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Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood

by Rebecca Wells (Goodreads Author)

3.60 · rating details · 196,263 ratings · 2,433 reviews

When Siddalee Walker, oldest daughter of Vivi Abbott Walker, Ya-Ya extraordinaire, is interviewed in the "New York Times" about a hit play she's directed, her mother gets described as a "tap-dancing child abuser." Enraged, Vivi disowns Sidda. Devastated, Sidda begs forgiveness, and postpones her upcoming wedding. All looks bleak until the Ya-Yas step in

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Paperback, 383 pages

Published December 1st 2004 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 1996)

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Community Reviews

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Jan 27, 2008

Emily rated it

Shelves: novels

Rebecca Wells can think up a few succulent stories, but her writing is absolute fast-food. It left me depressed to think that women are encouraged to read so-called "chick lit" on the basis that they only need a few sentimental tales about love, friendship, and/or family to satisfy them, no matter how infantile the writing style or half-baked the arguments. Of COURSE the story had to end with a big white wedding! That signifies catharsis in every woman's life, right?

By ...more

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Apr 11, 2008

Traci rated it

Recommends it for: imperfect mothers and daughters

Recommended to Traci by: almost everyone

When I was pregnant with my oldest child, a girl, I had a dream. In my dream, I was in the hospital, postpartum, holding not the one child I knew that I had been pregnant with . . . but two children. Both girls. One of my baby girls was quiet, observant, peaceful. She had big, open eyes that reflected her big, open heart. The other child was physically larger than the other baby and it's complete opposite. Ugly, angry, needy. I sat there holding both babies in their swaddling clothes while the o...moreWhen I was pregnant with my oldest child, a girl, I had a dream. In my dream, I was in the hospital, postpartum, holding not the one child I knew that I had been pregnant with . . . but two children. Both girls. One of my baby girls was quiet, observant, peaceful. She had big, open eyes that reflected her big, open heart. The other child was physically larger than the other baby and it's complete opposite. Ugly, angry, needy. I sat there holding both babies in their swaddling clothes while the one cried and demanded and writhed . . . and the other lay in my arms quietly observing . . . simply taking it all in. I had what has now become the all-too-familiar feeling of being in over my head - lost even before I had begun. And then, in my dream, my own mother walks into the room with the also all-too-familiar glower she has reserved for me for as far back as I can remember. The look that says "You don't deserve this".

I've never forgotten that dream and until recently, couldn't figure it out. Years later, I do in fact have two daughters and a son . . . born not in that order. My two daughters are almost a decade apart in age the older (bigger) one is definately NOT the noisy, demanding one. No . . . she's definately the open, loving one. (An old soul if ever there was one.)

What does any of this b.s about my dream have to do with Divine Secrets?

Basically, everything.

I have since sorted out this dream . . . my oldest daughter is now 17. A young woman. Just three years younger than I was when I carried her in my womb and dreamt of her and my mother and that demanding other child that needed so damn much all the time.

In the first few pages of Divine Secrets, you are plunged into the life of an interesting, lively young woman and her relationship with her mother. All the bad behavior, jealousy, rage, and hidden wounds.

When I read this book in 2002, I cried because I got that woman's rage towards her mother. I was that woman.

Now I find as my own daughter enters adulthood . . . I identify with the pain of that mother.

By the way, that demanding baby in my dream was me and frankly, that demanding baby in my dream is really a lot of us mothers to some degree or another. Raising our own daughters while trying to finish the job of raising ourselves where our mothers might have failed. Obviously, that analogy doesn't apply to everyone . . . but it's the link between that dream of mine and the thread of understanding that evolves in this book that are the same.(less)

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Jul 13, 2008

Debbie Petersen rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: People who do not read books but would like to think they read one

Shelves: absolute-drek

I think Vivi WAS a tap-dancing child abuser. Any discussion of this fact ends at the "being whipped with the belt" scene. Vivi had no right to be enraged when this fact comes to light--she should have been embarrassed, yes. Her daughter arguably should not have revealed this dirty laundry but should have worked it through with her mother privately.

According to this book, a scrapbook of silly adventures with Vivi's zany friends makes that behavior forgivable...not an apology...more

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Oct 15, 2007

Eva rated it

Recommends it for: anyone who thinks Steel Magnolias is the best movie EVER

I am so tired of this sort of storyline. A group of Southern women who form a timeless bond of woman-ness and Southern-ness and triumph in the face of all hardship because they are delicate as blossoms yet strong and fierce. Uh-huh. I'm Southern, I'm a woman, and I haven't seen such a bond between Southern women of any generation in all of my years. I don't know where this romanticized notion came from, but it's time to put an end to it. Down with Southern chick-lit!
That said, when enterin...more

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Jul 19, 2008

Jeneral rated it

I'm having a hard time deciding if I liked this book or not. On the surface, not so much. About 30 pages in, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through, or if I was going to go insane if I saw the word "Ya-Ya" one more time.

There were some things that I liked about it. Friendship that endures, closer than blood. Knowing there's always someone there in your corner, and they've been there your whole life. Daughters learning that Mom had a life before she became a Mo...more

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Aug 29, 2007

Deb rated it

Shelves: bookclub

When the whole Ya-Ya craze was going on, my book club decided we'd better read it to see what all the fuss was about. In the end, we had to take a vote ("ya-ya" if you liked it; "no-no" if you didn't). I fell into the "no-no" group.
I found it disturbing that hordes of women were flocking to this book that is really about completely dysfunctional families and marriages and a really unhealthy attachment to friends from the past. It made me wonder what's going o...more

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Dec 31, 2008

Dixie Diamond rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: emphatically, NOBODY.

Shelves: louisiana, fiction, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1990s

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. To borrow an expression from the book, this sucker is "Trés ya-ya-no." How can a writer so obsessed with small town aristocracy manage to slip in so many references to peeing in one's pants?

I never manage to abandon books once I've started them, even when they're utter and total tripe. Thank goodness this reads fast so I didn't waste any more of my life on it!

I seem to be missing the Chick Lit Gene. I just flat-out do not understand, or identify with, this kin...moreTo borrow an expression from the book, this sucker is "Trés ya-ya-no." How can a writer so obsessed with small town aristocracy manage to slip in so many references to peeing in one's pants?

I never manage to abandon books once I've started them, even when they're utter and total tripe. Thank goodness this reads fast so I didn't waste any more of my life on it!

I seem to be missing the Chick Lit Gene. I just flat-out do not understand, or identify with, this kind of writing. I'm not like this. My friends aren't like this. My mother, thank Heaven, is not like this. Our lovely Louisiana friends are not like this. I don't know anyone who is like this. I'm beginning to suspect that nobody is like this, except in pulpy pseudo-literature written by women with juvenile Scarlett O'Hara fantasies. I would be ashamed to be this kind of "feminine."

This is the story of Sidda, a dull, spineless, immature, 40-year-old with no identity of her own, and her malicious, self-absorbed, alcoholic, racist, mother, Vivi, who appears to be taking out on everyone around her the frustrations of a lifetime of being a legend only in her own mind. One gets the impression that Vivi needed the Ya-Yas so she could be notorious somewhere, since she doesn't have the class or discipline to accomplish anything of genuine value.

It's badly written, the dialogue is clumsy, and I think it must hold some kind of world record for wallowing in self-pity. Wells is also an unbearable "reference-dropper" (River Road Recipes, interspersed bayou French, Cajun fiddle, Community Coffee, etc.). Apparently the "divine secret" is that this bunch of self-centered superannuated teenagers chose to flash-freeze their high-school lives (and mentalities) at the expense of emotional adulthood, their marriages, and their children. Yeah, there's going to be drama and hardship in your life if you react to every little thing as if it's a catastrophe and use it as an excuse to drink and dope yourself into a stupor. "Complex" needs to stop being a literary euphemism for "manipulative, self-serving, toxic, and narcissistic." Ironically, Vivi is the least likable and least interesting of the four Ya-Yas, though she's supposed to be the luminary.

I guess it says something that Ms. Wells has lived in Washington state for the past 25+ years: If she loved Louisiana so much, why did she leave and then write boring, mindless, novels about it?(less)

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Jan 30, 2008

Brandy (aka Marsden) rated it

My mother and her Ya-Ya’s were called the sisters of Beta Sigma Phi sorority in Charleston S.C. I grew up on the marshes watching them swing dance, shuck oysters, and throwing what always seemed like a never ending festival that celebrated life. They did community work and supported the local theatre, but mostly they just had a good time. I grew up in the whirlwind of color and laughter that now seems only like a distant dream. Momma passed 12years ago and I don’t think I will ever be the same. ...more

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Jul 05, 2007

Cheri rated it

Shelves: ick

Seriously not my cup of tea. Cutsey language, sentimentality run amok, and a deep sense of nostalgia for times that, well, I couldn't possibly feel nostalgic for. I'm not sure how an abusive mother is supposed to be funny or colorful, nor how transferring your disfunction onto you children is to be held up like a badge of honor. Maybe I needed to have crazy parents to understand it.

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Nov 28, 2008

Jennifer rated it

Recommends it for: People who like Lifetime movies.

Shelves: 2002, chicklit, fiction

I felt like this was a better story than Little Alters Everywhere - but really it was just a Part 1 and a part 2. I had a hard time with the abuse and alcoholism - just like I did in the first book. I think if I hadn't watched the movie first I would never have commited to reading these two books - since they seem to be scrunched together for the movie.

I have no desire to read any further in this series. The writing was good and the characters believable - but I felt like it was jus...more

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Jun 14, 2008

Embee rated it

Recommends it for: Women who cherish their longtime relationships with best girlfriends.

Grab a girlfriend, drink mint juleps and toast to sisterhood! This book shares all the details of the close relationships girlfriends share.

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Mar 25, 2008

Alissa rated it

Shelves: fiction-novel

I would give this book a PG-13 rating for language and a couple crude scenes- which were mild, but suggestive.

The entire book discuss' in detail the importance of few key character relationships. Getting to the MAIN relationship, in my opionion, and setting up the climax of the book is what took a while. About half way through it really hit home and I felt deeply connected to the story(s), and the characters. Eventhough, I was raised in a very different way, I felt that I could e...more

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Apr 02, 2011

Caity rated it

Shelves: humor, novel, social-commentary

Divine Secrets is spectacular! Definitely pass on my reccommendation! Also, guys, I think you ESPECIALLY need to read this book if you're at all confused about women. It will give you a spectacular insight. Modern classic. Highly reccommended. Also, if you get the opportunity, watch the film. Its incredibly different from the book, but that's how these things go. Still a spectacular movie.

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Mar 07, 2008

Jo rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites, southern-lit, own

oh i loved this book! i have a very complicated & hurtful relationship with my mother and though a cliche, i could well relate to that aspect of the book! i also love the movie, but i love the book more! (i read it just before the movie came out!) i've also battled sever depression and this book (and movie) is near to my heart. overall, the details, descriptions & relationships are just amazing! ms. wells has lyme disease and has had a horrible past few years (which is why i think she hasn...more

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Jan 09, 2009

marissa rated it

Recommends it for: daughters who are angerballs when it comes to ther oppressive, wonderful mothers

Much of this book I found really aggravating -- the unthinking privilege of the Ya-Yas, their total narcissism, the constant and tedious drama -- and yet I found myself looking forward to my lunch breaks so I could read it. Despite the foreignness of the situations and location, the class and race, there was still enough of my mother and me in Vivi and Siddalee Walker to make the book resonate with me. In the end, that's what I enjoyed (not quite the right word -- you know what I mean, though)...more

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Mar 01, 2009

Elsa Binder rated it

This is one of my favorite books. I just love it.

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Feb 07, 2009

Paula rated it

self-pitying, self-destructive characters.

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Mar 08, 2009

Betsy rated it

Shelves: q3-2009

The Dicine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Written by Rebecca Wells, tells the story of a mother and daughter, the mother belonging to a sisterhood, or secret society of women. Theese women did daring things and were all from the south. The daughter doesn't understand the bond theese women share and struggles getting along with her alcholic mother. The author uses direct dialogue and letters written by the charectors to tell the story. This book in my opinion, reveals the hidden relationship be...more

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Mar 03, 2009

Maisie rated it

Shelves: english-12

Plot Summary
Siddalee Walker is a theater director in New York. The novel starts off with Sidda and her mom exchanging very harsh words, over the phone, on a recent newspaper article written about Sidda’s childhood experiences with Vivi walker as her mother. On an already strained relationship there is a new level of division between them. As well, Sidda tells her fiancée that she needs to postpone their plans of marriage because she is unsure if she can love someone properly. As the st...morePlot Summary
Siddalee Walker is a theater director in New York. The novel starts off with Sidda and her mom exchanging very harsh words, over the phone, on a recent newspaper article written about Sidda’s childhood experiences with Vivi walker as her mother. On an already strained relationship there is a new level of division between them. As well, Sidda tells her fiancée that she needs to postpone their plans of marriage because she is unsure if she can love someone properly. As the story continues, Sidda convinces her mother to send her a very special scrapbook documenting the life of her mother and her sisterhood called the Ya Ya’s. The Ya Ya’s are a group of 4 young ladies that have been best friends since a very young age. Sidda escapes to a secluded house, leaving her work and fiancée behind. She goes through the scrapbook and we are shown the little stories behind all of the pictures, letters, and other memorabilia. Sidda slowly discovers what her mother’s life was like and some of the things that she went through. Vivi’s mother was abusive and treated her very poorly and even sent her to Saint Augustine’s, a catholic correction facility. As these things are revealed to Sidda, she slowly forgives her mother for all of the wrong things she did to her. After a visit from the other three Ya Ya members, Sidda decides to go visit her mother and make things right. Her fiancée comes along as well and once Sidda is reconciled to her mother she ends up getting married in her parent’s field of sunflowers.

Personal Response
I vote No NO to Ya Ya’s. This novel was incredibly sad and depressing. It was so horrible to re-live the events of one bad generation to the next through Sidda and Vivi’s lives. There was a lot of drinking, abuse, hate, and lust, and in the end there really were no redeeming elements to counter these. It was a good guide on how not to live, raise children, love, treat your husband, treat your friends and much more. I found myself constantly wondering when it was going to get better but it never really did except in the last chapter when the two fornicators finally got married! The only other thing that I mildly appreciated was the way the of the Ya Ya sisterhood. They were always there for each other and took care of each other’s families when they couldn’t or needed help. With this said, it was also too bad the things that they let each other do to themselves and to their kids. I hope that this book is not based on any true story; sadly I think that this story has been others’ and is not just a fictional novel. Overall it was a sad book and I would only recommend it for people who have nothing better to read.

Favorite Quotes
When Sidda’s fiancée finally meets Vivi their conversation is as follows, “I tried to be the best momma I could,” Connor replies, “How did that go?”, Vivi replies, “No so hot.”

This quote is from when the four young girls have their naming ceremony at the beginning of their sisterhood, “Teensy Melissa Whitman I declare you, Princess Naked as a Jaybird, Caro Eliza Bennet I declare you Duchess Soaring Hawk, Necie Rose Kallaher I declare you Countess Singing Cloud, and I Viviane Joan Abbott am hereby and forever Queen Dancing Creek”.
Here is a quote in a letter from Vivi’s mom to Vivi, “Mother superior wrote me about her session with you last week. Because she is concerned with your spiritual welfare, she has decided that it is God’s will that from this day forward you will be known only by your saint name: Joan.”
Here is an emotional quote from when Vivi finds out her boyfriend is dead, “It’s Jack” he said, the weight of his hands heavy on her shoulders. “You’re crazy”, Vivi said, giving a small laugh, “You’re joking”.
In this quote we see more emotion from Sidda’s father, after the wedding ceremony, than in the whole book combined. As Sidda wipes away tears from her father’s eyes he says, “I hope your marriage is a good one, Baby Doll.”

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Jan 03, 2009

Amy rated it

I always find myself attracted to novels that weave through generations, digging up colorful stories of the characters' pasts - allowing the reader to see them at different stages, thus making their present stage more understandable. Thus, when Divine Secrets took this route, I found it to be an engaging novel, leaving me almost breathless in some scenes, opening up tear ducts in others. The lives of Vivi and the YaYas takes shape immediately - luring us in, keeping us close as we move from page...more

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Dec 22, 2008

Salwa rated it

Someone gave me this book many years ago. It sat on my shelf. I almost gave it to Housing Works in a sweep of books to donate, but saved it at the last minute. So, I decided to finally read it as a sort of guilty pleasure. Well, part of it actually surprised me in its sensitivity, true-to-life descriptions, and gripping story line. Unfortunately, that only made up half of the book---the half about the group of girls, the Ya-Yas growing up. The other half, about a daughter of one of the Ya-Yas, w...more

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Sep 15, 2007

Catherine rated it

Some of the mother-daughter stuff here was intense. The impact of the mother's mental illness, you could see how it reverberated throughout the daughter's history and mental landscape. There is a lot of joy in this book, but it probably became a hit because the writing was fairly poignant too. My favorite scene from the book is the lesson her mother teaches when the daughter realizes "too late" that she really does want to fly, and how she can make things possible if she really wants...more

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Feb 06, 2012

Deborah rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: southern, soul-searching

My enjoyment of this book was discolored by the long, long buildup. The Southern inferiority complex is readily apparent. Sidda, the main character, offers up proof that she has left Southern roots behind to become the very cliché of a sophisticated, "successful" urbanite: she has a good career, is in therapy, has a jaded prior love life, and is in a successful relationship ~ which bothers her enough that she immediately puts said relationship in jeopardy. The mother-daughter conflict ...more

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Jan 18, 2012

Shelby Summerfield rated it

Shelby Summerfield

English 10-2

Mr. Rich

18 January 2012

Book Review E

Wells, Rebecca. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Harper Collins. 1996.

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, was a book about four old friends who formed an exclusive club called the Ya-Yas. The Ya-Yas rely on each other through child births, deaths of loved ones, weddings, and illnesses and use their sense of humor to help them cope with the challenges ...moreShelby Summerfield

English 10-2

Mr. Rich

18 January 2012

Book Review E

Wells, Rebecca. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Harper Collins. 1996.

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, was a book about four old friends who formed an exclusive club called the Ya-Yas. The Ya-Yas rely on each other through child births, deaths of loved ones, weddings, and illnesses and use their sense of humor to help them cope with the challenges in life. The Ya-Yas were an outrageous, rebellious, clever group of girls and they were infamous around town. We hear the story of their lives through the perspective of one of the Ya-Yas oldest daughter, Sidda Lee. She describes growing up with her mom and the rest of the Ya-Yas. She receives a scrapbook of details and memories from the YaYas. She peers through the book discovering all the good and troubling times they had and the story behind it all. Sidda searches through the scrapbook trying to find answers for her mom’s faulty behavior towards her kids

Sidda Lee as a child looked up to her mother and respected her. All she wanted was her attention and love. Her mom at times would be warm and encouraging towards her and at others violent and cruel. Her mom was an alcoholic and would get out of control and beat her children. Sidda, quite often, felt like she was a nuisance to her mom and craved her appreciation. Sidda spent her whole life trying to get her moms attention and understand why her mom was the way she was. She couldn’t understand why her mom acted hostile and cruel to her kids and she grew up thinking it was her fault. Sidda as an adult was very influenced by her mother’s actions and it affected her everyday life. Sidda leaves her career as a writer and social life and escapes for a few weeks to a lake house yearning for answers. She ponders all the memories and parts of her childhood that she experienced. Sidda fears that her mother’s actions are going to affect her relationships and her life forever. Even with her fiancée, she questions if she knows how to truly love him and if she is good enough for him.

By the end of the book, Sidda finally realizes that she does not need her mom to tell her why she acted the way she did or to explain everything to her. She didn’t need all the answers. She realized that as long as she has her mother with her, she should appreciate the times with her. She was not a perfect mother but she was good enough. There is no need to sit there and wait for her mothers love. Life is too short to do that. No one is perfect and her mother loves her, she just doesn’t know how to show it. Sidda has an epiphany near the end and realizes that “my mother’s love is not perfect. My mother’s love is good enough. My lover’s love is good enough. Maybe I am good enough”(Wells, 327). Through this quote she had not only discovered her feelings towards her moms actions but also her emotions toward herself. She realizes the need to understand was gone all she needed now was love.
I truly enjoyed The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and would recommend it to anyone. It was a compelling story of the relationship between a mother and a daughter and how influential that relationship is in a person’s life.
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Jan 14, 2012

Emily rated it

After having borrowed a copy from a friend sometime over the summer, I finally got around to sitting down and reading this while on a quick vacation this weekend. And truthfully, that's all it was - nice vacation fluff. Southern chick lit, if you catch my drift. This is one of those sentimental group-of-girls novels that makes you wish for a beat that you lived in the South back in the day with all your girlfriends at your side 24/7 - then you remember that oh yeah, that's totally unrealistic an...more

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Jan 14, 2012

Jen rated it

I love the idea of this story, and it sucks! I can relate to it, having a mother who keeps me emotionally at arms length, as I grew older I became aware of the jealousy my grandmother felt toward my mother since she was a little girl & how it messed up my mom,among other things that don't relate to this book,making her the distant mother I loved and tried to mother, my whole life. (lucky thing I had a son! & we're closer than close)
T I'd like to think Siddalee ,Vivi, ...more

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Sep 12, 2011

Lisa rated it

I first read this book when I was thirteen years old and was so enamored with it that I've read it every year since. You can tell it's a great novel because it grows with the reader. Different things stand out each time I read it as I see a different perspective than before.
The story of Sidda Walker is about relationships- her relationship with her mother Vivi, and Vivi's relationship with her dead lover, the Ya-Ya's, and her husband. Each character is freshly unique, but so true to thems...more

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Aug 06, 2011

Nikole rated it

This book surprised me. Since this book was made into a movie I expected it to be…well, corny. So for many years I’ve ignored it. Whenever I came across the book, or the sequel(s), I’ve turned up my nose and looked for other books. But I finally broke down and bought it because it was cheap and I’m very glad that I did.

The book begins with a major war between Sidda and her mother Vivi over an article in the New York Timeswhich led to Vivi estranging herself from her daughter. Sidda, in...more

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Jul 03, 2011

Swissmiss rated it

I didn't want to like this book, but I did, mostly. I don't want to be the kind of person who sucks up chick lit and gets all weepy and runs out to their girl friends insisting they have to read it because it contains all the secrets to life. And that's not what happened when I read this, so no worries. It did have many of the elements that I look down on, which I'm not going to be able to articulate properly, but it's just things like trying to be all spiritual and connected to the moon and how...moreI didn't want to like this book, but I did, mostly. I don't want to be the kind of person who sucks up chick lit and gets all weepy and runs out to their girl friends insisting they have to read it because it contains all the secrets to life. And that's not what happened when I read this, so no worries. It did have many of the elements that I look down on, which I'm not going to be able to articulate properly, but it's just things like trying to be all spiritual and connected to the moon and how women are in touch with the universe; proposing that friendships and relationships between women are the most important thing in the world, even more important than between parents and children; and that alcohol and sex are the best way to either mourn or celebrate.

I realize the whole point of this book was to be about women, but it bothered me that the men were completely marginalized, even though a large part of the problems the women struggled through were regarding the men in their lives, whether they were absent and/or abusive, strong and reliable, loving or withholding of love. The author's answer to everything seemed to be that as long as a woman had other women to cry with, bail her out, and love her unconditionally, she'd be fine.

The concept, though, of a woman finding out about her mother's life through a scrapbook, was very appealing. The photographs, articles, and letters were well chosen both in terms of personal history and real historical events. I particularly enjoyed the description of the girls going to the premiere of Gone With the Wind. The author did cheat a bit, though, in expanding several of the scrapbook items into longer narratives which only the reader saw; the character perusing the scrapbook never got the whole story behind those items.

Regarding the writing style, I loved many of the descriptions and the colorful language. I could feel the difference between the scenes set in the South and in the North. The atmosphere and emotions were very well conveyed.

However, I cringed a little every time the point of view switched from one character to another, not just jumping back and forth between Vivi and her daughter Sidda, but mainly the switches between first and third person. I just found it inconsistent and it didn't sit right with me.

I also had a hard time making out any differences in the personalities of the four 'Ya-Yas'. Yes, it's true they all had distinctive physical characteristics and mannerisms, but in the event, whenever any of them spoke, I didn't feel that any of them had a unique voice. If I hadn't been told who was talking, it could have been any of them. In other words, I felt like the entire book was written in the author's voice, and not through the characters'. This perhaps didn't detract from the story as a whole, but it left the book feeling a bit impoverished. It's a bit strange, as many of the more minor characters such as Genevieve, Buggy, and Willetta, definitely had their own voices. Perhaps the problem was, the Ya-Yas' histories were all the same; they were four individuals leading the same life.

I think this was a very well-done book, overall, and it's just my personal prejudices that perhaps led me to give it only three stars. I think it probably deserves its spot on the best-seller list.(less)

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Jun 18, 2011

Britni rated it

If any of you have seen the movie, it's really not necessary to read the book. It really is very much the same story in the two, and it wasn't as interesting as me because I already knew the entire storyline. For those of you who haven't seen the movie or read the book, here's a quick synopsis. Four women are friends from their childhood until late adulthood, and a lot of the book is about one of those women, Vivi and her middle aged daughter, Sidda. The daughter, Sidda doesn't understand some o...more

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About Rebecca Wells

Rebecca Wells was born and raised in Alexandria, Louisiana. “I grew up,” she says, “in the fertile world of story-telling, filled with flamboyance, flirting, futility, and fear.” Surrounded by Louisiana raconteurs, a large extended family, and Our Lady of Prompt Succor’s Parish, Rebecca’s imagination was stimulated at every turn. Early on, she fell in love with thinking up and acting in plays for ...moreRebecca Wells was born and raised in Alexandria, Louisiana. “I grew up,” she says, “in the fertile world of story-telling, filled with flamboyance, flirting, futility, and fear.” Surrounded by Louisiana raconteurs, a large extended family, and Our Lady of Prompt Succor’s Parish, Rebecca’s imagination was stimulated at every turn. Early on, she fell in love with thinking up and acting in plays for her siblings—the beginnings of her career as an actress and writer for the stage. She recalls her early influences as being the land around her, harvest times, craw-fishing in the bayou, practicing piano after school, dancing with her mother and brothers and sister, and the close relationship to her black “mother” who cleaned for the Wells household. She counts black music and culture from Louisiana as something that will stay in her body’s memory forever.

In high school, she read Walt Whitman’s “I Sing the Body Electric,” which opened her up to the idea that everything in life is a poem, and that, as she says, “We are not born separately from one another.” She also read “Howl,” Allen Ginsberg’s indictment of the strangling consumer-driven American culture he saw around him. Acting in school and summer youth theater productions freed Rebecca to step out of the social hierarchies of high school and into the joys of walking inside another character and living in another world.

The day after she graduated from high school, Rebecca left for Yellowstone National Park, where she worked as a waitress. It was an introduction to the natural glories of the park—mountains, waterfalls, hot springs, and geysers—as well as to the art of hitchhiking.

Rebecca graduated from Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, where she studied theater, English, and psychology. She performed in many college plays, but also stepped outside the theater department to become awakened to women’s politics. During this time she worked as a cocktail waitress--once accidentally kicking a man in the shins when he slipped a ten-dollar bill down the front of her dress—and began keeping a journal after reading Anais Nin, which she has done ever since.

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title link	preview: Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood
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Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood

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