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Fiction. Literature. HTML: "A big, blowzy romp through the rainbow eccentricities of three generations of crazy bayou debutantes." â??Atlanta Journal-Constitution "A very entertaining and, ultimately, deeply moving novel about the complex bonds between mother and daughter." â??Washington Post "Mary McCarthy, Anne Rivers Siddons, and a host of others have portrayed the power and value of female friendships, but no one has done it with more grace, charm, talent, and power than Rebecca Wells." â??Richmond Times-Dispatch The incomparable #1 New York Times bestsellerâ??a book that reigned at the top of the list for an remarkable sixty-eight weeksâ??Rebecca Wells's Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a classic of Southern women's fiction to be read and reread over and over again. A poignant, funny, outrageous, and wise novel about a lifetime friendship between four Southern women, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood brilliantly explores the bonds of female friendship, the often-rocky relationship between mothers and daughters, and the healing power of humor and love, in a story as fresh and uplifting as when it was first published a decade and a half ago. If you haven't yet met the Ya-Yas, what are you waiting… (more)
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mainly the story of Viviane Abbott Walker and her oldest daughter,
Siddalee, and how they manage to cope with and get past a particularly
painful episode when Vivi cracks up and attacks her children before
going away to "the hospital
it, "I dropped my basket and couldn't pick it up again." To Siddalee,
and her siblings, it was a moment that shaped the whole rest of their
lives. The "bad time" that they all remember more vividly than the
thousands of good times they'd shared with their sparkling mother and
her friends. The basic story is about how the Ya-Yas tenderly remind
Siddalee of those good times and explain the truth about the bad one.
The characters in this book are real, fully fleshed out people with
complex relationships and deep secrets. But they are never morose,
never maudlin. The humor is sharp and never lets up, but there is pain
here, too, the kind that only abused children understand. The so-called
"cycle of abuse" is displayed in a very matter of fact manner, but it is
hardly the focal point of Vivi's life. She is one of the most
flamboyant and likable characters I've ever found in fiction.
It's also about forgiveness, the subject of one of the three quotations that front the book that tells us we all "need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour." That could make for a very moving book, but I remained unmoved because I absolutely hated the central character, the "Queen" of the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood," Vivi Walker. When the book begins in 1993, she's just cut her daughter, Sidda, out of her life for the crime of telling the New York Times "lies" about how Vivi beat her with a belt. They're not lies though, as we learn just pages in. They're not even "exaggerated" as Ya-Ya sister Necie claims to Sidda. They're minimized. Vivi beat ten-year-old Sidda and her younger sister and two brothers with a belt until they were bloody. Sidda still bears the physical (and emotional) scars thirty years later. And, as we learn just a few pages in, to the present day Vivi blames Sidda for not stopping her. Sadly, so does Sidda. And not only is Vivi still drinking all these years later after her abuse of her children fueled by drink, pages into the book in the present day of the novel, she's handing over a Bloody Mary to her fellow senior citizen Ya-Ya Teensy for her to drink as Teensy drives the car.
*SPOILERS BE HERE BELOW IF YOU CARE*
Sidda is constantly begging her mother for forgiveness through out the book, celebrating her mother's friendship with the Ya-Ya sisterhood, excusing and worshiping her mother for her "vivid" and "vivacious" spirit. It's all very "Ya-Ya-No." (Ya-Ya speak for "pathetic" we're told.) Yes, if you've reached 40 years old, it's way past time to let go of the anger and stop blaming your parents for your problems. But that's different from forgiveness and reconciliation. To really forgive, the person who hurt you needs to be sorry and say so and stop hurting you. It sucks sure if they die and never give you that, and if they don't, you have to move on. But if that doesn't happen that doesn't mean they should get a pass just because they'll be the only parents you'll ever have. Not when the abuse is this extreme and still ongoing.
I mean, I know. I've read that Philip Larken poem "This Be the Verse." It's true. Parents screw you up, but they were screwed up first. They're human. And the book makes Vivi understandable, and therefore potentially forgivable. But I don't think she (and the book) come anywhere near earning the Hallmark moment ending.
Although not one of my favourite books of all time, I did like it. I would recommend it more as a light hearted beach read although I wouldn't classify it as 'chick lit'. The mood of it is relaxed and laid back which is a nice change from fast paced, tension filled books that are more common to me.
The characters were all believable, likeable although not as three dimensional and vivid as some characters in books seem to be. The thing I really enjoyed about this book is the way it conjured up images and the mood of Louisiana, especially in summer which I could really feel even though I have had no experience of it myself.
Overall, a good book which I don't regret reading but nothing extra special which I would have to rush out and tell people "You HAVE to read..."
The forcefulness of the story certainly comes from the sections about Vivi. Sidda's are more prose-y, reflective, and there's a lot of breathing. Together they make a good counterpoint.
I truly loved the atmosphere and the feel of this book, it's really a book about relationships of all kinds.