Rating: 
Summary: VERY UPSETTING!!!
Review: I read "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" first. Therefore, "Little Altars Everywhere" was tremendously depressing and heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking not so much for the story itself, but because it "Vivi" was a monster. I loved Vivi. Yes, she had troubles. Yes, she wasn't the nicest of people, and certainly she wasn't the best mother, but she had heart and pain and love. "Little Altars Everywhere" destroyed the love each reader has for "Vivi" despite her difficulties. I don't recommend that anyone read this novel, not after having read "Divine Secrets..."
Rating: 
Summary: An Enthralling First Novel
Review: "Little Altars Everywhere" is an enthralling first novel by Rebecca Wells. I read it cover to cover in one day and enjoyed it. I can understand why many of those who have written reviews here before me are upset over Vivi's character as portrayed in "Little Altars," but that is no reason to not like the book. Perhaps Vivi's wickedness makes her the more realistic as Wells shows what a life of heavy drinking can do to a person. I did not find the switching of narrators confusing from chapter to chapter. It was interesting to read their points of view. Wells does a fine job of giving them separate "voices." As I grew up in the 60's, raised Catholic, I could identify with the references to the absurdities of "Holy Mother Church" and how it planted bad mind trips on both Vivi and Siddie. I also enjoyed learning about southern farming and how it changed in just a few years, and could see why so many farmers, everywhere, had very little choice but to sell out and allow the Wal-Marts, Taco Bells, etc. to buy up their land and ruin the beauty of the country. Wells also gives us a good idea of what it was like to be on the draft board (through the eyes of Big Shep) and what a terrible waste the Viet Nam war was.There is a lot packed into this short novel. It is well written and easily read. Vivi and Big Shep stay together and toward the end they make comment on how quickly life passes by. This is one of this book's themes: life is short.
Rating: 
Summary: Really Moving, I LOVED IT!!!!!!
Review: I just finished Little Altars and I feel very sad that it had to end. I couldn't put the book down but at the same time I found myself reading very slowly as to savor every word. I read YaYa's first and I'm glad I did because this book is a continuationINTO the lives of the Walker's.I think we all can relate to their family along with all their dysfunction since our families share some also. It is a book of revelations for Siddalee where she can accept her family for all of the good and bad and realize that it made her the person she is.We as adults can only hope to do the same. Although in Part 2 Vivi goes too far. I lost my empathetic feelings towards her since there are somethings that are unforgiveable! I hope Ms. Wells writes again I really Like her style!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Read Little Altars Everywhere BEFORE The Ya-Ya Sisterhood!!
Review: Little Altars Everywhere is one of those books you feel enter your person as soon as you glimpse the first paragraph, and you don't want to put it down for fear of losing something of yourself when you do. It sensitively explores both male and female perspectives, on childhood as well as adulthood. It provides the backbone, and background, for Wells's Ya-Ya Sisterhood; it comes FIRST chronologically, and to appreciate it fully you want to read it before you read the Ya-Yas. If you haven't read either book yet, both are 100%, heartfelt recommendations, but read Little Altars first, and you're bound to devour The Ya-Ya Sisterhood too, to continue your connection to all of these wonderfully crazy ladies.
Rating: 
Summary: A sober story of a dysfunctional family
Review: I read the Divine Secrets first and throughly enjoyed it. Then I read Little Altars and was shocked to see how truly dysfunctional this family was. Vivi in Divine Secrets, while addicted to pills and drink, was at least a somewhat sympathetic character. She was totally hideous and unlikeable in Little Altars. I would be interested in knowing if the author plans on writing a third volume on the Walker family.
Rating: 
Summary: Little Altars a let down after Ya-Ya
Review: I read Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood first and loved it. Little Altars was a let down. It was depressing but I kept reading to get to "the fun part". I never found it. Read "Divine Secrets" and enjoy the memory without botching it up with "Little Altars".
Rating:
Summary: All encompassing - I laughed, I cried!
Review: Little Altars Everywhere is tender, passionate and extremely real! It is true southern humor with a universal appeal. I saw many of my family and friends is Siddalee's world!
Rating:
Summary: Soul Scraping Story
Review: Just finished LAE. At first, it read like a series of heartwarming stories about a nice childhood w/ some sauced parents. Suddenly, it all takes a very dark turn and this was a difficult transition. It became very depressing and dark. I enjoyed the writers wordsmithing. She is somewhat poetic. I will read DSOYYS because I hope to read that something good happens to these poor souls. Wells certainly managed to extract emotions from my gut (some that I would rather keep tucked away).
Rating:
Summary: Absorbing dysfunctional family short stories.
Review: I was amazed with each child and their memories of the family growing up in the South. Each one had something that drew me to them and made me care about them. Vivi was a woman driven, driven to be the best but became the worst. Something or someone haunts her and she never becomes capable of dealing with it. She is strange and perverse yet somewhat very likeable at times. I recommend the book as a good read but be prepared that things are not always as they seem--just like normal life. One never knows what goes on behind closed doors or in the minds of others. I look forward to more ya-ya books. Let the story continue--pleeeease.
Rating:
Summary: Rebecca Wells was not subtle enough with her setting names.
Review: My sister-in-law gave me this book, and I immediately began trying to identify the people and places of my hometown in Louisiana. Since I grew up in about the same time period as the setting of the novel, it wasn't difficult to begin identifying the characters. Ms. Wells should be very careful about revealing present day "real life" characters.
| 
