Rating: 
Summary: Divine Book
Review: This book will have you laughing and crying as you follow the relationships of Sidda & her mother and the Ya-Ya's. It serves as a reminder that true friends are always there - through the ups and downs of life - and that true friendships cannot be defeated.
Rating:
Summary: Cajun Spice
Review: Although the sisterhood of the Ya-Ya's plays a large part in this tale, the book is mostly about Siddalee and her relationship with her divine mother Vivi. Vivi's eccentricity coupled with a nervous breakdown during Siddalee's childhood has stretched their relationship to the breaking point, and caused Siddalee to question her ability to have a relationship with anyone - including her fiancee.Siddalee decides to escape, breaks her engagement, bids farewell to her stunned partner, and heads off into the wilds to contemplate the scrapbook of photos, letters, and memories called "The Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood". The book interweaves Siddalee's imaginings about items from the books with flashbacks to the childhood of her mother and her great friends - their exploits, adventures, and great sorrows. Through it all, you come to see these very great friends as nothing less than a sisterhood. They form a bond that resonates through their childhood into their adult lives and, with the help of the book and the sisterhood, Siddalee comes to recognize her mother for who she is and herself for who she is. This book is warm, believable, sorrowful, and joyous. I enjoyed every minute of it. The audio version, by the way, is also very well read and I highly recommend it for those who prefer to listen than read.
Rating: 
Summary: Loved, loved, loved it!
Review: This is one of the best things I've come across in a long time. Most books that are recommended to me are disappointments, but this one, along with two others I recently read ("Bark of the Dogwood" and "Birth of Venus") are top of the list. All three are excellent, but "Divine Secrets" is my all-time favorite. P.S. I did NOT like the movie, but LOVED the book!
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: I read "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" after watching the film on tv one evening. I was immediately drawn into the characters' lives while watching the film, so I figured the same would happen if I read the book the film was based on. Boy, was I right! This book pulled me in so hard that it was difficult to put the book down. "Divine Secrets..." is about the strained relationship between a mother, Vivi, and daughter, Sidda. Sidda is interviewed by the New York Times regarding a play she was directing. In the interview, she spoke about her rocky relationship with her mother and how she grew up. The New York Times made Vivi out to be a child abuser, and thus caused a huge rift between the two women. Wanting to find some sort of inspiration for her next play, Sidda asks her mother for a scrapbook her mother has kept over the years called the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. While reading through the scrapbook, Sidda learns so much about her mother and her best friends, the Ya-Yas, and their lives together growing up in Thorton, Louisiana. I feel that this is a great book because it not only tells a powerful and sometimes turbulent tale about the bond between mother and daughter and the bond between friends. The book goes into much more detail than the movie does (which is always the case), so you learn a lot more about the characters and what makes them tick. I would highly recommend this book to anyone! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Like It, But Little Altars I Loved
Review: This story will make much more sense if you read Little Altars Everywhere first. That being said, this is the story that reveals the uglier side of the two books. Definitely heart-wrenching at times, it's life at both its worst and best. The characters are delightful and entertaining. Overall, this is worth the time to read.
Rating:
Summary: Mother Daughter Relationships ...Dilemmas and Love!
Review: The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a great book about a mother and daughter who fight over everything. Vivi, the mother, and her girlfriends, the Ya-Ya's, do everything together and they have all their lives. But the Ya-Ya's had many problems growing up and raising their children. Sidda is Vivi's daughter, they love each other
very much, but they fight over little things and some very big things.
Throughout the book you learn about Vivi's life and her view on things and about Sidda's life and her view of things through flashbacks and them telling about things that go on. Sidda tells of the problems her mother had raising the children and of her mother's drinking and chain smoking problems. Also how Vivi was in and out of her life. She tells of the times her mother would beat her and her siblings. Vivi also tells her side of the story.
I really enjoyed this book. It was better then the movie that has been made for the it. The book goes much more into detail about the characters lives and problems. The Divine Secrets (...) also goes into more detail about what is going on.
The only problem I had with The Divine Secrets (...) was that Vivi and the other three Ya-Ya's use strong language...a lot! Also that Vivi and Sidda would talk every other chapter. For example; the first chapter Sidda talks and the second chapter Vivi talks...and that's how the story is told. That was the only confusing thing to me.
I would recommend this book to older readers because of the strong language.
But this is a great book about love, betrayal, and memories. And I enjoyed it greatly.
Happy Reading!
Rating: 
Summary: I just really didn't like it
Review: I just couldn't make a connection with this book. While I liked Vivi and the other Ya-Yas, I really did not like Siddalee at all. She just seemed so whiney and annoying to me. I didn't really care what happened to her, and I thought her boyfriend would be better off without her and her stupid little problems. The really sad thing is that I automatically don't want to read a book when a reviewer compares it to this book. I'm probably missing out on some good reads.
Rating:
Summary: One of a kind
Review: Wonderful! I just loved this book! There are so many good southern books out there that must be read, and this one has moved up to the top of my list. My Southern reading list: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Gone With the Wind
Bark of the Dogwood
Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Fried Green Tomatoes Enjoy!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Ideal Novel
Review: Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood is the ideal novel for so many reasons. For one thing it is not saying that it is okay to beat your kids it is telling the reader that it really happened, that mothers really did beat their kids and no one really cared. Another thing I love hearing about the 1930's because I did not live through that and it is better to hear a story about the thirties than just have people telling you that the thirties were awful and were a time when no one cared about anyone. This is a story about Sidda who grew up in the south, at the beginning we learn that Sidda gave an interview to the Times and accidently told them that she was abused. Now her mother is not talking to her. But when Sidda needds ideas for a play that she is directing she needs her mother's help. She writes to her mother and the Ya-Yas asking for help with the play. In return they send her the Divine Secrets, which is a scrapbook that tells about all their adventures. Throughout the book you are going back and forth between modern day and the thirties, fourties, fifties, and sixties. You hear about tragedies, romances, friendships, and adventures throughout the cycle of life. I would recommend this book to everyone over the age of 13 because their are some drug, sexual, and abuse related content that not all children will understand. I hope that this review has been helpful to you.
Rating:
Summary: Warm and wonderful
Review: I just loved this book. It was a little hard for me to get into, but thanks to the recommendations made by friends and Wells' great characters, I stuck with it and was pulled right in after a few chapters. You don't have to be from the south to appreciate this book--it's filled with people and situations that are a part of life anywhere, but what makes it so coloful in this case, is the settings. Great premise and execution, this is one not to be missed. Also recommended: American Pie, Bark of the Dogwood, Skipping Christmas
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