Rating: 
Summary: climb on the beast and ride it
Review: The best book I've read in a long time! Most of us wish our lives would follow the tidy threads of a good story, but her's a great story that tumbles through the messiness of life. Any woman who can't relate to Vivi just a bit is kidding herself. Those of us who haven't "dropped our basket" (had a breakdown) yet, have at least been close, or wished we could check in for a little 6 week vacation. Here's to life! messy, crazy, heartbreaking, joyful, and frankly, I'd love to taste Vivi's crawfish etoufee.
Rating: 
Summary: not great, but not bad either
Review: The Ya-Ya's are a semi-interesting lot. Ironically, the lead characters in the book, Vivi and her daughter, Sidda, are the least interesting of the whole bunch. I would have liked to have gotten to know any of the other Ya-Yas better. Ok, it passed the time on the plane but not the most memorable book either.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable Characters
Review: Weeks after reading this book, I found myself thinking about the characters as though they were real people. Her writing style is beautifully three-dimensional, as frank in some places as it is lyrical in others. She did not shy away from her characters. This story was more blunt and less syrupy than some other books I've read about the bonds between female friends and mothers and daughters. I did not always like what her characters did, but they were always believable and they always got a reaction from me. She does not show her characters in a rose colored light but instead shows the importance of loving our friends and family for who they are.
Rating:
Summary: Is this the same Vivi?
Review: The Vivi portrayed in The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood doesn't resemble the Vivi portrayed in Rebecca Wells' first book, "Little Altars Everywhere". Although both Vivi's are lively, boisterous and drunken southern belles, the Vivi in this rendition comes off as being more fragile and vulnerable. In the first novel, Vivi is seen through the eyes of her children and is portrayed as a child molester, a drunk, a flippant capricious mother, indulgant and irresponsible. Her children are fearsome of her. Here, Vivi is portrayed via old letters that have been stowed away in the "Divine Secrets" scrapbook. Via the Divine Secrets, we try to get a better grasp of this Vivi and what molded her. But, the picture isn't very clear--it even gets fuzzier. The picture never becomes clear even to Vivi's daughter, Siddale, even after rummaginig through all the articles of the scrapbook. After reading the first novel, it is difficult to foster sympathy for Vivi in this second novel. The second novel tries to grant Vivi redeeming qualities, but I found it very disturbing.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Dahlins, Just Fabulous
Review: I live on the Olympic Peninsula and spent 4 sweltering years in Louisiana so this book started talking to me right away. The relationships were rich and characters well developed. Vivi, Teensy, Caro and Necie are friends (ya-yas) so tight that they will always see to another ya-yas needs the way only a true friend can. They grow together, not just through the years but with each other despite less than perfect situations. I thoroghly enjoyed this book, cover to cover, and hope someday to have a sisterhood of ya-yas of my own. It would only make life sweeter.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok, so it isn't great literature, it's a helluva lot of fun!
Review: I was hesitant to start this book (fearful of another southern-belle-"steel magnolias" type of story) but am now so glad a friend urged me to read it. This is a delightful story opens as a young woman (Sidda) has managed to offend her mother with something she reveals in a New York Times interview. In her attempts at both rapprochement and to help her write her newest play, she asks her mother for an old scrap-book containing, "the divine secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood". Her mother is hesitant (and funny!) but she relents. We learn all about the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, made up of four very close childhood friends who have now lived into their sixties. Their stories and their lives are a wonderful collection of fall-down funny, poignant, sometimes angry, and uplifting episodes. Mostly, though, it is the story of Vivi, Sidda's mother.... a bright, funny, engaging woman who had some hard times, and managed the best she could.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and well-written, but is it a great book?
Review: Given all the hype surrounding the Divine Secrets, I must say that I expected a lot from it, despite my reluctance to join the fray (someone once told me it was 'not my kind of book,' which, having read it, makes absolutely no sense to me). What I did find was a wonderfully written book, with great characters and stories and descriptions and so on. What I did not find was the great, hysterically funny tear-jerker I had heard about.Yes, the Divine Secrets is both sad and amusing, but I didn't find it to be either to any extreme. And I think the reason for this is that, at some point, the characters and story began to seem less organic and more contrived. The early freedoms of the Ya-Ya's, described so beautifully and exactly, gave way to what felt a little more forced, a little less free flowing. Which is perhaps the reason why I was not as touched by the book as many have been. On the other hand, and this is a big hand!, the Divine Secrets is a really unique book, providing a glimpse into an enduring friendship between unique women in a unique place at a unique time. Somehow - and this reveals Wells' truly great story-telling ability - the Ya Yas don't all blend together in one blur and remain individual characters despite all the similarities between them and their adult lives. And the descriptions of the hot Louisiana summer! And the bayou, and Atlanta and on and on and on. I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining book, one that I recommend highly and enthusiastically to anyone interested in a peek into a very unique life. I think if I had expected less than I would have been more fully satisified, which just may be something to keep in mind when starting this delightful book.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasure In Reading
Review: This was a book about the possibilities between mother and daughter. Who knows if Rbecca Wells really went through that, but it wasa good solid story. It wasn't anything that would mkaw you have some severe turn around in life, but it proves that love can conquer all. It wasa cute story about a group of women who were such good friends they made up a "sisterhood" i can relate to this story because I have many friends I consider to be family. We are all just that close. So I could relate to this book, maybe that is why I liked it so much. I liked it, others may not.
Rating:
Summary: Delicate Flowers of Southern Womanhood Exposed
Review: This book was heartrending and upliftling for me. As a 42 year old white woman who was raised in a small southern town, this book spoke to my childhood as no other volume has ever done. My Mama and her friends *were* the Ya-yas... Minus some excessive melodrama. <g> For any woman of the "old" south, I consider this essential reading. I even forced my Mama to read it. :) All I can say to Rebecca Wells is, "Please! Write more! Write soon!" I'm waiting for a sequel. <sounds of impatient ladylike size 6 foot tapping> Thank you, Rebecca, for speaking of *my* life. I've never seen my personal experience expressed in such an accurate way. Laura
Rating:
Summary: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Review: I found this book to be very boring. I did not care for the characters and felt the stories within the story to be extremely long-winded & unrealistic. A big dissapointment.
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