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Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel
by Rebecca Wells
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Perennial (1997-05-07)
ISBN: 0060928336
EAN: 9780060928339
Dewey Decimal #: 813.54
Paperback: 368 pages
SKU: 10591
Condition: Good
Comments: Binding: Softcover. Condition: Good.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
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 Sidda struggles to analyze her mother, she comes face to face with the tangled beauty of imperfect love, and the fact that forgiveness, more than understanding, is often what the heart longs for. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood may call to mind Prince of Tides in its unearthing of family darkness; in its unforgettable heroines and irrepressible humor and female loyalty, it echoes Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
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Amazon.com Review
Wells is a Louisiana-born Seattle actress and playwright; her loopy saga of a 40-year-old player in Seattle's hot theater scene who must come to terms with her mama's past in steamy Thornton City, Louisiana, reads like a lengthy episode of Designing Women written under the influence of mint juleps and Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!. The Ya-Yas are the wild circle of girls who swirl around the narrator Siddalee's mama, Vivi, whose vivid voice is "part Scarlett, part Katharine Hepburn, part Tallulah." The Ya-Yas broke the no-booze rule at the cotillion, skinny-dipped their way to jail in the town water tower, disrupted the Shirley Temple look-alike contest, and bonded for life because, as one says, "It's so much fun being a bad girl!" Siddalee must repair her busted relationship with Vivi by reading a half-century's worth of letters and clippings contained in the Ya-Ya Sisterhood's packet of "Divine Secrets." It's a contrived premise, but the secrets are really fun to learn.
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Customer Reviews
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Great Seller!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-10-24
The seller made a mistake by putting "hard cover" for the book I purchased when it was a soft cover book. When I received the book and contacted the seller instead of making me pay for shipping or wait for them to send me an envelope to send it back, they told me to just keep the book and fully refunded me! Very respectable!
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Not a fan.
Rating  (2)
Date: 2008-10-20
I tried to stay focused while reading this book but just had a hard time. I was disconnected with the main character and couldn't get excited about this read. I completely lost interest and I'm only a few chapters from finishing. I don't think I'll finish anytime soon.
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Typical Chick Read
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-08-31
This book follows the typical chick flick read. Didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Too predictable.
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The secrets of the popular girls
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-25
As this bestselling novel opens Sidda, a 40 something successful theater director, is in the midst of a feud with her mother. Her mother, Vivi, had disowned her after Sidda had made public some family secrets. Fortunately for them both Vivi's lifelong friends, the 'Ya-Ya's, had urged Vivi to send Sidda their scrapbook to allow her into their lives to better understand where they, and Sidda herself had come from. As Sidda begins to delve into the Ya-Ya's secrets she unearths scraps of their past, scraps that are fortunately expanded on for the reader as first the deep secret of Sidda's life, then Vivi's and even Vivi's own mother are revealed to give insight into what has lead to this impass.
This novel was wildly popular when it was first published (1996) and has held up well. The reader will probably be a few steps ahead of Sidda as she begins to unravel the mysteries of her childhood but will find the journey both enjoyable and thought provoking anyway. The Divine Secrets will provide a few hours of enjoyable reading, might just deprive the reader of a few hours missed sleep as they just must read just a bit more, and will give the reader a few things to take away in the end.
This is definitely a book to slip into a teenagers book bag as a gentle reminder that they may not be the center of the universe after all.
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Utterly unlikeable
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-08-18
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is supposed to be funny. This book is supposed to make you cry. The only thing you may laugh and cry at is the notion that this book is worthy of any real emotion evoked in the reader. It's a book about boring, utterly selfish women who live their lives for themselves and ONLY for themselves. Children? Well who are their children to demand any special devotion from these women? No, these women deem themselves extremely special, above everyone. Above their children. Vivi doesn't want to see her own daughter shine because she hangs onto some ridiculous notion that is is she, Vivi, who should have been the star. What kind of mother is Vivi? Vivi is the type who beats, ignores, and shames her children. Vivi is the type of mother who - if the truth is said about her - banishes her children from her life. Vivi is a sad character, utterly self obsessed. Her friends are not as self absorbed as Vivi perhaps...but they are so completely immature...never evolving...that they are nearly as much as a turn off as Vivi.
Sidda is a boring character who seems to have bought into the Vivi's notion that Vivi hung the moon. It's a story of hero worship...one boring woman (Sidda) admiring a mother whose full affections she can never fully have (Vivi). Vivi even declares that her daughter will never be allowed to know her.
I have kids. Do you? Would you ever put yourself SO far above your own child? Would you treat your children as if, no matter how hard they worked, they would never deserve to fully know you?
Vivi would.
Terrible, terrible story about utterly unlikeable people. Read at your own risk! You will not get these hours back.
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