Book Reviews of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

"Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" is an incredible book. It deals with difficult subjects without turning people into stereotypes. It tackles subjects of abuse, and the reactions from it psychologically on both parties. It details loving relationships between people without turning to sentimentality. And it's hilarious and heartbreaking in the same page at times...Everyone has things that they must learn to forgive our parents for. We all carry wounds from the way we were raised. We all have a sense of love for our families and friends that transcends the boundaries of rational thinking. The Ya-Ya's are truly eternal reminders that we must hang on to those things, grow from them, learn from them, but most of all, keep them close and don't analyze them...Just love them for who and what they are.

Filled with humor and heartbreaking tragedy, interesting; quirky characters, you will fall in love with this story as I have. It is best to read the companion bk., Little Altars Everywhere first.

I really enjoyed the style of writing Wells uses, kind of familiar. This is a great story with some ditsurbing parts, but well written and catches you in pretty quick. I also enjoyed the follow-up, YaYas in Bloom.

I have heard raves for this book, but it didn't live up to the hype for me. It wasn't focused enough; the plot wasn't as compelling as I'd have liked.

WONDERFUL book and movie. This was one of those books I have re-read quite a few times. I read this book first and then read Little Altars Everywhere - which helped clear up some questions I had regarding this book. Well worth your time. The 1st time I read it, I did so in two days.

Great read. I really enjoyed it. Alot better than the movie which most books are. I laughed out loud at some of the adventures of the Ya-
Ya's

ISBN 0060928336 - A #1 New York Times Bestseller, Divine Secrets proves, yet again, that marketing can make a mountain out of any molehill. I really WANTED to like this book even half as much as the marketing told me I should, but I just couldn't work up that much enthusiasm about it.

Sidda is engaged and the wedding date nears when she freaks out, realizing she doesn't "know how to love" and runs off to contemplate her belly button. Blaming her lack of "knowing how to love" on her mother, Vivi, who Sidda recently offended - in the New York Times, no less! - Sidda finds herself adrift without the anchor that Vivi and her mother's friends had been for most of her life. Believing that the answer lies with these women, Sidda is fortunate when her mother relents just enough to send her a scrapbook of Ya-Ya-rablia. Sadly, little scraps don't tell the whole story and Sidda can't piece it together without help.

After the introduction of each scrap, Wells puts it in context for the reader, telling the story of Teensy, Caro, Necie and Vivi - the Ya-Yas. Sidda is NOT aware of these stories, except in rare instances when a character talks TO her or it is her own memory, which makes for some mild confusion. Sidda has to wade through the mess in her head and the scraps in the book in order to feel that she can love - and be loved.

Wells felt the need to subtly point to the fact that Sidda's fiance looks like Vivi's one true love, Jack, several times, but it is never clearly said and therefore seems pointless - most especially since the only person who doesn't seem to remark upon it is Sidda. Oddly, the only thing about the book that sticks in my head after finally finishing it is that every exaggeration was "eighty four thousand" - "saw it eighty four thousand times", "dyeing eighty four thousand eggs", etc.

Fans of chick-lit will like this book. Others, like me, will find themselves referring to it as "the blah-blah sisterhood". The story of the Ya-Yas themselves, without a character like Sidda in the way, might have been more interesting. On the up side for me, I did rather enjoy seeing religion portrayed as one of the worst evils in the story. Not awful, just not worth more than the current used price of one penny (plus shipping).

- AnnaLovesBooks

A good and funny (and a little heartbreaking) read. I like the way you see the characters as they are all grown up, then you learn about their past and why some are they way they are... some of it you can forgive and understand better knowing what they have been through. I read these books in the order they were published and found it satisfying, but would probably read "Little Altars Everywhere" first if you've never read them.

A nice story for those who enjoy the mushy points of life.

This is a sweet novel and an easy read. Nothing too complex, but good reading for the pool or a nice hammock.

What a great read. I finished it in a day. Loved it.

I laughed out loud with this book. Great story.

"A very entertaining and, ultimately, deeply moving novel about the complex bonds between a mother and a daughter" Washington Post

Every woman should read novels like "Ya Ya.." There's a little YA YA in us all...I have two copies, and read it yearly. Definitely a generational share.

An absolutely fun read with the relationships among the 'Ya-Ya's' covering all emotions.

One of my favorite books of alltime, laugh out loud and burst into tears within a few pages.

Took me quite a while to get through it. I didn't get all the hype over it.

Loved it!

Unfortunately, I can't say that I really liked this story.

Loved it.

It took me reading about three quarters of the book before I was really interested. It has some great stories and great dynamics to ponder, just not an easy-flowing read.

really liked it

I read ''Little Altars everywhere'' first and liked it very much, this one was not as good.

good book

I wanted to get into this book and to like it, but I just couldn't.

The book is so much better than the movie. A wonderful read full of brilliant imagery, lots of laughs and plenty of tears.

Great book! The movies is one of my favorites but the book is so much better. It's about a mother and a daughter relationship and how they interact is so real and comical. One minute they are friends, the next minute they are aweful to each other. A lot of the book are flash backs of both the mother and daughter and what makes them the way they are.

A delightful look into the lives of four southern girls, following them to adulhood. More fun than the movie

great read!

The Barnes & Noble Review
A powerfully literate yet thoroughly engaging and accessible novel, this story of a close-knit society of southern women has become a modern cult classic bolstered by author Rebecca Wells's abiltity to transcend standard-issue chick lit with bold and unique characters and a tale that digs deeply into the complex bonds of family.

The entangled story of actress Siddalee Walker, her mother Vivi, and Vivi's group of pals -- the Ya-Yas -- gets off to a heated start when Sidda's disparaging remarks about her mother run in the New York Times. Vivi declares all-out war and immediately cuts Sidda out of her will, pushes a libel suit, and forbids the other septuagenarian Ya-Ya's to speak to Sidda ever again. Convinced she doesn't "know how to love," a shaken Sidda postpones her upcoming wedding and flees to a remote Washington cabin. Suddenly concerned about her daughter, Vivi convenes an emergency Ya-Ya council and at last decides to reveal her jealously guarded past to Sidda through her treasured scrapbook, "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."

The scrapbook spans Ya-Ya history, documenting among other things the hilarious Shirley Temple Look-Alike Contest that first united the four women in a conspiracy against polite society; the secret history and initiation rites of the group; a trip to Atlanta to attend the premier of Gone With The Wind; and Vivi's first and greatest love. It also sheds light on Vivi's reaction to the constraints of motherhood and the alcoholism, self-medication, and spiritual confusion that eventually led to a complete nervous breakdown. Also buried in the book is the key that unlocks Sidda's childhood memory of a lost lesson of love and brings her to a new understanding of her family's shared triumphs and tragedies.

Much more universal in its appeal than the "women's book" some reviewers have been tempted to call it (according to Wells, "It's a book for women -- and smart men"), The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood manages with passion, humor, and an irrepressible gift for language to somehow show readers of all backgrounds a mirror-perfect reflection of their own life experiences. (Greg Marrs)

More of the Ya-Ya antics! I preferred Little Alters Everywhere to this book. I did not finish the book.

An enjoyable read!

Great read. Nicely used book. Some cover wear

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."

Fun, quick read

"This is the sweet and sad and goofy monkey-dance of life, as performed by a bevy of unforgettable Southern belles in a verdant garden of moonlit prose. Poignantly coo-coo, the Ya-Yas (and their Petites Ya-Yas) will prance, priss, ponder, and party their way into your since affection." (Tom Robbins)

"A very entertaining and, ultimately, deeply moving novel about the complex bonds between a mother and daughter." (Washington Post)

Love it! Better than the movie...

A novel about the comlex bonds between a mother and daughter...great book!

Just as cute as the movie (or maybe more so!) YA-YA!!

The story moved quickly. It shows a nice bridge between generations.

I really enjoyed this book. Much better than the movie!

I really liked this movie. It was interesting and the movie pretty much matches up.

I don't think anyone needs to read a review of this book. Any southern girl can identify with our protagonist.

A great girl story.

fun quirky book, everyone will love it.

If you liked the movie, you'll love the book. One of the reviewers called it "sweet, sad, and goofy". I couldn't agree more.

Much better than the movie!

So many things were left out of the movie- you must read this!!

This was a great book. I read it in a few days.

Performed, not read, by the author is the key here. This highly spirited interpretation of the cult classic is, like the book, full of humor and surprises. It captures with ease the powerful lifelong friendship between four Southern women, the Ya-Ya's: Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Necie. The author endows each of her charming characters with an inimitable Southern accent, from a low rumble for the aging oxygen-tank-carrying Caro, to the fresh innocent voice of Vivi as a child. The story moves back and forth from present to past when Vivi's daughter, Sidda, is faced with a crisis and is given the golden opportunity to explore the history of these devoted pals through her mother's secret scrapbook. Her journey is sprinkled with her own memories of her irrepressible and irresistible mother, and she is rewarded with glimpses of true love and loyalty against an often hilarious and poignant backdrop of life in the rural South.

A story of friendship that endures.

A must read for us Southern gals.

It wasn't my usual sort of book, but it can be good to read chick lit occasionally.

I got it because I'd heard so much about it, but I guess I'm just not that into southern belles.

This was good. Not really my type of book. But still good.

A very entertaining and ultimately, deeply moving novel about the complex bonds between a mother and a daughter. This is the sweet and sad and goofy mondey-dance of life, as performed by a bevy of unforgettable Southern belles in a verdant garden of moonlit prose. Poignantly coo-coo, the Ya-Yas (and their Petite Ya-Yas) will prance, priss, ponder, and party their way into your sincere affection.

wow! this is a GREAT book! i really really enjoyed it and i'm glad that i requested it!

Great Read!

SiddaLee Walker, at 39, is a creative theatrical director. She prides herself on having escaped her Louisiana hometown and her mother, Vivi Abbot Walker, a local beauty and performer who, in a recent "New York Times" article, is called a "tap-dancing child abuser." A fight over this article erupts between Sidda and Vivi, just when Sidda needs her mother's help with a play she's writing about women's friendships. Eventually, Vivi sends her daughter letters, photos, journals, and souvenirs form the Ya-Ya sisterhood. This group of girlfriends was wild and clever, and stuck in a small town where they were expected to raise babies, not Cain.

An adult daughter writes about her mother's lifelong group of friends, and their support of each other during life's different seasons. She knows these ladies well, and spends a hilarious weekend with them as an adult. Humorous

Bitter sweet novel about growing up in the south and the meaning of friendhip

Everyone should have friends like these.

Much better than the movie (aren't they always??)

used. scratched and small tears on cover. paperback

Fun read, somewhat in the "Steel Magnolias" vein.

Great book, so fun to read!

I laughed out loud!

Sweet, sad and funny - the story of lifelong friends and their families growing up in Louisiana.

If you are a woman and a southerner, this book needs no introduction. If you are a mother or a daughter and you haven't found DS, then do yourself a favor and read it.

The book's main charm comes from discovering the secrets of Vivi's tortured past. As the reader, you find the "scraps" and put them all together to form a complex portrait of friendship and motherhood. Sidda's seclusion in a northwest cabin is balanced with moments from Vivi's past. It becomes a scavenger hunt as each chapter offers a revelation that helps Sidda better understand her mother and ultimately herself.
I reread DS once a year just to visit with Vivi and the gang.

Sweet, funny, and sad, the story of a woman's troubled relationship with her mother. You'll laugh and cry.

Once again, the book is better than the movie!

Popular series of books. This one was made into a movie.

We can all relate.

Very good book.

There's something very "Steel Magnolia'ish" about the Ya-Ya Sisters. It will leave you wanting to know how their lives continued.

A not-to-be-missed affirmation of the friendships of women... You won't regret this read!

You'll laugh, you'll cry and mostly you'll see in the characters many of the people you know.

So well done, made me want to rewrite my own life story, to be more like this one. Wouldn't that be fun?

wonderful book - I feel like it was written about my girlfriends and I

A great romp!

I loved this book! Wonderful and fun! There are bits of every one of us in each of Ya-Yas.

I enjoyed this book at the time I read it.

It's all been said, but this copy is not perfect--it's been 'loved'. There is nothing wrong with it, though, but wear-and-tear...

Very popular book and movie. I wasn't really feeling it, but to each her own.

I wish I would have read the book before I watched the movie. It was very hard to get through the scenes that I had already seen.

I love this book. One of the few I re-read. The movie did not do it justice!!

Great story!

A favorite of mine from WAY back! Love this book!

"This is the sweet and sad and goofy monkey-dance of life, as performed by a bevy of unforgettable Southern belles in a verdant garden of moonlit prose. Poignantly coo-coo, the Ya-Yas (and their Petites Ya-Yas) will prance, priss, ponder, and party their way into your sincere affection." Tom Robbins

I watched the movie instead!

An Oprah best!

A lot of fun

"Rebecca Wells's new novel is a big, blowzy romp through the rainbow eccentricities of three generations of crazy bayou debutantes trying to survive marriage, motherhood, and pain, relying always on their love for each other...A novel of wide reach and lots of colors: fun in a breathless sort of way."
--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

You just can't not love this book. It's a classic...

A funny group of southern belles in constant communication with each other. 3 generations of bayou debutantes surviving the struggles of life.

I really enjoyed this book about the relationship between a mother and daughter. It is laugh outloud funny and endearing at the sametime. Good light read!

Great book of sisterhood.

GREAT AMAZING STORY!

One of my favorites!

Descriptive. Bettert han the movie.

Great book in the "southern literature tradition" about mothers and daughters. Indelible characters!

Love it, love it!

Everyone in my book club enjoyed this one.

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.

Loved it!

This book tells the story of the Ya-Ya's, a group of girlfriends who stay together and tells of their past exploits.

If there is not a copy of one of these books on your shelf, there should be. Great fun reading!

Ended up with two copies of this book somehow

I am sure everyone has read Ya-Ya of the sisterhood. I have passed my book around to my friends before I swapped it to the paperbackswap. I enjoyed the book more than the movie. Those southern belles were a pretty roudy bunch of friends. The times now would prevent all the antics they did. Drinking and driving. And most of them would probably be up on charges of child abuse of some sort. But it was a laugh out loud book to read

Great novel - I found myself laughing out loud at times and then crying at times too.

Pretty much everyone knows about this book by now, but in case you missed it, or the movie, you;ll want to make up for lost time.

One of my all time favorite books....I am only parting with it because I was goven another copy. Women's friendship as it is supposed to be....surely it was written about me and my friends!

I enjoyed it. I read it after I saw the movie, and the book is much better!!

Very interesting characters - Read Little Altars Everywhere first. It will clarify a lot!

This booked is great-- if you like chick lit. I enjoyed it when I read it, then saw the movie and realized it could be quite hokey. But the book is way better than the movie!

I absolutely loved this book! It was very entertaining and the characters are very endearing. I had seen the movie years ago and wasn't as taken with it as I was by reading the book.

my copy has a little pen on the back from my toddler

Sweet, sad, authentic story of frienship of girls growing into women in the South. Lots of fun to read

Everbody knows this book.

The group of Southern Belles and all their eccentricities. Wonderful story about their loves, marriage, motherhood, pain and love for each other.

Fun, quick read.

I really enjoyed this book. It make you laugh and want to cry. I read the prequil, Little Alters Everywhere, before this and it really added so much to this book!

Excellent

Very good book about women and their relationships.

Most enjoyable story about good and close lady friends for many, many years of their lives.

A time machine of a book that transports you instantly back to the sixties.

It was good but there are better books. I much prefered The Sweet Potatoe Queens and Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bon's compared to this.

This was a very good read I thought. Not a page out of your childhood, probably, but an interesting childhood it is!

Wonderful...hundreds of times better than the movie

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!"

The book was MUCH better than the movie.

To me the book seemed to wander at times and I enjoyed the back stories of the Ya-Ya's more than the main story. I am looking forward to reading the new book that has just come out.

Very good book. Made me alternately laugh and cry. Great story of life and friendship.

A witty quick read

Loved it- had to read it again!

loved it!

This is the book that inspired the movie. The book has many more insights into the ya-yas and is just awesome. #1 National Bestseller.

Reading group guide (and recipes) available at ya-ya.com. The 2002 movie starred Sandra Bullock. Ellen Burstyn, Fionnula Flanagan, James Garner, Ashley Judd, Shirley Knight, and Maggie Smith.

From Library Journal
When a reporter uses upcoming theatrical director Siddalee Walker's description of her mother, Vivi, as a "tap-dancing child abuser," Vivi casts her daughter out of her life. Sidda, feeling unloved and unlovable, postpones her wedding and retreats to Washington State's Olympic Peninsula to try to understand why she cannot sustain emotional relationships. Vivi's three lifelong friends (known collectively as the "Ya-Yas") persuade her to send Sidda the scrapbook filled with mementos of Vivi's life in the small Central Louisiana town where she grew up, married, and raised her family. Paging through the scrapbook, Sidda begins to glimpse the dark shadows in her mother's life. The narrative deftly switches between first- and third-person viewpoints, from Vivi's past as revealed in the scrapbook to Sidda's childhood guilt about failing her mother. Wells (Little Altars Everywhere) demonstrates that with knowledge can come forgiveness. She has written an entertaining and engrossing novel filled with humor and heartbreak. Readers will envy Vivi her Ya-Ya "sisters" and Sidda her lover, who is one of the most appealing men to be found in recent mainstream fiction. This entirely satisfactory novel belongs in public libraries of all sizes.

A great read about Southern women and strong friendships.

Very good.

Funny, nostalgic

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