Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

 "I am a second-year Brownie. I got a first-aid badge that really comes in handy. One time after school, Jimmy Lee got hit by a car and was bleeding all over the place. I remembered what to do. I sat down and put my head between my knees to keep from fainting."

                              -Daisy Fay Harper, from the novel

After enjoying a couple of Fannie Flagg's novels recently, I wondered if I had missed any. It turns out that this one is her debut novel. Daisy Fay... would not be a favorite but it was SO entertaining! Every few pages had me chuckling, laughing out loud or, at the very least, smiling. 

The book reminds me of Bridget Jones's Diary with an 11-year-old Bridget. Daisy Fay Harper is a sassy little girl growing up in the 1950's South. She narrates her story by way of a diary through 7 years. Her stream of consciousness was believable for a kid of that age and I would know---I taught 11-year-olds many years! 

I would have been 6 years old, living in the South, in 1952 when Daisy Fay begins, so many references to the time were quite familiar to me---names of movies and movie stars, popular songs, Rainbow Girls, the polio threat and sadly, racism. She mentions the horror of a tonsillectomy and the ether that was used. I remember being traumatized by that ancient anesthesia. 

There is a part of the story where Daisy is questioned by the FBI about a woman found dead on the beach. This is a bit frightening for her and there is also some sadness with the breakup of her parents and her dad's alcoholism. But there are so many hilarious parts of the story: the "fish story," the "miracle" she fakes to help her father and, late in the story when she is to be married, the description of her first pelvic exam. Not much of a plot but it's worth reading just for the laughs!