Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

Title: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Author: Rebecca Wells

# pages: 356

Date published: 1996

Genre: women’s fiction

Challenge(s): 888 Challenge, Raved-About Reads Challenge

Rating:

(very good)

Setting: Lake Quinault, Washington & Thornton, Louisiana

First Sentence:

“Tap-dancing child abuser.”

Synopsis (from Barnes&Noble.com): When Vivi and Siddalee Walker, an unforgettable mother-daughter team, get into a savage fight over a New York Times article that refers to Vivi as a 'tap-dancing child abuser,' the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together. In 1932, Vivi and the Ya-Yas were disqualified from a Shirley Temple Look-Alike Contest for unladylike behavior. Sixty years later, they're 'bucking 70' and still making waves. With passion and a rare gift for language, Rebecca Wells moves from present to past, unraveling Vivi's life, her enduring friendships with the Ya-Yas, and the reverberations on Siddalee. The collective power of the Ya-Yas, each of them totally individual and authentic, permeates this story of a tribe of Louisiana wild women who are impossible to tame.

Random Thoughts: I finally got around to reading this book on the plane to Poland last month. Yeah!! It's been languishing on my bookshelf forever. I picked up Divine Secrets years ago when it was first being raved-about, but then I found out about Little Alters Everywhere and decided to pick it up instead. It’s interesting to read people’s (or Amazon reviewers, anyway) reaction to Little Alters and Divine Secrets because, while I enjoyed Divine Secrets I seem to remember being blown away by Little Alters (although it's been YEARS since I read Little Alters, so that could be revisionist thinking on my part). It's possible that I had a lukewarm feeling about Divine Secrets because it felt a little warmed-over after reading Little Alters (both books are about the same characters and cover some of the same ground).

Anyone else read both? What did you think? Did you prefer one book over the other?

Let’s give people a variety of opinions! If you've reviewed this book (or a book by this author), leave me a link to your review in the comments and I'll link to your review, too!