BOOK REVIEW: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

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.

Truth, I've seen the movie.  I'm not sure how, if at all that colored by ideas regarding the book.  To be fair I didn't see the movie when it was at it's height of popularity and everyone was doing Ya Ya things at parties, with the family or with their friends.  It's difficult for me to see a movie after I have read the book.  Predominately because I feel like the movies never do the book justice.  However, 'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood', despite the differences between the book and the movie, was done well as a book and as a movie.  Perhaps because I read the book after the movie, it's rare I do it that way.

I truly enjoyed this book.  I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed the characters.  I reminds me a little bit of 'Sex in the City'.  Just go with me for a minute.  I have a friend who loves the show and the movies.  The intertwining of friends lives and the comfort of having friends at hand for the good, the bad, the ugly, the amazing.  I have another friend who said once that she could never be a 'Sex in the City' friend and if that is what was being sought in friendship then to look elsewhere.  The Ya-Ya's are 'Sex in the City' friends.  Always there, good or bad.  Always ready to hold up a friend, or the child of a friend.  Always there for the fun times and the hard times. Friends for life, no take backs.  They carry each others secrets and burdens.  The carry each others joy and laughter.

Friendship like that, today, is rare.  Friendships that span a lifetime are hard to find.  In today's world people are on the move.  We are more globally minded and leave behind parts of ourselves where we go. To stay in one area for a lifetime and be around the same people for a lifetime is something of the past.   Even if one or two stay the chances of four staying is small.  We go to college, we move to the city, we get careers and married.  Your friends from school change to your college friends.  They change to your career friends.  You may hold the friendships from childhood in memory but rarely do they continue in reality.

I think I liked this book mostly for the relationships.  To have those types of friendships is something we all long for, whether we realize it or not.  Someone to trust with your secrets, your heartbreaks, your tears.  Someone to trust with your joys, your hopes and dreams, and laughter.  We all long for someone to have a history and a future with.  And as women this is position that only a girlfriend, or girlfriends, can fill. 

I think, somewhere in writing this review, I've changed from writing an actual review to writing a blog post of thoughts and life lessons.  What I do know is that I believe that Rebecca Wells did an amazing job of creating an amazing cast of women that fills a space that we all long for in one way or another.  She's created women who knew how to care for each other.  She also created an imperfect world where no one is perfect, no matter how much they try or pretend to be.  Everyone is broken in one way or another.  And those women tried to teach us that no matter how good or bad a situation is.  No matter how vulnerable you feel you have to keep going.  Your time will come.  And those that love you will carry you through it all.

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About Rebecca Wells

Writer, actor, and playwright Rebecca Wells is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Ya-Yas in Bloom, Little Altars Everywhere, and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which was made into a feature film. A native of Louisiana, she now lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest.

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BOOK REVIEW: Phantom's by Dean Koontz

They thought it was the work of a maniac or terrorists or toxic contamination -- but then they found the truth, which was worse than anything they had imagined...

'Phantoms' was one of the first of the first Dean Koontz novels I ever read and will forever be one of my favorites by him.  One of the things I enjoy about Koontz's writing is he takes the slightly improbable and shows how it could actually be probable.  It's the prefect blend of science fiction and horror.

A mountain town suddenly missing most of it's residents and those that aren't missing are dead.  However, there is no indication of what caused these deaths or disappearances.  The bodies left behind defy any known method of death. As the investigation gears up the questions become greater than the answers. 

I really enjoyed the storyline of 'Phantoms' and the idea of real historical, even recent history, events and an improbable explanation.  Mass disappearances such as the Roanoke Colony, Aztec cities, the Mary Celeste which I had heard of as well as a few incidents I was unfamiliar with.  The problem with improbable is that no one else has any better theory on what happened.  So is this explanation really as improbable as we try to tell ourselves?  Written in what I call the 'Koontz Style', giving just enough information in each chapter to keep you engaged while at the same time drawing bull's eye circles around the answer.  Hinting just enough to make you think you know what's going on while keeping you in the dark all the same.

The hard part of this novel is the sheer number of characters and the switching voice. Truth, I only have issues with all the characters because I am horrible with names.  I was forever flipping back through what I had read so I could remember who was who.  And then just as you got to know a character and decided if you liked them or not they were gone.  Just gone.  Dead, vanished, gone.  Tough I do appreciate that most of the characters, outside maybe the random fox, I got to know before they were gone.  It was hard to read about the loss of characters that were likeable and sympathetic.  And it was hard to read about the characters that were created to loathed.  I mean, were they really gone? 

There were parts that were not only improbable but also unbelievable.  And those unbelievable parts made the ending of the novel bring down my entire rating of the story.  I do like this book.  And I would recommend it to anyone that likes science-fiction meets horror meets good gravy what if that could be true!?!

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About Dean Koontz

Dean Ray Koontz is an American author. His novels are broadly described as suspense thrillers, but also frequently incorporate elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and satire.

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