Scan barcode
katietopp's review against another edition
5.0
I can’t believe it took me this long to read this. I needed a book like this. Same vibe as secret life of bees, and the help. Just a down home comfy book about the power of female friendship and mother daughter relationships.
jeslyncat's review against another edition
2.0
An okay read.
Being the daughter of a mother who abused drugs and alcohol when I was growing up, I often struggle to identify with--and thus lack the ability to enjoy, novels about such things.
Being the daughter of a mother who abused drugs and alcohol when I was growing up, I often struggle to identify with--and thus lack the ability to enjoy, novels about such things.
redskates's review against another edition
2.0
Never read the book after seeing the movie, it just doesn't work. Otherwise I would have rated it higher
ali_enza's review against another edition
4.0
I have tried reading this book on 4 different occassions and finally, this last attempt, I got passed chapter 1 and finished the book. And I loved it. It has a slow somewhat confusing start but once I got passed the first chapter I was hooked. The characters were startling and brilliant, beautifully written. The mother daughter relationships were developed to the fullest. I spent a good time laughing during the book but there were also moments where I was on the verge of crying (ok, sometimes fully crying). I hadn't realized that there was a second book until yesterday but I think I'll try to find it.
kjewell's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
my favorite book of all time. wonderful exploration of girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood and the complexity of mother/daughter relationships.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism
novelinsights's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is not a genre of book that I read very often, but I really enjoyed it and actually felt very good after finishing it. I think I picked this book up at just the right time, as I have lived in a separate state from my family and most of my friends for several years and have really come to miss them and cherish my memories with them. This book made me nostalgic for the times I used to spend with them, and it also helped remind me to see the beauty in every day, even while I am away from them. Particularly, this book brought back my summer memories as a kid and all the things that I used to do outside for fun, most of which I haven't done in many years. This is also a mother-daughter book, and while the relationship in this book is nothing like my relationship with my own mother (we have more of a Gilmore Girls dynamic), it definitely made me think back to times we've shared.
This is not a very plot-heavy book. Really, the entire plot hangs on one point of contention: that Sidda, our protagonist, happened to mention some of the darker parts of her childhood to a reporter who was interviewing her about a play that she directed, and now those darker times have been brought to light and her mother is furious with her. Sidda wants to win back her mother's favor and to learn more about her mother's side of the story. While I do typically read and prefer more plot-heavy stories, I really didn't mind the simplicity of this one, because the characters and their interpersonal dynamics were anything but simple. In fact, I see that most of the bad reviews of this book revolve around one of three complicated elements of the story, and I would argue that none of these elements are inherently problems of the book.
Probably the most common complaint that I've seen about this book is that the relationship between Sidda and her mother, Vivi, truly is abusive in nature. Arguably, this could be considered to be true. This novel focuses a lot more on Vivi's childhood than on Sidda's, and we only really get to see a few very specific incidents, which admittedly mostly do not reflect well on Vivi's parenting skills. However, the point of fiction is not to provide anyone with a role model or to depict everything the way it ideally should happen. The point of fiction is to tell a realistic story and to try to depict the messiness and conflict of real life, and this story does that wonderfully. I don't think Vivi should be any mother's role model, but was she believable as a mother? Absolutely. And Sidda's relationship with her was also believable. In this day and age, it's very common to just cut people out of your life if they're abusive or hold questionable morals. Perhaps that's truly the healthiest way to deal with things; I don't feel qualified to speak on that, as I've never had to do it. The important thing is, it's not what everyone chooses, and it was much less common of a choice back in the 90s, when this is supposed to take place. Sure, maybe you would disown Vivi if she were your mother, but there are plenty of people that would try to make peace with her and salvage that messy, complicated relationship as best they could, and that story deserves to be told, as well.
Another complaint that I see a lot about this book is the racism of the main characters, especially Vivi. This is actually something that I appreciated, not because I like racism but because it didn't sugar-coat the reality of how Black people were treated over the course of Vivi's lifetime, especially in the South. A lot of times, I feel that historical stories try to make the protagonists more likeable by making them the ones to see through the racism/sexism/etc. of their inherent time person and by giving them more modern viewpoints, and while it does make them more enjoyable to read about, I don't think it offers an accurate depiction of the complexities of our national history (or of the history of the world as a whole). People love to believe that they couldn't possibly like someone who would advocate for slavery or any of those other historical atrocities, but the reality is, they were commonplace at the time, and the people partaking in them were just normal people who often likely also had a lot of positive or sympathetic traits. It is by remembering this that we are able to keep in mind that even the people we like are at risk of committing atrocities in present day, and we should always be vigilant of their behavior and of our own. There is one scene in this novel where Vivi is shown standing up to a racist person for her Black maid, Ginger, which helps to endear her to the reader in this way. However, in different parts of that same section of the novel, Vivi is shown engaging in racism of her own, asking Ginger to make her a hot chocolate while Ginger is crying about how much she misses her family. Vivi is also shown clearly undervaluing her Black help as an adult when she is dealing with having four children for the first time. I thought it greatly furthered the book's complex depiction of people by allowing someone to see the faults in others while still having faults of their own.
Finally, the last and strangest complaint I've seen about this book is that it's unhealthy for someone to have the same friend group since high school, and that just strikes me as bizarre. Maintaining long-term relationships with people that you care about, even as you grow and change as people hardly seems unhealthy to me. In fact, I envied Vivi greatly; while the details of the Ya-Yas and their interests didn't necessarily apply to me or my high school friends, I have missed them greatly since I have moved away for graduate school, and I hope to someday return to some of those relationships. There's something huge to be said for community, and the Ya-Yas represent nothing more than a small, tight-knit community.
Probably the only thing that I would truly complain about with this novel was that the incident that was arguably at the heart of the whole story was not covered in an appropriate amount of detail. For most of the novel, Sidda would discover a souvenir or a letter and then we would get Vivi's personal account of the story behind it, even when Sidda didn't get to know that personal account. However, when it came to the most important story in the whole book plot-wise, we never really get Vivi's account of it, and I felt that absence.
Overall, this book helped me to refocus on what's really important in life, and I would definitely like to read the other two books in the series at some point.
This is not a very plot-heavy book. Really, the entire plot hangs on one point of contention: that Sidda, our protagonist, happened to mention some of the darker parts of her childhood to a reporter who was interviewing her about a play that she directed, and now those darker times have been brought to light and her mother is furious with her. Sidda wants to win back her mother's favor and to learn more about her mother's side of the story. While I do typically read and prefer more plot-heavy stories, I really didn't mind the simplicity of this one, because the characters and their interpersonal dynamics were anything but simple. In fact, I see that most of the bad reviews of this book revolve around one of three complicated elements of the story, and I would argue that none of these elements are inherently problems of the book.
Probably the most common complaint that I've seen about this book is that the relationship between Sidda and her mother, Vivi, truly is abusive in nature. Arguably, this could be considered to be true. This novel focuses a lot more on Vivi's childhood than on Sidda's, and we only really get to see a few very specific incidents, which admittedly mostly do not reflect well on Vivi's parenting skills. However, the point of fiction is not to provide anyone with a role model or to depict everything the way it ideally should happen. The point of fiction is to tell a realistic story and to try to depict the messiness and conflict of real life, and this story does that wonderfully. I don't think Vivi should be any mother's role model, but was she believable as a mother? Absolutely. And Sidda's relationship with her was also believable. In this day and age, it's very common to just cut people out of your life if they're abusive or hold questionable morals. Perhaps that's truly the healthiest way to deal with things; I don't feel qualified to speak on that, as I've never had to do it. The important thing is, it's not what everyone chooses, and it was much less common of a choice back in the 90s, when this is supposed to take place. Sure, maybe you would disown Vivi if she were your mother, but there are plenty of people that would try to make peace with her and salvage that messy, complicated relationship as best they could, and that story deserves to be told, as well.
Another complaint that I see a lot about this book is the racism of the main characters, especially Vivi. This is actually something that I appreciated, not because I like racism but because it didn't sugar-coat the reality of how Black people were treated over the course of Vivi's lifetime, especially in the South. A lot of times, I feel that historical stories try to make the protagonists more likeable by making them the ones to see through the racism/sexism/etc. of their inherent time person and by giving them more modern viewpoints, and while it does make them more enjoyable to read about, I don't think it offers an accurate depiction of the complexities of our national history (or of the history of the world as a whole). People love to believe that they couldn't possibly like someone who would advocate for slavery or any of those other historical atrocities, but the reality is, they were commonplace at the time, and the people partaking in them were just normal people who often likely also had a lot of positive or sympathetic traits. It is by remembering this that we are able to keep in mind that even the people we like are at risk of committing atrocities in present day, and we should always be vigilant of their behavior and of our own. There is one scene in this novel where Vivi is shown standing up to a racist person for her Black maid, Ginger, which helps to endear her to the reader in this way. However, in different parts of that same section of the novel, Vivi is shown engaging in racism of her own, asking Ginger to make her a hot chocolate while Ginger is crying about how much she misses her family. Vivi is also shown clearly undervaluing her Black help as an adult when she is dealing with having four children for the first time. I thought it greatly furthered the book's complex depiction of people by allowing someone to see the faults in others while still having faults of their own.
Finally, the last and strangest complaint I've seen about this book is that it's unhealthy for someone to have the same friend group since high school, and that just strikes me as bizarre. Maintaining long-term relationships with people that you care about, even as you grow and change as people hardly seems unhealthy to me. In fact, I envied Vivi greatly; while the details of the Ya-Yas and their interests didn't necessarily apply to me or my high school friends, I have missed them greatly since I have moved away for graduate school, and I hope to someday return to some of those relationships. There's something huge to be said for community, and the Ya-Yas represent nothing more than a small, tight-knit community.
Probably the only thing that I would truly complain about with this novel was that the incident that was arguably at the heart of the whole story was not covered in an appropriate amount of detail. For most of the novel, Sidda would discover a souvenir or a letter and then we would get Vivi's personal account of the story behind it, even when Sidda didn't get to know that personal account. However, when it came to the most important story in the whole book plot-wise, we never really get Vivi's account of it, and I felt that absence.
Overall, this book helped me to refocus on what's really important in life, and I would definitely like to read the other two books in the series at some point.
mcgi2088's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book because I love the movie and the story. However my only complaint is that it was not as dark as the prequel "little alters everywhere." I read that book first and felt the author went to great lengths to create a tone that wasn't carried over to "Devine secrets." Not that I like (morally) what was implied in "little alters" but I think if an author is going to create such vivid characters, one should see all of the details through in subsequent plot lines...
I still love the honesty and raw imperfections in this book. The bond of mother and daughter is complex and the author portrayed it in a unique and relatable way. Highly recommended!
I still love the honesty and raw imperfections in this book. The bond of mother and daughter is complex and the author portrayed it in a unique and relatable way. Highly recommended!
lesterb09's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Great story of family trauma and women friendship.