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A review by llama_lord
Divine Secrets of the YA-YA Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
3.0
This was one of my favorite books in high school. I decided to re-read it (in audio book form) after re-watching the movie recently and still finding enjoyable. But oh man did the book fall short this time around.
First, a few words on the audio book version which was read by Judith Ivey. While I appreciated her commitment to giving each character their own unique voice, overall I found the reader's voice just kind of irritating. The parts when Vivi was a child, where the reader combined Vivi's thick Louisiana accent with a high-pitched child voice, were honestly hard to sit through. Overall I would not recommend this specifically as an audio book.
The few parts of this book that stuck out in my mind over the years and made me remember it as an awesome book (specifically the Ya-Ya's trip to Atlanta to see the premiere of GWTW and Vivi's experience in Catholic boarding school) were the only parts that I actually enjoyed this time around. Everything else seemed mediocre. Part of the reason I probably liked this book as a teenager was because everything the Ya-Ya's do is something a 15 year old would think is cool. Frankly through an adult's eyes a lot of the Ya-Ya's antics are kind of pathetic. For example, at one point Sidda tells the story of how her mother and the Ya-Yas would repeatedly break into her high school dances in order to set up a bar for the students and also be the center of attention. Sidda tells the story as if it's this funny example of how wild and endearing the Ya-Ya's are, but all I could think about is how pathetic it is for a group of middle aged women to be trying to relive their glory days at their childrens' high school dance.
As is usually the case with any historical fiction that flips between the historical setting and a "modern" setting, I infinitely preferred the flashbacks to Vivi's youth over any of the portions with modern day Sidda. Sidda's sections are not only extremely boring (consisting pretty much entirely of her walking, eating, or petting her dog) but they also don't add anything to the story. Sidda doesn't actually learn anything about her mother from the Ya-Ya's scrapbook, she just flips from photo to photo going "Oh wow I wonder what the story is behind this one". The reader is there for the flashbacks, but not Sidda. At least in the film the Ya-Ya's are with Sidda the entire time telling her the story behind everything in the scrapbook.
Also, nothing that we learn about Vivi's childhood or adolescence through the flashbacks and scrapbook excuses her or makes it understandable for her to be a shitty, abusive mom. Sorry Rebecca Wells, but Vivi taking her child on an elephant ride through a shopping center parking lot doesn't excuse the time she was high out of her mind and whipping her children with a belt buckle, or abandoning her children for days with no mention of where she was going and no warning that she was even leaving, or generally being an alcoholic who is only interested in the attention you get from being pregnant but with no interest in actually being responsible for the lives of four helpless children who depend on her.
First, a few words on the audio book version which was read by Judith Ivey. While I appreciated her commitment to giving each character their own unique voice, overall I found the reader's voice just kind of irritating. The parts when Vivi was a child, where the reader combined Vivi's thick Louisiana accent with a high-pitched child voice, were honestly hard to sit through. Overall I would not recommend this specifically as an audio book.
The few parts of this book that stuck out in my mind over the years and made me remember it as an awesome book (specifically the Ya-Ya's trip to Atlanta to see the premiere of GWTW and Vivi's experience in Catholic boarding school) were the only parts that I actually enjoyed this time around. Everything else seemed mediocre. Part of the reason I probably liked this book as a teenager was because everything the Ya-Ya's do is something a 15 year old would think is cool. Frankly through an adult's eyes a lot of the Ya-Ya's antics are kind of pathetic. For example, at one point Sidda tells the story of how her mother and the Ya-Yas would repeatedly break into her high school dances in order to set up a bar for the students and also be the center of attention. Sidda tells the story as if it's this funny example of how wild and endearing the Ya-Ya's are, but all I could think about is how pathetic it is for a group of middle aged women to be trying to relive their glory days at their childrens' high school dance.
As is usually the case with any historical fiction that flips between the historical setting and a "modern" setting, I infinitely preferred the flashbacks to Vivi's youth over any of the portions with modern day Sidda. Sidda's sections are not only extremely boring (consisting pretty much entirely of her walking, eating, or petting her dog) but they also don't add anything to the story. Sidda doesn't actually learn anything about her mother from the Ya-Ya's scrapbook, she just flips from photo to photo going "Oh wow I wonder what the story is behind this one". The reader is there for the flashbacks, but not Sidda. At least in the film the Ya-Ya's are with Sidda the entire time telling her the story behind everything in the scrapbook.
Also, nothing that we learn about Vivi's childhood or adolescence through the flashbacks and scrapbook excuses her or makes it understandable for her to be a shitty, abusive mom. Sorry Rebecca Wells, but Vivi taking her child on an elephant ride through a shopping center parking lot doesn't excuse the time she was high out of her mind and whipping her children with a belt buckle, or abandoning her children for days with no mention of where she was going and no warning that she was even leaving, or generally being an alcoholic who is only interested in the attention you get from being pregnant but with no interest in actually being responsible for the lives of four helpless children who depend on her.