Rating: 
Summary: And they are divine
Review: First of all I did not like the movie. So don't let that deter you. This is a wonderful book full of life and poetry with passages that beg to be re-read. I read this book based on a recommendation and I wasn't sure whether I'd even finish it. It's one of my favorites now.Siddha Abbott is having some problems. She has postponed her wedding and is on the outs with her mother thanks to an interview in the New York Times where she divulges (thinking it's not for publication) that her Mother was not the best parent. And in fact she wasn't between the boozing and the pills and her just not really wanting to be married or a parent most of the time. Siddha's mother, Vivi, sends her the scrapbook she created to document the times of her and her 3 lifelong friends, the Ya-Ya's. Ostensibly this is because Siddha asked for information from her on female friendships but really this is Vivi's attempt to explain why she is the way she is to her estranged daughter in the only way she can. Over the course of the book, Siddha and Viva, in Washington and Louisiana respectively, will delve into the past and try to come to terms with it. Parts of the story are funny, like the Ya-Ya's attending the Gone with the Wind premiere (a sequence like so many others that the film failed to do justice to.) Some parts are touching and some are really disturbing-the abuse endured by Vivi and later Siddha is not dwellt on extensively but it's intense. The Ya-Ya's, who care for them both, help Siddha fill in some blanks about Vivi's disappearances and one alcohol fueled rage that literally left scars. The themes of forgiveness and redemption and finally taking joy in the moment run throughout. And the writing! Wells is in no hurry with her narrative but has such a gift for description that you could read all day happily about the Ya-Ya's sitting on that porch ("This is where they lay for hours, contemplating their navels, sweating, dozing, swatting flies, trading secrets there on the porch in a hot, humid girl soup.") If you thought the movie was too maudlin or manufactured (it was), this book strikes a perfect note. It's funny, sad and sweet in just the right balance. And the end-I won't give it away but I just wanted to step into the pages and experience it with the characters who were like family at that point. There is so much that is worthwhile in this book it's not just for mothers and daughters.
Rating: 
Summary: Never mind the hype, enjoy this for what it is
Review: The GOOD thing about hype for a book [besides the money it makes] is that people are exposed to a book they may not usually read. The BAD thing about a lot of hype for a book is that people have unmet expectations when they read it. This is not the book for you if: you want something that moves FAST FAST FAST. You like a thriller. You don't want to deal with difficult sibject matter. This IS the book for you if: You like Southern literature. You like to know the WHOLE story--including back stories that show us why someone has become who they are. You want to think about a story and its characters for months after you close the book. This is a good book. It truly is. Full of Excellent characterizations. A sprawling, Southern tale covering decades and numerous people. Well-drawn, clear portraits of several characters and their relationships to one another. Well worth the time. NOTE: I would reccomend NOT reading Little Altars everywhere as another reviewer reccomended. I liked Vivi at the end of this book. After reading Little Altars, I couldn't stomach her and I found that companion book to be so intensely sad.
Rating:
Summary: Happy endings don't just happen in Disneyland.
Review: I first heard about this book from my sister, thinking it was silly and trite, I ignored it, until my curiosity got the best of me.
I'm glad it did.
Wells does an excellent job of portraying the frustrations of a young mother in an unhealthy marriage. After discovering the sad fate of her lover, Vivian reluctantly agrees to marry the next man in line, who happens to admire and love her more than she ever could. Problems from the marriage stem out to Sidda and her siblings.
After Sidda gets a successful boost in her media career, she gives an exclusive interview on her life that brings up memories of the past and from that interview starts the painful healing process between Mother and daugther, and also between Mother and Father.
Wells book tells us that happy endings do exist, even in the most bitter of situations.
It's a shame that the movie couldn't do the same.
Rating: 
Summary: SADER THAN SAD
Review: THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT A GIRL TELLING A REPORTER ABOUT HER ABUSIVE CHILDROOD. WHEN IT IS PUBLISHED IN TIME MAGIAINE THE MOM GOES BALISTIC. HER MOM'S LIFE LONG FRIENDS COME TO HELP. THEY SHOW THE GIRL ABOUT HER MOTHER'S SAD ABUSIVE CHILDHOOD. THEN THEY TOLD HER THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY. THEY SHARE MEMORIES WITH THE GIRL AS SHE HAS NIGHTMARES OF HER MOTHER HITTING HER. I DON'T THINK IT SHOULD SHOW ALL THAT ABUSE IN ONE MOVIE BUT I THINK THE PLOT WAS GOOD. IF THEY HAD NOT GOTTEN DRUNK ALL THE TIME IT WOULD BE GOOD. I HATE THE ABUSE!
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written, very slow
Review: I kept listening to people recommending this book to me, for one reason or the other.
Thinking that Well's book would at least be fun to read during the summer, I bought it and began reading it.
First of all, the book is terribly slow. it goes on and on and on about evry single detail and the characters are pretty much cliched and stereotyped.
It is not even an entertaining read. Rebecca Wells does have some nice ideas, and there are some very nice bits in it, when Sidda remembers her mother's habits and thoughts.
However, there are many other parts where the book reads like a Harlequin, describing intimate moments between the couples for whole paragraphs, to the point where the reader starts feeling sick.
The sudden, inexplicable twists in the characters' behaviours, are so abrupt and pointless that the heroes are almost cartoonish.
There are some hilarious scenes (the Shirley Temple lookalike contest/ Vivi's trip to the "Gone With The Wind" premiere/ some of the correspondance).
There are also some terribly melodramatic scenes, a mystery which gets solved in half a day's time and everyone's happy afterwards, a list of torturing nicknames for every character
and Rebecca Wells does not manage to have a specific writing style.
Really, it doesn't live up to expectations.
Rating: 
Summary: An Overly Dramatic Book about Real Life
Review: In "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," by Rebecca Wells, the main theme is about the relationships between women - particularly mothers and daughters. "Sidalee Walker" ("Sidda")reads through the book of the Ya-Yas, and it gives her a new understanding of her mother, "Vivvian Abbott Walker."
Sidda is angry with her mother for providing so much trauma to her childhood. I have found "Little Altars Everywhere(which contains accounts from Sidda and her family members)to make this book clearer. Vivi is a very complex character and I didn't completely get an understanding of who and what she is supposed to be - aside from her being a southern-belle, who loves her friends and has a horrible childhood. I feel as though there are so many excuses for Vivi not treating her children well, and they especially don't hold in "Little Altars Everywhere." She is so muti-faceted to the point where I find no ONE person can represent who she is.
But, I am not so sure if that mattered, because the main point of the book appeared to be that we are not meant to hate our mothers: "If Sidda Walker had been able to witness Vivi and the Ya-Yas in the light of that summer moon of 1942...she would have known she came from goddess stock. She would have known that a primal, sweet strength flowed in her mother like an underground stream, and that the same stream flowed in her. Whatever scars Vivi had inflicted...she had also passed on a mighty capacity for rapture."
I read a trite story with a nice heartwarming message, and if you like to read you may want to include this one in your book list. But don't feel bad if you miss out on this one.
Rating:
Summary: so wonderful I didn't want it to end!
Review: this book was SOOOOOOO good. I fell in love with Rebecca Wells style of writing- reading one of her books is like wrapping yourself up in a big comforter on a frosty morning :) I can't wait to read the companion to this book- "Little Altars Everywhere"
Rating:
Summary: A Divine Novel!
Review: "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," by Rebecca Wells is a novel about friendship, heartache, and most of all, coming to terms with who we are. Sidalee Walker, daughter of the main character of the Ya-Yas (Vivi Abbott Walker) is interviewed regarding her success as a playwright. Sidda insults her mother and is quoted in an article in the newspaper. As Sidda declares that Vivi does not understand love, Vivi sets out to prove her daughter wrong. She sends Sidda the book of the divine secrets. It holds in it so much of her mother's past, the Ya-Ya club of her friends: Teensy, Necie, and Caro.
Sidda thinks, "...each one of them had an individual scent, to be sure. But this is the gumbo of their scents...The internal vial of perfume I carry with me everywhere I go."
Vivian Abbott is a complex character who has been on an emotional roller coaster since she was 15 years old. To Sidda she seems the horrible mother who is responsible for Sidda's own self-doubts regarding love.
However, the "Divine Secret" involves stories and recounts of true love, loss, friendship,power, and hope that touch Sidalee -and the reader!
Definitely read this for laughter and tears!
Rating:
Summary: Definitely entertaining
Review: I finally read this book after the big Ya Ya movie last year, and I enjoyed it. It is about three generations of a family that is trying to be not so dysfunctional. Sidda, a playwright, had been interviewed by Time Magazine because of her recent big hit play, and she gives the interviewer a little bit too much information about her mother being abusive during a certain period of time during her childhood. Her mother was loving and fun to be around when Sidda was a child, but there were some dark times during one year around Lent in which Vivi, her mother, "dropped her basket" and hit Sidda and her siblings harshly with a belt. Her mother is horrified when she reads the article in the magazine and takes down all of Sidda's photos, saying that she will neever speak to her again. Sidda is afraid that she cannot love her fiance, so she breaks off the wedding for now. Her mother takes this seriously and realizes that in the engagement photo, Sidda is wearing a smile that shows her complete happiness. She has not smiled like that since she was a child! Vivi sends her the leatherbound scrapbook titled "The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" so that she can learn about her mother's past with her three best friends. It is a sad book, but at times it is downright funny! It is very entertaining and a good read!
Rating:
Summary: Vivi isn't so divine
Review: I gave this book three stars as it was an entertaining read and I enjoyed it - but when it ended all I could think of - was that it? The 'secrets' revealed were a disappointment - sure Vivi had some hardships in her life but I certainly didn't feel this was an 'explanation' for the cruel abuse of her children. She comes across as a self-centered, irresponsible drunk - for example does she ever think about how hard life must be for the black ladies whom she dumps her kids on at every possible opportunity - that they might rather be with their own families? The whole book tends to glamorise issues such as alcoholism and child abuse. Sidda is entitled to her anger and I found the Ya Yas attempt to sweep the whole thing under the carpet despicable. Vivi might have benefited from less adoring friends, who might have told her some home truths about her behaviour.
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