to the almost constant stream of bad news that
surrounds us in our modern world. Tot voices something
we all feel: “I always try to put on a happy face, but it’s
getting harder and harder to keep up a good attitude…..
Nostradamus, CNN, all the papers, according to them, we
are on the brink of total annihilation at any second.” How
did this novel make you feel about the state of the world
today?

Elner touched the lives of many people in her community,
from the ambitious journalist Cathy Calvert, to the troubled,
misunderstood Luther Griggs, to the reformed lawyer
Winston Sprague. How does Elner relate to so many
different personalities? Describe Elner’s character and
attitude toward people, problems, and life. Do you know
anyone who shares Elner’s sensibility and talents for
reaching out to others?