Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
by Rebecca Wells
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Read in January, 2002
recommended to Traci by:
almost everyonerecommends it for: imperfect mothers and daughters
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...more
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Read in September, 1999
It’s about the camaraderie of a tribe of lifelong girlfriends (the Ya-Yas) who grew up together in Louisiana. It has flashbacks to their childhood, the petite ya-yas (their children), and then returns to the present where they’re probably in their sixties.
Anyone who has had a special relationship with friends or in my case sisters can especially enjoy this book. It’s about a shared history that you can’t have with just anyone because not all of our relationships can go back in time tha...more
Anyone who has had a special relationship with friends or in my case sisters can especially enjoy this book. It’s about a shared history that you can’t have with just anyone because not all of our relationships can go back in time tha...more
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Read in July, 2006
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 the end ...more
By the end ...more
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Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a story of human relationships, how people come to be who they are, and how being that person effects the lives of others. The story is told from the point of view of Siddalee Walker, a successful actor/director with a new hit play that, it is hinted, mirrors her experiences growing up in baby-boomer era Louisiana. Her mother, Vivi, has taken offense to the material used to inspire her daughter’s success. Consequently a split has occurred in the...more
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Read in November, 2000
recommends it for:
all women
This is one of my favorite books! It was one of the first books I read when I decided to commit to start reading more fiction. Coincidently, my mother had just died and I was looking for a meaningful hobby to enrich my life. This particular book was recommended to me by my cousin Candace once she learned that I was looking for some good reads. This was a very good first book suggestion because it provided an entertaining escape from my emotional roller coaster grieving period. My cousin sent it...more
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Read in October, 2007
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 entering a ...more
That said, when entering a ...more
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Favorite Quotes
At the beauty of what she had stumbled onto, at the fear that something terrible would happen because she was not vigilant enough. She cried at the fear of something so good that she would not be brave enough to bear it.
I live in an ocean of smell…
But who has time to write memoirs? I’m still living my memoirs.
It’s life. You don’t figure it out. You just climb up on the beast and ride.
…the love we most cherish will, of necessity, bring us pain. ...more
At the beauty of what she had stumbled onto, at the fear that something terrible would happen because she was not vigilant enough. She cried at the fear of something so good that she would not be brave enough to bear it.
I live in an ocean of smell…
But who has time to write memoirs? I’m still living my memoirs.
It’s life. You don’t figure it out. You just climb up on the beast and ride.
…the love we most cherish will, of necessity, bring us pain. ...more
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Read in March, 2007
It is an inspiring and loving look into the loves, laughs, and tears of women. I was surprised by the depth of feeling it invoked. One of the strengths of the diminutively titled, “Chick Lit,” this book has gotten a bad rap. While The Secret Life of Bees has had a near permanent stay on the bestseller list and is passed through PCVs like a ripe bag of jicote, the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is treated with disdain. I couldn’t give it away. I blame the horrendously trite movie of the same name.
The ...more
The ...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
those who like reading about female friendship
There is something sacred about female friendship. Vivi, Caro, Necie, and Teensy have been friends for over 50 years, and these ya-yas have been through it all. Their friendship is the most important thing in their lives. Combined, these women have 16 kids. The book focuses on Sidda, who, in the beginning of the novel, has made her mother, Vivi, one-hundred percent furious with her. Sidda's life falls apart at this point, and she goes on a quest to learn about her mother, her mother's experience...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
All young women and mothers
I love love LOVE this book! I’m officially ready to see the movie. I’ve waited years to see the movie because I like to read books first. That way I can still let my imagination run free while reading without thinking of the imagery in the movie.
The book is such a powerful story about relationships. Throughout the novel the protagonist Sidda learns about relationships with men, best friends, and most importantly her mother Vivi, who is a member of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood or communauté de ...more
The book is such a powerful story about relationships. Throughout the novel the protagonist Sidda learns about relationships with men, best friends, and most importantly her mother Vivi, who is a member of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood or communauté de ...more
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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 sa...more
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Read in March, 2008
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 empathize...more
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 empathize...more
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Read in October, 2007
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 and convince Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of their girlhood mementos, called "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." As Si...more
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Read in June, 2002
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 ...more
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Read in January, 2000
Siddalee has just opened her very first Broadway play, and she is about to get married. Instead of reveling in the moment, she is thinking about a recent argument she had with her mother Vivi. Siddalee retreats to a cabin in Washington state with her mother's old scrapbook of her and her friends, called the Ya-Ya's, to try to gain perspective on her mother's life. The rest of the novel jumps back and forth between the stories behind the memorabilia and present day Sidda learning to understand...more
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i picked this up at a used book sale in alaska and it's going by pretty quickly. is this what they call chick lit?
edit:
this book reads a bit like a cocktail-drinking and privileged version of 'fried green tomatoes' -- although i was thoroughly involved in the story as a reader (laughing, crying, etc) i found the scenarios annoyingly melodramatic and its characters occasionally unlikeable. actually, sidda completely annoyed me, and her occasional romanticized narration ('glistening nipples'...more
edit:
this book reads a bit like a cocktail-drinking and privileged version of 'fried green tomatoes' -- although i was thoroughly involved in the story as a reader (laughing, crying, etc) i found the scenarios annoyingly melodramatic and its characters occasionally unlikeable. actually, sidda completely annoyed me, and her occasional romanticized narration ('glistening nipples'...more
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Read in September, 2007
This book, along with Little Altars Everywhere by the same author, can have you laughing one minute and crying the next. Some parts of these books were hard for me to read because of my own life experience. These books tell the tale of a dysfunctional Southern family on the brink of insanity. There is so much about the mother/daughter relationship - three generations of crazy women trying to survive marriage, motherhood, life disappointments and pain. I did enjoy reading these books. I foun...more
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I learned from this book and Little Alters Everyone the value of old friends--who know all your dirt. Sometimes these stories were kinda depressing with all the dysfunction going on. But I hope one day if I'm having trouble with a daughter or what not that my old friends will be around to show her that I am/was a person too and went through things. I understand this about my own mom, and wished that during my teenage years I understood that mom is a woman, a person, not just Mom....We all hav...more
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The only thing better than reading about dysfunctional, alcohlic, crazy families is reading about dysfunctional, alcoholic, crazy Catholic families. Who are Southern.
Every now and then I'll sit down and reread the chapter where Vivi and her friends (fourteen at the time) travel to Atlanta by themselves for the premiere of Gone With the Wind and Vivi ends up throwing a plate at her cousin when he insults one of the maids.
Then there's the time the girls enter a Shirley Temple l...more
Every now and then I'll sit down and reread the chapter where Vivi and her friends (fourteen at the time) travel to Atlanta by themselves for the premiere of Gone With the Wind and Vivi ends up throwing a plate at her cousin when he insults one of the maids.
Then there's the time the girls enter a Shirley Temple l...more
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Read in December, 2004
Cliche? Perhaps. But admittedly, this is one of my all-time favorite reads. Sometimes the most poignant things are the simplest and in this case, the author isn't afraid to use local colloquialisms and straightforward language to draw the reader further into the Spanish moss-draped world of the Ya-Yas. Rebecca Wells so accurately captures the specific timbre and rhythm of native Louisianans, making the book feel like a beautiful and detailed escape into a different time, yet the themes that she ...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.63 (10657 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.64 (9346 ratings) number of reviews: 686popular shelves
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quote
"The soft aroma of old worn cotton from a linen chest, the lingering smell of tobacco on an angora sweater; Jergen's hand lotion, sauteed green peppers and onions; the sweet, nutty smell of peanut butter and bananas, the oaken smell of good bourbon. A combination of lily of the valley, cedar, vanilla, and somewhere, the lingering of old rose. These smells are older than any thought. Mama, Teensy, Neecie, and Caro, each one of them had an individual scent, to be sure. But this is the Gumbo of their scents. This is the Gumbo Ya-Ya. This is the internal vial of perfume I carry with me everywhere I go. "
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