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Summary: This book has changed my life!
Review: I have'nt really read in years. This book was so inviting I just could'nt put it down. I laughed and cried, it made me do my own "soul searching". I would definately recommend this book. I have also given this book as a gift and lent my copy out to friends. Two thumbs up, a must read!
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Summary: A wonderful book for and about women and true friendship.
Review: I savored every page of this wonderful book about friendship and bonding. I have given it as gifts and recommend it highly for women who are passionate about life.
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Summary: Simply "divine"
Review: Divine Secrets was just that for me, nothin boring about it at all. It was at times hillarious, at times sad, but overall it gave me a feelin of "knowing" each one of these characters in a personal way, and I could feel the ya-ya spirit in them and in myself. This book brought back many memories for me, good and bad. Miss Wells shows that her characters are flawed, they are not perfect people by any means, in fact some are downright dysfunctional. These flaws just make them all the more real, and I dare say there are many who can relate to the Ya-Yas and their families. I found the colloquialisms endearing, and being from the South, I understood them. Being from similar family situations I understood the characters too, with all their flaws and their attributes. I for one cannot wait to read another installment of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Ms. Wells please give us one soon. Carol (Rastus) Mobile, Ala.
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Summary: A hysterical look at southern sisterhood!
Review: This book is a page-turner! I kept thinking about the wild Ya Yas and all their crazy adventures long after I finished the book. The dialogue is superb and the mother-daughter relationship of Vivi and Sidda adds a softer touch to the outrageous antics of the Ya-Yas! I highly recommend this book, as well as Ms. Wells' first book, Little Altars Everywhere. Suggestion: Read this book first ... Little Altars is less depressing if you read Divine Secrets first!
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Summary: Just unbelievably bad
Review: The breezy, cajun-dipped dialogue was so ridiculous; I defy anyone to lift sentences from this novel and correctly identify the speaker. They all sounded alike! The plot drove the characters -- i.e., the author knew where she wanted them to end up, and then she made the characters act in unrealistic ways in order to get there. Why did the "good" nun state that someone had tried to burn Viv in her bed when she didn't necessarily know all the facts? Answer: because the author wanted her to! Why did the fiance reach down and kiss Viv's hand, like a "true southern gentleman," when he'd never done such a thing before in his life? Answer: because the author wanted him to! And why did Necie remain a Ya-Ya all her life, when she was obviously more timid, fearful, and law-abiding than the rest of the "reckless, impetuous" Ya-Yas? In real life, she would have drifted away from the group, but in the story, she was inseparable from the group. I found the entire story insipid, and didn't understand how Sidda came to any great realizations by the end of the book, except perhaps that she had been naked and outdoors in just about every part of the country, and she figured she might as well settle down.
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Summary: So awful I can't begin to tell ya, dahlin
Review: Please do yourself a favor and don't waste your time--this novel is trite, ridiculous trash that barely qualifies as a banal "beach read." For the reviewer who felt the book deserved the Pulitzer...thank God you don't get to vote.
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Summary: one word: contrived
Review: I'm not quite done with this book yet, but I felt like writing a review anyway. I like the flashbacks with the stories about the Ya-Yas' childhood and Sidda's childhood, but this whole scrapbook thing has got to be the most contrived way to get to these flashbacks that I could ever imagine. I find myself skimming over the parts in the present, with Sidda at the cabin, because they just seem like filler the author put in to get us from one flashback to the next. I thought I would race through this book, but instead I'm crawling through it, because each time I get to a "Sidda" part, I just get fed up with her silliness and bored with her thoughts. I haven't given up on "Divine Secrets" yet, but it's certainly slow going.
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Summary: For fans of Bridges of Madison County
Review: Why are books like this so popular when there are writers like Ellen Gilchrist, Eudora Welty, Walker Percy? This was senimental and sappy. Typical best seller...Judith Krantz, John Grisham. We read this for our bookclub and no one liked it. I am from Louisiana and hated the corny portrayals of the women.
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Summary: Fabulous, Dahlin'!
Review: What a divine and delicious way to spend a few days! I loved the elephant/Lawanda scene where Sidda finds a memory through a "lost" key. A nice balance of the horrible with the beautiful. This and "Little Altars" are sister books to Michael Lee West's "Crazy Ladies". The characters come to life in these books.
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Summary: Better than average escape literature with great stories
Review: I am enjoying reading this book, mostly from the point of view of the daughter, Sidda. After reading "Little Altars" I am not crazy about the mother character, Vivi, but I suspend my dislike of her in order to find out, with Sidda, what made her click. I am most impressed with the author's writing ability. She is a great storyteller in the flashbacks, vignettes, etc. that make up most of the book. The way Ms. Wells moves so skillfully and effortlessly back and forth between past, present, recent past, etc., and between the two main characters, is awesome. As some other reviewers mentioned, I find the title silly-- this put me off from reading the book for a long time. I also find the character names rather ridiculous and a bit irritating-- why can't they have regular names, but then this may be a bit of the Louisiana culture that I am not familiar with. The good of this book far outweighs the bad.
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