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A review by skyhazzard
Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I was not expecting things to go the way they did. Here I thought I was signing up for a fun little reunion book (with the chance of some more serious stuff) and I had the rug pulled right out from under me.
As the years have gone on the girls have drifted away from each other a bit which is to be expected. But then Tibby (who’s been the most distant, not just from literal distance) organizes a reunion trip. They’re all so excited to get back in touch and hopefully respark their friendship but things don’t go according to their hopes and dreams.
I did appreciate that they were all kind of a mess 😂 It was refreshing to see them all struggling as they were nearing 30. I feel like in a lot of books the characters seem to have most everything figured out and they just seem so perfect.
I feel like out of all of them Carmen seemed the most together, her acting career was going alright, she was engaged, she seemed to have a good relationship with both of her parents. But her fiance was kind of annoying and seemed to only care about image and what he wanted out of the relationship. She was also repressing a side of herself with her acting, they didn’t want her to be pigeonholed as Latina so it felt like they were trying to make her appear more white (kind of giving Evelyn Hugo) to “help” her career. I feel like she became to focused on acting that she let her other hopes and aspirations fall to the side.
Bridget…I feel like she was the most lost. Girl was just bopping around. She didn’t know what she was doing with her life, she wanted to move every 5 seconds. I’m amazed she was somehow still with Eric and hadn’t gotten bored of him or him tired of her. The Eric storyline always felt a little icky but idk I liked him in this. She up and left him in the middle of the night and yet he still was willing to help her out and provide more help than she asked for when she came back. He was really feeling that “if you love someone set them free, if it was meant to be they’ll come back to you”. I did like where her storyline ended up (but also feel like I need an epilogue to see if she’s coping well).
Lena felt the most relatable. She had a good job that she liked well enough. She was getting by well enough. She preferred to stay in solitude and disliked when the phone would ring. She had a guy she liked well enough that made a mean sandwich 😂 Lena was existing but that’s it. She had nothing to strive for, nothing inspiring, she was just getting by. Which, as I said, feels the most relatable. Lena’s life was like a fork in the road, one was was safe and predictable and the other was the road not taken of possibility.
Tibby was the most mysterious of them all. She was still with Bryan and they had ended up moving about as far away as they possibly could to Australia which was only meant to be for a few month which turned into a few years. Her leaving is what kind of stalled all their friendships. They felt weird doing things without her because it should be all four of them together. Things just weren’t the same without her there.
This book dealt heavily with grief and how that affects everyone differently and also makes you reflect on your own life, where your life is heading.
As the years have gone on the girls have drifted away from each other a bit which is to be expected. But then Tibby (who’s been the most distant, not just from literal distance) organizes a reunion trip. They’re all so excited to get back in touch and hopefully respark their friendship but things don’t go according to their hopes and dreams.
I did appreciate that they were all kind of a mess 😂 It was refreshing to see them all struggling as they were nearing 30. I feel like in a lot of books the characters seem to have most everything figured out and they just seem so perfect.
I feel like out of all of them Carmen seemed the most together, her acting career was going alright, she was engaged, she seemed to have a good relationship with both of her parents. But her fiance was kind of annoying and seemed to only care about image and what he wanted out of the relationship. She was also repressing a side of herself with her acting, they didn’t want her to be pigeonholed as Latina so it felt like they were trying to make her appear more white (kind of giving Evelyn Hugo) to “help” her career. I feel like she became to focused on acting that she let her other hopes and aspirations fall to the side.
Bridget…I feel like she was the most lost. Girl was just bopping around. She didn’t know what she was doing with her life, she wanted to move every 5 seconds. I’m amazed she was somehow still with Eric and hadn’t gotten bored of him or him tired of her. The Eric storyline always felt a little icky but idk I liked him in this. She up and left him in the middle of the night and yet he still was willing to help her out and provide more help than she asked for when she came back. He was really feeling that “if you love someone set them free, if it was meant to be they’ll come back to you”. I did like where her storyline ended up (but also feel like I need an epilogue to see if she’s coping well).
Lena felt the most relatable. She had a good job that she liked well enough. She was getting by well enough. She preferred to stay in solitude and disliked when the phone would ring. She had a guy she liked well enough that made a mean sandwich 😂 Lena was existing but that’s it. She had nothing to strive for, nothing inspiring, she was just getting by. Which, as I said, feels the most relatable. Lena’s life was like a fork in the road, one was was safe and predictable and the other was the road not taken of possibility.
Tibby was the most mysterious of them all. She was still with Bryan and they had ended up moving about as far away as they possibly could to Australia which was only meant to be for a few month which turned into a few years. Her leaving is what kind of stalled all their friendships. They felt weird doing things without her because it should be all four of them together. Things just weren’t the same without her there.
This book dealt heavily with grief and how that affects everyone differently and also makes you reflect on your own life, where your life is heading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Suicide