Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: The search for the hidden inner mother
Review: I usually stay away from abridged books (which often leave out interesting details) as well as audio books read by the authors (which prove that professional readers exist for a reason). "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" is a marvelous exception to both rules. Author Rebecca Wells is an exceptional reader who brings life and warmth to the quirky characters she created. Guy that I am, I could still appreciate the mythic female element that wound its way through the book, from the Holy Lady of the first chapters to womb-like water towers to the jungle character at the end. And throughout, mother Vivi Walker and her band of Ya-Yas, human embodiment of all that is good, strong and also frail about women. Wells's characters are strong and elemental without being mere caricatures of Southern female weirdness -- a major problem with the movie made from this book. A feminine presence permeates the book, whose characters struggle together and alone to remain grounded in its nourishing embrace.

Ya-ya Sisterhood gave me a sense of what many women long for and seldom find in this world -- a strong, enfolding, mothering presence that affirms their femininity in all its guises, simultaneously sensuous and sacred. What a book!

Rating:
Summary: Gumbo Ya-Ya
Review: I have read both Divine Secrets and Little Alters. I must say, the characters in the first book are much darker. Vivi's sexual abuse and Sidda's scarring are greatly minimized.

The book Divine Secrets, however, is a true literary gem. The language has a distinct Louisiana flavor, and the characters are delightful. One does wish that the novel followed on the lives of the other Ya-Yas and their Petites.

Unlike Little Alters, which centers mainly around Vivi, Caro and Necie, Divine Secrets trades in Necie for Teensy as a more hefty character.

It seems that this book explains WHY Vivi is the way she is, and one almost wishes they had simply skipped Sidda entirely. Her viewpoint is wrong and boring. Why does the book get 5 outof 5 then? Why, because it is simply divine, Dahlin!

Yes, I am a real live Ya-Ya; the leading member of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, the Long Island Ya-Yas. I LOVE THIS BOOK! praises to wells, the book was truly tour de force! BOOS to the director of the film.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Thought Provoking
Review: This book was not written for me.

I did not grow up in a small county of Louisiana. I did not have a bad relationship with my mother. I do not have a sucessful career I have worked hard for all my life.

I grew up in Sounther California, and had a very close connection (almost too close, sometimes) with my mother, and I have moved from career to career in a haphazzard fashion.

This book, however, found it's way into my heart and managed to find those deeper places where I have many questions that have been unanswered. It touched the deeper parts of my friendship with those I have known since I was very young. It touched me the way it should touch all women who are struggling to make some sense out of their lives.

Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Niece remind me very much of the girls who I have grown up with, whom I still keep in contact with, and whom I have loved deep in my heart since I can even remember. I see each one of my three girlfriends in each character, making me relate in a very communal way that I have yet to discover in any other story. The Ya-Ya's adventures sometimes parallel with my own, and yet, somehow, still leave me with the feeling I should be more to my life-long friends.

Sidda is on a quest. A quest for answers that are there, but aren't. I think we are all on this quest in one form or another. To find out why things happened the way we did. But, some things, we simply cannot understand upon the surface, and it takes a deeper searching of the heart to comprehend.

It is hard to remember that even though we are affected by those around us, we cannot always blame them for the things they have done. Until we understand the impulses and situations the led up to the moments we remember, we will always be asking the eternal "Why?". The Divine Secrets takes us on a journey of almost three generations, to show the history of not just families, but of times we, as the younger generation, may not fully understand. A time of war, of the Great Depression and Prohibition. Times that those of us in our 30's may not be able to even comprehend. The stresses and the losses, the simple things to find pleasures and the way the times can break people. The mind-set of a country just starting to grow and become a more mature nation, and still making mistakes is reflected in the families of Vivi, Caro, Teensy and Niece.

We all have things that we must learn to forgive our parents for. We all carry wounds from the way we were raised. We all have a sense of love for our families and friends that transcends the boundaries of rational thinking. The Ya-Ya's are truly eternal reminders that we must hang on to those things, grow from them, learn from them, but most of all, keep them close and don't analyze them...Just love them for who and what they are.

I think I'm going to call my friends now...

Rating:
Summary: No - No!
Review: One of those super-"feminine" chick-lit. books that made me irritated - mostly at myself for not ceasing to read! (My policy, for better and for worse, is never to put down a book I have started). This story is so predictable, so cliche, so contrived...it basically cloakes itself in tiresome, ultra-hammy "I am Woman, hear me Roar" self-importance. I especially could not stomach Sidda's "insecurities" about whether or not to marry her hunky dream man - because would she really be able to love? And does she even know what Love is? Gag... Vivi, the leader of the Ya-Yas and Sidda's mother, is supposed to be some overly complex Woman with both allure, sensitivity, and disgusting habits and behavior, yet she is just a carricature that never seems real. Simply too overdone! Yet, I still read the whole book - it is a quick read - even though I knew how it would end half way through. Yawn...

Rating:
Summary: Divine Secrets full of magic
Review: This book is incredible. It deals with difficult subjects without turning people into stereotypes. It presents a colorful cast of characters that you just want to take home with you. It tackles subjects of abuse, and the reactions from it psychologically on both parties. It details loving relationships between people without turning to maudlin or sentimentality. And it's hilarious and heartbreaking in the same page sometimes.

It is magical.

"In the hot heart of Lousiana, the bayou world of Catholic saints and voodoo queens..." is the opening line to take you into this world.

It is truly beautiful.


SPOLIER WARNING:

I just have to say that some of the reviewers here seem to be missing the point. They characterize the explanation of Vivi's childhood as an 'excuse' for the abuse suffered by Sidda.

This is not what the book is trying to get across. At all.

The most important part of Sidda learning to move on from the abuse was learning that it was not Sidda's fault. No one made any apologies for Vivi, they told her what happened, and what caused her mother to break, and they told her this so she would stop thinking that there was something she did to cause this abuse.

This book DOES NOT promote abuse, or say that it's ok to beat your kids if you had a rough life. It faces up to the facts of the situation and does so without excusing anyone (save for the child abused, but that's fairly obvious).

Vivi was mentally ill when she 'dropped her basket' as she refers to it. This is not an excuse, but it's not what some reviewers are painting it to be 'I had a bad childhood, now I beat my kids' She was on high levels of (now known to be harmful) drugs, given to her by a doctor, and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The ridiculous and prejudiced misconceptions pertaining to mental illness are disgusting, and the fact that people discount the extreme level of mental illness Vivi was experiencing when the main incident of abuse happened is quite disturbing. Clearly the public at large is not educated properly in issues of mental illness and that needs to change. But don't take your ignorance out on this book.

Rating:
Summary: For mothers and daughters, or your circle of friends
Review: The ultimate in chick lit for everyone who's ever had a love-hate relationship with their mother, or belonged to a strong circle of friends, or just wish they did. Siddalee, in search of her mother's secrets, ends up finding herself along the way. Her mother Vivi confronts her own dark past and grows up along with her. One of my all-time faves.

Rating:
Summary: If you have not read it yet, get busy
Review:
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood has become a classic, a sprawling Southern novel of the lifelong friendships of 4 women, of the tensions between mothers and daughters, and of the survival, in spite of dark secrets from the past, of love.
Siddalee Walker says something unkind (but true) about her mother, Vivi, and this precipitates a gathering of the women who have been Vivi's friends since they were little girls together. Their purpose is to patch things up. Vivi was far from a perfect mother, but when the Ya-Yas (the girlfriends) bring a scrapbook chronicling 7 decades of friendship and family history, Sidalee begins to see the bigger picture.
There's a huge cast of characters (most of them females and all of them Southern), but author Rebecca Wells manages to make each come alive as distinct, individual, and wholly memorable.
A real tour de force. A laugh a minute with a requisite kernel of darkness at its core.