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Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood
 
 

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Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood (Mass Market Paperback)

by Rebecca Wells (Author) "Tap-dancing child abuser ..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,144 customer reviews)

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

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. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran narrator Ivey is magnificent in her performance of Wells's sprawling, delicious novel of lifelong female friendship and mother-daughter tension and reconciliation. When Siddalee Walker, a successful theater director, accidentally lets slip in an interview some less-than-flattering truths about her mother, Vivi, the ever-dramatic Vivi declares "You are dead to me!" But when Sidda reads Vivi's scrapbook detailing seven decades of friendship with her lifelong pals, the irrepressible Ya-Yas, she begins to understand her vivacious, unconventional, often difficult but never boring mother in ways she never has before. Ivey creates distinctive voices for each one of the multitude of characters not an easy task, since most of them are female and Southern. There's the four Ya-Yas, both as young, giggly girls and then as elderly women; Sidda as a child and a woman; and a plethora of relatives, siblings and friends. Ivey performs each character with conviction and emotion. Through her performance, listeners can see the characters, colorful events and the tangle and friction of close-knit, complicated relationships.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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1,144 Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars (1,144 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Amazing Novel, Her Best Book, Dec 7 2008
By Jamieson Villeneuve "Author at Large" (Ottawa Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Divine Secrets Of The Ya-ya Sisterhood: A Novel (Paperback)
When secrets have been buried beneath the veneer of the skin, they fester. Sometimes, those secrets can be held at bay for years, decades even. Sometimes the secrets you hold can eat away at who you are, and what you have become. Usually, they have to come out sooner or later.

The consequences of that release, letting the secrets breathe and have life once more, can be good or bad - but keeping those secrets inside can tear a family apart.

In the incredible book "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" by Rebecca Wells, we meet Siddalee Walker, a middle aged playwright directing her first Broadway play. She is the daughter of Southern Belle Vivi Abbot Walker. Their relationship is rocky at best.

Along for the ride are Vivi's life long friends: Necie, Caro and Teensy. Decades ago, Vivi, Necie, Caro and Teensie formed a secret sisterhood, the sisterhood of the Ya-Ya's. They will let no man put them under, and will always listen to the call of the women and Gods that came before them.

Their friendship, forged in the heat of the South and the blood they shared, has stood the test of time. Unfortunately, Vivi's relationships with her children, especially Sidda, haven't.When the New York Times interviews Sidda and proclaims her mother to be a tap dancing child abuser, all hell breaks loose. Vivi cuts Siddalee out of her will and proclaims her dead to her, in true Southern fashion.

At a loss as to how to articulate her pain, Sidda decides not to marry her seven-year sweetheart Connor McGill. The Ya-Ya's step in to Sidda's aid. They implore Vivi to send Sidda the Divine Secrets, a scrapbook of sorts that chronicles their lives together. Flipping through the large book, Sidda is thrust back in time, to the South in the 1930's and beyond, and learns what really happened to her mother and her life.

We learn, along with Sidda, about the alcohol, the lost love that died in the war, what really preceded the beating outside of their family home when Vivi finally broke down. Once secrets are released, they have a difficult time staying hidden. And, as is often the case with secrets, once one has found it's way out to the light, the other secrets are not too far behind.

In "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," Wells has created a tapestry of words, showing us snapshots of one family's life and a relationship between mother and daughter that is, in the end, strong enough to survive child beatings, abuse, booze, girl scouts, lovers, enemies and the perfect perm.

We are offered a glimpse into the lives of these people, Sidda, Vivi, her husband Shep, and it is often times a harrowing picture, a dark one. It is, however, a story that probably everyone can relate to. For how often have we bemoaned our parents, thought them ill equipped to deal with us, or that they really didn't love us or want us when it is the other way around? That they don't know how to show love and affection, that they are unable to, perhaps due to what happened to them as children. Secrets that no child really ever finds out.

"Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" is a wonderful novel filled with humor, honesty and the strength of the human spirit. If you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for?
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5.0 out of 5 stars Truly inspirational, Nov 27 2007
By Kenny G. (Surrey) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Divine Secrets Of The Ya-ya Sisterhood: A Novel (Paperback)
This is a book for anyone who is a mother and anyone who is a daughter.

It's about insight and perspective, love and forgiveness, and ultimately, about the redemptive (life-giving) nature of the relationships between mother and daughter and women friends.

Even if we didn't have it as bad as Vivi or SiddaLee, most off us mothers have screwed up and hurt our kids without meaning to, and many of us know what it feels like to have a mother whose own pain sometimes gets in the way of her ability to be a "good" mother.

What Wells has given us is a poignant, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous portrait of the journey between the way it is between Vivi and SiddaLee and the way they want it to be.

This is also a book about friendship, about continuity over time, and the truth of women's lives. It's about friends who share joy, responsibility and their shame with each other. I loved every moment of reading this book. You will too.

If you loved this book, along with the SHOPAHOLIC SERIES and the book THE WOMAN WHO CUT OFF HER LEG, then you'll have one great collection.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Books dealing with the south, July 3 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Divine Secrets Of The Yaya Sister (Paperback)
For me, books dealing with the South are like pizza and sex---even when they're bad they're still pretty good. That's not to say that "Divine Secrets" is bad, it isn't. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, it's one of the two best books I've read recently that dealt with family sagas, secrets, the south, and a host of other things. The other is a book called "The Bark of the Dogwood--A Tour of Southern Homes and Gardens." Both books are entertaining and well-written. But I digress. My point is that books dealing with southern themes and ideas, well . . .you can't go wrong. Why is it that all the great writers are Southern? Who knows. And I don't care. All I do know is that "Divine Secrets" is a rollicking good time with more than a few dark undertones. This one's a keeper.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Needs literary testosterone
I gave this book one star because Wells does have some writing talent. However, her subject matter is somewhat nauseating. Read more
Published on Jun 23 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Divine
I saw the movie which was made from this book first, and while I like it, I wasn't just blown away by it. Then I read the book. Read more
Published on May 26 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars The Neatest Grandmothers
I have to say I first watched the movie then read the book. I loved both. They are different, of course like many movies and books differ, but I will not tell you where. Read more
Published on May 18 2004 by Katie

5.0 out of 5 stars Divine!
I loved this book and the pre-quel, Little Altars. I've about warn out my DVD too! Definitely a book I could get lost in time and time again. Read more
Published on May 14 2004 by M. K. Knight

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!!
The Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a great book about the relationship beteween a mother and daughter. Viviane Walker has a very close group of friends that call themselves the Ya-Yas. Read more
Published on May 12 2004 by reader1228

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my top three
This is one of my top three picks for all-time great books. The other two are FRIED GREEN TOMATOES and THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD. But of the three, SECRETS is by far the best. Read more
Published on May 9 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Wasn't very pleased...
I was really not impressed by this book. After reading both of them I think Little Altars Everywhere was MUCH better. Ya-Ya dragged on, and was sorta boring. Read more
Published on May 2 2004 by Mercedes L. Johnmeyer

4.0 out of 5 stars Divine Book
This book will have you laughing and crying as you follow the relationships of Sidda & her mother and the Ya-Ya's. Read more
Published on April 27 2004 by A.E.B.

4.0 out of 5 stars Cajun Spice
Although the sisterhood of the Ya-Ya's plays a large part in this tale, the book is mostly about Siddalee and her relationship with her divine mother Vivi. Read more
Published on April 15 2004 by Robin Johnson Esak

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved, loved, loved it!
This is one of the best things I've come across in a long time. Most books that are recommended to me are disappointments, but this one, along with two others I recently read... Read more
Published on April 9 2004

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