Rating: Summary: Equally enjoyable and annoying Review: Oh, this book! The premise of "girl power," the themes of female friendship and the mother/daughter bond ... it's an ambitious, good-hearted book. Sidda is entirely sympathetic and I enjoyed her journey. But the author put way too much effort into making Vivi into what Holly Golightly (a far more original, believable heroine) would call "a wild thing," and the results are nowhere near as endearing. Ms. Wells created this supposedly vibrant Vivi at the expense of other characters. Teensy, Caro and Neice are never given the depth required to make their friendship genuinely moving. And Shep is almost invisible -- and not in the "he left her alone with too much responsibility" fashion that the author intends. He's merely a shadow of a character, with no real dimension. Still there's enough style, warmth and affection here to make me willing to pick up LITTLE ALTARS someday. (But not enough to make reading the sequal a priority.)
Rating: Summary: Awesome Read -- but incredibly depressing. Review: When I started reading this book, I got into it. I mean, I really started identifying with characters. When I put the book down, I wanted to pick it back up again. But there was one major problem for me -- it depressed the hell out of me! I know FOR A FACT that this is a masterpeice of literature, but the truth of it is, if you are at all an emotional person, beware. While it hits all the points of the story home, provides an excellent, intuitive read, and is incredibly addictive and spellbinding, Ya-Ya will make you laugh and cry. So please, read it... But beware if you are emotional.
Rating: Summary: Simply divine, dahling. Review: "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel" is about three words: Life, Love, and Family. Although it took me a while to read this book, I enjoyed every minute I spent on it. It drags at points, but then it'll pick right up in pace and you won't be able to put it down. This book shows you how important your friends are, how to forgive your family, and how to understand people. I hope the movie is just as good. I recommend.
Rating: Summary: too self-important Review: it's all been done before - supposedly rule-breaking and wild but lovable women. they are certainly wild but hardly lovable. it is difficult to love a book with a heroine as hard to like as Vivi. even Sidda's dilemma has been done to death. and the way it was written seems to be cocky in a way, like it is expected of you to just simply love the book and characters. boring and unoriginal.
Rating: Summary: A wonderful story Review: I read this book and found it was a slow read for me, but once I got into it, I loved it. I could totally connect with the women. I also saw the movie (after I read the book), but I was disappointed. The book was much better in my opinion. This is a wonderful story for anyone who has close girlfriends and can understand how your best friends can help you whenever you have problems.
Rating: Summary: Don't waste your money Review: A friend from a book club suggested I read this one. Often, we love the same authors (Anita Shreve, Amy Tan, Kaye Gibbons, etc.) but every time I picked this one up it just didn't click for me. Well, I finally sat down to read it and I was so disappointed! I think this is one of the many recent books that have been "hyped-up" more than it deserves. It's a somewhat funny, mildly entertaining tale of several lazy, shallow, vain southern women and their daughters. The story primarily focuses on one of the daughters who is desperately lost and trying to find her way as an adult. I adore books about southern women (see Kaye Gibbons - wonderful writer!) and family, but I found this to be one-dimension and extremely predictable. If you must read it, go to the library - don't bother to buy. And, plan to read it while on vacation or better yet, while drinking heavily!
Rating: Summary: Enjoyable from cover to cover! Review: If you intend to read a book in a hot and steamy bubble bath with a martini or cosmopolitan this week, make it this one. I hated to see it end. I wanted to turn back time, but of course all attempts to do this failed... Alas, I shall just have to read another one of Wells's books and hope that it's just as good as this one. I have not seen the film based on this novel, but I hope that it's done the novel justice. Various people couldn't believe I hadn't read this book before -- indeed, what took me so long to pick it up and read it? Ms. Wells is a true original. I highly recommend this gem.
Rating: Summary: Teenage Fan? Review: I am 13 years old, I read this book, and I LOVED it! I found it on my mother's book shelf, after it was rejected after a bookgroup was canceled, or something, and seized the moment! Even though I only have one point of veiw on this book (My own), I think women of any age will enjoy it. I'm going to rent the movie as soon as I can, but I have a feeling it won't beat the book.
Rating: Summary: Good Book! Review: A Prequel to "Little Altars Everywhere" that further explains the history of the Ya-Ya's. A very good read, even though I enjoyed "Little Altars Everywhere" a little more. I recommend both books. Don't read one without reading the other.
Rating: Summary: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Review: The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is an excellent novel that uniquely portrays the Southern way of life. Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Necie, the four women who refer to themselves as the Ya-Ya's, provide humor in a novel filled with serious issues. One second I was howling with laughter at the recount of the Ya-Ya's arrest, and the next I was crying over the exposed secrets of Vivi's troubled family. As well as capturing the nature of the relationship between the Ya-Ya's, this novel also efficiently captures the mother/daughter relationship through Vivi and Sidda. The Ya-Ya's know they must intervene in Vivi and Sidda's fight in order to help repair a close bond. A scrapbook compiled by Vivi, titled "The Divine Secrets," is revealed in order to help Sidda understand Vivi's actions and realize that they were for her own good. Page by page, the Ya-Ya's friendship, family secrets, and Southern traditions are exposed and allow for us to either love them, or hate them.Rebecca Wells uses her own personal experiences in order to convey the emotions the general population feels in many situations included in the book. She includes many Southern clichés in her writing to show her culture and way of life. Also, Wells employs dialogue and stream-of-conscience to connect the reader to the characters in the book. I loved this book because it shows how the four best friends stuck together in both good times and bad. It perfectly depicts the heartfelt love between these women and makes you feel as if you have known them for your whole life. I loved the novel because it evoked every one of my emotions and taught me lessons that will remain with me for years to come.
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