Wells, Rebecca

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel

Average customer rating:

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
What's the fuss?
Great Narrative Voice
An Easy Read Fly-Weight
Like getting a glimpse into the rich, memory-laden scrapbook of your own family!

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel
Rebecca Wells
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Little Altars Everywhere: A Novel
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Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: A Novel

ASIN: 006075995X
Release Date: 2004-12-07

Amazon.com

Wells is a Louisiana-born Seattle actress and playwright; her loopy saga of a 40-year-old player in Seattle's hot theater scene who must come to terms with her mama's past in steamy Thornton City, Louisiana, reads like a lengthy episode of Designing Women written under the influence of mint juleps and Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!. The Ya-Yas are the wild circle of girls who swirl around the narrator Siddalee's mama, Vivi, whose vivid voice is "part Scarlett, part Katharine Hepburn, part Tallulah." The Ya-Yas broke the no-booze rule at the cotillion, skinny-dipped their way to jail in the town water tower, disrupted the Shirley Temple look-alike contest, and bonded for life because, as one says, "It's so much fun being a bad girl!"

Siddalee must repair her busted relationship with Vivi by reading a half-century's worth of letters and clippings contained in the Ya-Ya Sisterhood's packet of "Divine Secrets." It's a contrived premise, but the secrets are really fun to learn.

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

Performed, not read, by the author is the key here. This highly spirited interpretation of the cult classic is, like the book, full of humor and surprises. It captures with ease the powerful lifelong friendship between four Southern women, the Ya-Ya's: Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Necie. The author endows each of her charming characters with an inimitable Southern accent, from a low rumble for the aging oxygen-tank-carrying Caro, to the fresh innocent voice of Vivi as a child. The story moves back and forth from present to past when Vivi's daughter, Sidda, is faced with a crisis and is given the golden opportunity to explore the history of these devoted pals through her mother's secret scrapbook. Her journey is sprinkled with her own memories of her irrepressible and irresistible mother, and she is rewarded with glimpses of true love and loyalty against an often hilarious and poignant backdrop of life in the rural South.

Some favorite scenes, anecdotes, and the rich bayou background are not included on this abridged audiocassette, but fans of this special sisterhood will nonetheless enjoy listening to the author's take on the world of Thornton, Louisiana, and the female friendships she created there. (Running time: 3 hours, 2 cassettes) --Anne Depue

Book Description

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 analyse 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.

Visit Ya-Ya.com, where you can:

<UL> <LI>find tips on starting your own Ya-Ya group <LI>join the Ya-Ya.com Community <LI>send Ya-Ya e-cards <LI>download Ya-Ya wallpaper for your computer's desktop <LI>use the Ya-Ya name generator to come up with your own Ya-Ya name</LI></UL>

Download Description

Siddalee Walker won't forgive her mother Vivi for her painful Louisiana childhood. But Vivi's lifelong friends -- the Ya-Yas -- have other ideas.. Locked in a cabin, they present Siddalee with a scrapbook of their childhood mementos, and reveal the secrets of a tangled, emotional relationship between a mother and her daughter. Companion to the beloved bestseller Little Alters Everywhere.

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.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood may call to mind Prince of Tides in its unearthing of family darkness; in its unforgettable heroines and irrepressible humor and female loyalty, it echoes Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.

Customer Reviews:

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.......2007-06-05

ISBN 0060928336 - A #1 New York Times Bestseller, Divine Secrets proves, yet again, that marketing can make a mountain out of any molehill. I really WANTED to like this book even half as much as the marketing told me I should, but I just couldn't work up that much enthusiasm about it.

Sidda is engaged and the wedding date nears when she freaks out, realizing she doesn't "know how to love" and runs off to contemplate her belly button. Blaming her lack of "knowing how to love" on her mother, Vivi, who Sidda recently offended - in the New York Times, no less! - Sidda finds herself adrift without the anchor that Vivi and her mother's friends had been for most of her life. Believing that the answer lies with these women, Sidda is fortunate when her mother relents just enough to send her a scrapbook of Ya-Ya-rablia. Sadly, little scraps don't tell the whole story and Sidda can't piece it together without help.

After the introduction of each scrap, Wells puts it in context for the reader, telling the story of Teensy, Caro, Necie and Vivi - the Ya-Yas. Sidda is NOT aware of these stories, except in rare instances when a character talks TO her or it is her own memory, which makes for some mild confusion. Sidda has to wade through the mess in her head and the scraps in the book in order to feel that she can love - and be loved.

Wells felt the need to subtly point to the fact that Sidda's fiance looks like Vivi's one true love, Jack, several times, but it is never clearly said and therefore seems pointless - most especially since the only person who doesn't seem to remark upon it is Sidda. Oddly, the only thing about the book that sticks in my head after finally finishing it is that every exaggeration was "eighty four thousand" - "saw it eighty four thousand times", "dyeing eighty four thousand eggs", etc.

Fans of chick-lit will like this book. Others, like me, will find themselves referring to it as "the blah-blah sisterhood". The story of the Ya-Yas themselves, without a character like Sidda in the way, might have been more interesting. On the up side for me, I did rather enjoy seeing religion portrayed as one of the worst evils in the story. Not awful, just not worth more than the current used price of one penny (plus shipping).

What's the fuss?.......2007-03-30

I really tried to like this book. It was given to me by my Mother who loved it, and after a couple of attempts, and struggling to about half way, I finally decided that I found the book extremely boring and gave it up.

I even watched the movie to try and spark my interest, and although I found the movie OK, it did nothing to make me want to pick up the book and finish it. I don't often put down books, I will usually persevere, and I tend to be a fairly easy critic, but this one just had nothing for me.

Great Narrative Voice.......2007-02-18

What I love about well-written Southern books is the clever setting descriptions and wonderful wordplay characterizations and Rebecca Wells delivers on both nicely. She's a fantastic writer and here's why:

I hated the story of discovery. I hated the travel through a coming of age decades-come-late. I hated the little organization of friends who support and encourage each other through understandable secrets and hard life's lessons. I hated all of it, yet I kept reading the book and the reason I kept reading the book is because Ms. Wells is just that good of a writer. I even asked myself, "Why are you reading this book?" and my answer was, "I want to write that cleverly."

For someone who loves intricate stories of women's lives and motivations, this book is going to be heaven. For someone who doesn't, this book is a lesson in how to do it right - or how to do it write. I recommend on either count.

- CV Rick

An Easy Read Fly-Weight.......2006-10-08

Sidda is forty, engaged to be married, and a theatrical director who has recently hit the popular and critical jackpot in her staging of a New York play. She has also managed to give an interview that has fractured her already strained relationship with mother Vivi, and her reflections on her mother and her Lousiana childhood have led her to an emotional crossroads: can she reconcile with her mother, the past, and indeed her own life?

DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD was tremendously successful when first published, and many professional reviewers commented that it was the sort of novel that would make you cry and laugh at the same time. It is quite true that the book has much to offer: it contains several very memorable characters, and author Wells does indeed manage to capture a sense of the bonds of friendship as well as a uniquely Louisiana way of life. But I can't say that I found the book laugh-out-loud funny or that it made my eyes water, much less shed tears.

Simply put, DIVINE SECRETS reads very much as if Wells and a host of marketing men sat down together and premeditated a book that would be an easy-read best seller. It is well written, but I never quite believed in the characters or the situations they faced; as such I never found any of it greatly funny or even slightly moving. At absolute best, the novel is an easy way to pass an otherwise empty afternoon, enjoyable in an utterly mindless sort of way. I recommend it on that basis alone.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Like getting a glimpse into the rich, memory-laden scrapbook of your own family!.......2006-08-24

The companion of "Little Altars Everywhere," this book takes the vantage of the adult Sidda. Although she's become successful on the outside, the inside still trembles at the damage inflicted by her mother Vivi while growing up.

In an attempt to help her daughter understand - and possibly restore their terribly damaged relationship - Vivi sends Sidda a scrapbook filled with "Ya-Ya-rabilia." As Sidda flips through the book and examines each item, the voices of Vivi and the other Ya-Yas explain the context which the item represents. Quickly, Sidda realizes that her mother was once young and full of hopes, which were dashed by her dour parents and a tragic death.

If you aren't a big fan of flashbacks, this might not be the book for you. However, Wells seems to do a good job, moving seamlessly from past to present and back. I highly recommend giving it a try!

Average customer rating:

The last chapter is worth the entire book
Severely mis-lead
hard to slog through
Growing Up Southern
One of my all-time favorites

Little Altars Everywhere: A Novel
Rebecca Wells
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Ya-Yas in Bloom: A Novel
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Family Linen
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Full Screen)

ASIN: 0060759968
Release Date: 2005-02-15

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

"It can wear you to a nub, trying to be a popular person and a good Catholic all at the same time." So says Sidda, one of the characters inhabiting Little Altars Everywhere. Author Rebecca Wells uses her considerable acting talent to perform this abridgment, adding even more spark to her already lively characters. Everyone--Shep, Vivi, Willetta, and the rest--is given a distinct voice, and Wells plays each of them to the hilt. More like a recording of a one-woman show than a mere reading, Altars is an excellent example of how entertaining audiobooks can be. (Running time: 3 hours, 2 cassettes) --C.B. Delaney

Book Description

The companion to the beloved bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, here is the funny, heartbreaking, and powerfully insightful tale that first introduced Siddalee, Vivi, their spirited Walker clan, and the indomitable Ya-Yas.

Download Description

Companion to the blockbuster movie and bestselling novel Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, here is the funny, heartbreaking, and powerfully insightful tale that first introduced Siddalee, Vivi, their spirited Walker clan, and the indomitable Ya-Yas.

The companion to the beloved bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, here is the funny, heartbreaking, and powerfully insightful tale that first introduced Siddalee, Vivi, their spirited Walker clan, and the indomitable Ya-Yas. "

Customer Reviews:

The last chapter is worth the entire book.......2007-04-01

This was the hardest read in the Ya-Ya series. I didn't always like it. It felt disjointed and uneven and some chapters (they were like vignettes, strung together) I started and then just skimmed or left unread.

The final chapter, however - was worth the entire experience. I wish we could have heard from this voice, the adult voice of Siddalee, through the entire thing. Baylor, yeah - he was good, too. There were no other Ya-Ya's (except in passing, where were "the gang" we love so much in Divine Secrets and Ya-Ya's in Bloom?). This book, the prequel to the rest was mostly Vivi's family.

I was reading someplace, maybe it was here, readers were upset about a revelation that takes place in this book. I guess I am weird in that I would rather have the characters in the books I read be flawed, be human.

Vivi is messed up. Ya-Ya readers know that. Her parents were messed up, her children are messed up albeit differently. "Little Altars" begins with Sidda as a pissed-off-on-the-edge-of-puberty girl scout and ends with Sidda as a late 30's woman, the woman who we see several years later narrating half of Divine Secrets.

I don't expect my "heroines" to be wind up toys or robots or flawless automatons. I would rather they be real.

And this volume, in my estimation, doesn't do it.

I think it was written first. But that last chapter. Oh my, that last chapter. I sat at my kitchen table sobbing and my daughter Katherine, from the living room said, "Mommy? Are you ok?" I hadn't realized I was so loud!

Read the last chapter. Pick it up at the bookstore and read it.
Here is one group of sentences as a preview for you:

"As far as I'm concerned, if you could bottle that smell, all the companies that make Xanax, Prozac and Valium would be out of business. You could just open the bottle and smell Willetta and never feel panicked or depressed again."

Love it.

Severely mis-lead.......2006-12-30

I first read Divine Secrets... and then read this book, and very much felt lied to by the author. In the second book the mother is basically lovable, well almost, but flawed. Then I went and read the first book Little Altars Everywhere and read that the mother is sexually abusing her children. This did not come up in Divine Secrets at all and to me seems like a bunch of bull crap. I know that Divine Secrets is mostly from the daughters point of view and that the mother was sexually abusing her sons, but evenstill. On its own it would be a much better book.

hard to slog through.......2006-11-18

this is poorly written about a nasty dysfunctional drunk southern family. sometimes when you get a book you enjoy it so much you either don't want to stop reading at all or you want to read it slowly so you have more time with it. well, this does not fall into either category. save your money.

Growing Up Southern.......2006-09-16

Meet the Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana. Vignettes told by the children, Sidda, Little Shep, Lulu, and Baylor, alternate with their parents to give a picture of growing up in the 1960s South in a dysfunctional family.
At first the mother (Vivi) seems eccentric and a bit too much a good-time girl. Then as the accounts add up, and the years pass, we see the complete disintigration of the family as alcoholism takes its toll.
It's all there, told in little stories; the catholicism, treatment of blacks, child abuse, Southern manners, Viet Nam, the remnants of Southern aristocracy and so much more. Your heart goes out to these children and you can't stop reading the sometimes funny, sometimes sad, events that make up their lives.

One of my all-time favorites.......2006-08-24

The companion to "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," this story is told from the vantage of Sidda and her siblings. Growing up in 1960s Mississippi, the children suffered greatly at the hands of their mother Vivi, who simply could not accept the fall from beautiful, popular teenager to farmer's wife and mother of four stairstep children.

Despite the underlying severity of the Walkers' childhood, the book - like "Divine Secrets" - is also hysterically funny. No matter what else happened, the kids did have some great times with the Ya-Yas, which helped shape the people they later became.

If you aren't a big fan of flashbacks, this might not be the book for you. However, Wells seems to do a good job, moving seamlessly from past to present and back. I highly recommend giving it a try!

Average customer rating:

Wilted...
cool stuff
Reviewed by Diane Kasperski
Ya, Ya, Yea, Yes!
Laughed the entire book

Ya-Yas in Bloom: A Novel
Rebecca Wells
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Mothers & Children | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Friendship | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060953659
Release Date: 2006-04-11

Book Description

Rebecca Wells's wonderful third book in her Ya-Ya trilogy, which includes Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, is sure to provide reading that makes you laugh and cry, a book that will break your heart and mend it again.

Ya-Yas in Bloom reveals the roots of the Ya-Yas' friendship in the 1930s, following Vivi, Teensy, Caro and Necie through sixty years of marriage, child-raising, and hair-raising family secrets.

When four-year-old Teensy Whitman prisses one time too many and stuffs a big old pecan up her nose, she sets off the chain of events that lead Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Necie to become true sister-friends. Using as narration the alternating voices of Vivi and the Petite Ya-Yas, Siddalee and Baylor Walker, as well as other denizens of Thornton, Louisiana, Wells show us the Ya-Yas in love and at war with convention. Through crises of faith and hilarious lapses of parenting skills, brushes with alcoholism and glimpses of the dark reality of racial bigotry, the Ya-Ya values of unconditional loyalty, high style, and Louisiana sass shine through.

But in the Ya-Yas' inimitable way, these four remarkable women also teach their children about the Mysteries: the wonder of snow in the deep South, the possibility that humans are made of stars, and the belief that miracles do happen. And they need a miracle when old grudges and wounded psyches lead to a heartbreaking crime...and the dynamic web of sisterhood is the only safety net strong enough to hold families together and endure.

After two bestsellers and a blockbuster movie, the Ya-Yas have become part of American culture -- icons for the power of women's friendship. Ya-Yas in Bloom continues the saga, giving us more Ya-Ya lore, spun out in the rich patois of the Louisiana bayou country and brim full of the Ya-Ya message to embrace life and each other with joy.

Customer Reviews:

Wilted..........2007-04-26

This is Louisiana native, Rebecca Wells' third installment into the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Saga. Wells, who is also an actor and playwright, has been riding high on the success of the bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood which has been translated into 23 languages since its release in 1996.

If you are not familiar with the Ya-Yas, they are four Louisiana women who've been friends since childhood (as young as 4) in the 1930s. Once a Ya-Ya, always a Ya-Ya. It even gets passed down through lineage producing Petite Ya-Yas (their children) and Tres Petites Ya-Yas (their grandchildren). Ya-Yas hold friendship and family at the top of their list of values along with "unconditional loyalty, high-style and southern sass".

Ya-Yas in Bloom starts off with family tree diagrams for each Ya-Ya, Vivi, Caro, Teensy and Necie. As I continued to read I found them to be a definite asset, having to refer to them numerous times. The following chapters are divided into four sections titled: Sowing Sisterhood Seeds, Tending Young Buds, Bruised Plantings, and A Bountiful Garden.

Ya-Yas in Bloom continues to languish on the emotional ties present amongst women and the bond of "true sister-friends". At page three I decided I was going to like this book because of the voice. The opening story was narrated by Vivi who's 68 going on 49. Unfortunately this feeling didn't hold until the end. More than half way through it began to feel like a bunch of leftover vignettes thrown together. There are just too many narrators: Vivi, Sidda, Baylor and even the occasional omnipresent voice take the reins. Ya-Yas in Bloom reads like the special features on a DVD giving some background on the well-loved characters.

What I enjoyed most about Bloom is the loyalty of the characters to one another and to one another's family. I enjoyed reading about Ya-Ya parties and how everyone prepared for the events; even the children who often hid watching in awe of their Ya-Ya parents. And comical moments which I could relate to, like the chapter on snow in the South when Little Shep was so excited about seeing snow for the first time he ran into the glass pane of a patio door and knocked himself unconscious.

While individually, some of these stories are heart warming as a whole they don't connect into a cohesive novel. If you're an obsessive Ya-Ya fan who just can't get enough or want more background then this book is for you. Otherwise, it's too flat for popular consumption. Reviewed by M. E. Wood.

cool stuff.......2007-03-27

Loved the story...very entertaining. The copy I purchased is in excellent condition. Thanks to my seller!

Reviewed by Diane Kasperski.......2007-02-10

Meet the Ya Ya Sisterhood in their younger days. Ya Yas in Bloom starts in 1930 with Teensy being taken to the doctor because she has shoved a pecan up her nose. She meets Vivi there and her pecan becomes immortalized for all patients to see in the years to come.

Then Teensy and Vivi plot to meet Necie because they are sure she is the famed Coco Robichaux that Genevieve, Teensy's mother, tells them about all the time. Caro is brought into the group and The Ya Ya Sisterhood is born and will remain true to each other through good times, some wild times and tough times for 60 some years.

The main focus is of the YaYa's as young mothers. The reader feels as if the author is reminiscing even though parts are from a third person's perspective rather than personal memory. However, there are parts that are Sidda's or Baylor's personal memories of events in their lives, too.

All-in-all even, though the telling through the years is somewhat disjointed - it all seems to gel into a charming, sometimes funny, sometimes sad story of life in Louisiana for the Ya Yas and their families. There are parts where the reader laughs out loud at the antics of Teensy and Vivi growing up and then gets amused at their handling of the nuns at the Catholic school when their children get into trouble.

Ms. Well's main characters are sharp witted, confident in themselves and have attitude. Throughout all, no matter what happens good or bad, they are all family and will stick together through thick and thin.

Ya, Ya, Yea, Yes!.......2007-01-07

Fun and easy reading. I have read all the "Ya Ya" books. The cover of this latest book looks like it is for or about children; it's not. The Ya Ya books follow a group of very Southern girls who are friends and relatives as they grow through the years. They tell about the fun things they do and the way they deal with each other and life in the South. They are crazy and loveable at the same time, crying, laughing, and doing outrageous things full of Southern comfort - life and drink. This latest book is about the Ya Ya's as mature women who continue to share the best times with family and each other. I smiled through every Ya Ya book, and look forward to reading more from Rebecca Wells.

Laughed the entire book.......2007-01-02

Didn't read the book, but listened to the audio book.
Don't know why the bad reviews. I loved it. Laughed through the entire audio book. Being raised Catholic, just brought back too many memories. Stop comparing it to the first book and just enjoy it!

Average customer rating:

Little Alters Everywhere
Boxed set allows reader to find out "all about the Walkers"
READ THIS BOOK!
Loved Ya-Ya, Liked Little Altars not quite as much
Wonderfully True To the Heart

The Ya-Ya Boxed Set
Rebecca Wells
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Popular Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Boxed Sets | Formats | Books
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Ya-Yas in Bloom: A Novel
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Full Screen)
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Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

ASIN: 0060932058

Amazon.com

Little Altars Everywhere first introduces readers to Siddalee Walker, her mother Viviane, and Viviane's unforgettable pals, the Ya-Yas--as wild a bunch of born-and-bred steel magnolias as you will ever run across in literature. Set in Louisiana and narrated by various members of the Walker family, Little Altars tells the tragicomic tale of Siddalee's magnificently dysfunctional clan. There is hard-drinking Viviane, who alternately adores her children and abuses them, and Daddy Big Shep, who is inarticulate, alcoholic, and can't quite say what he means and seldom means what he yells. Sidda's siblings are a mess, the family servants are badly treated, and though Rebecca Wells includes many hilarious set pieces throughout, even the Ya-Yas can't completely overcome the dark core at the center of this novel.

Wells continues the saga of Sidda and Vivi Walker in her follow-up, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and this time the mood is considerably lightened as she takes her characters back in time via a collection of letters, clippings, and scrapbooks--the "divine secrets" of the title. Here a younger, more sympathetic Vivi shares the limelight with her Ya-Ya pals, Teensy, Caro, and Necie. From skinny-dipping in the town water tower to boozing it up at the spring cotillion, these Southern-fried hell-raisers prove what everyone has always suspected--that "it's so much fun being a bad girl!" But you don't have to be bad to enjoy Rebecca Wells's take on family, friendship, and the ties that bind for a lifetime. --Margaret Prior

Book Description

A special Mother's Day boxed set of Rebecca Wells's two New York Times-bestselling novels of the Ya-Yas and the Walker Clan, including a new Note to the Reader.

Both Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, chronicling the touching, funny, beguiling Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana, have been phenomenal critical and popular hits. Little Altars Everywhere, the first book, began life as a small-press, word-of-mouth cult classic in 1992, went on to win the Western States Book Award, and was included in the anthology Five Hundred Great Books by Women (Penguin, 1994). It followed Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood onto the New York Times bestseller list in 1998. The 1996 sequel, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, sparked the creation of Ya-Ya clubs around the country, and inspired Terry McMillan (San Francisco Chronicle) to exclaim, "I read the first two pages and I said, 'I haven't heard a white woman talk like this in literature before.'"

Customer Reviews:

Little Alters Everywhere.......2005-08-10

This was a most enjoyable easy read. It filled you will sense of the south and a life (both good and bad) that most of us only see in the movies.

Boxed set allows reader to find out "all about the Walkers".......2003-04-14

I was leant a well read dog-eared copy of 'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood' a few years ago and came to know and love Rebecca Wells' style and story telling capabilities.

Ms. Wells has the ability to capture a particular era and region of the country (the South) and make her characters come alive.

The Ya-Yas are all about friendship, loyalty and some much darker and less admirable human traits as well. Some of the situations recounted in these two VERY different books about the Walker family will have the reader squirming with discomfort. For Rebecca Wells is intent on telling the whole story: the bad, the sad, the shocking, as well about the successes, the joys and a lot of giggles at the funnier side of human nature.

When you have finished both volumes in this boxed set, you will have a really good idea of what makes a very complex set of family members (the Walkers) "tick". What keeps them together, what may tear them apart. The journey isn't going to be boring in Ms. Wells' talented hands.

The story(stories) prove that being a "southern belle" isn't nearly as easy as you might think.

I'm happy to have my own lovely boxed set, combining both volumes 'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood' and 'Little Alters Everywhere', so I can revisit these fascinating people any time I want. My particular recommendation for the reader would be to read 'Divine Secrets' first and then flesh out the history of the clan with 'Little Alters'. But I have wondered many times why Ms. Wells published the smaller, episodic 'Little Alters' first. So those uninitiated into Ya-Ya-hood, may wish to read them in order of the published date. If you do, PLEASE let me know what you think about the experience. I'd be interested in your opinions.

READ THIS BOOK!.......2003-03-03

Rebecca Wells did an awesome job at writing this book. She's created lovable characters for everyone. Rebecca has made the charcters come so alive, it's like they're your friends. When they're having a bad time, so are you. When they're happy, so are you. This book is really good for mothers and daughters to read together.

Loved Ya-Ya, Liked Little Altars not quite as much.......2002-09-27

Little Altars Everywhere pretty much takes away any sympathy you might have for the main character in Ya-Ya. I read SYYS first (even though it's the second book) and came away with the feeling that the main character was pretty self-centered. After reading LAE, I revised my opinion downward. Both books were good reads, though.

Wonderfully True To the Heart.......2000-07-06

The book Divine Secrets touched my heart in a way like no other. I wanted my mother to read it in hopes of becoming closer to her. This book kept me awake for hours at night.

Average customer rating:

My Street (Young Geography Series)

Manufacturer: Educational Development Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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My Town (Young Geography)
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ASIN: 0746030770

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Divine Secrets Of The Ya-ya Sisterhood
Rebecca Wells
Manufacturer: Harper-perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0333763777

Les Divins Secrets Des Petits Ya-Ya / Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood

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Interesting
Attendrissant !
Hello!!!!!!!!!!!
Investigate
It's in French

Les Divins Secrets Des Petits Ya-Ya / Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
Rebecca Wells
Manufacturer: Belfond
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Interesting.......2003-06-05

I find it interesting that the book is in French. It is more of a curiosity as to why Wells would choose to write in French than the plot of the novel. But then again, Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets were published out of sequence, and that didn't hurt anything. Maybe it's just a departure or an experiment. Anyway, I gave it 2 1/2 stars (or three because the pull-down menue does not allow halves). I found it a poor plot, and it would have been a faster read if it were in English.

By the way, it's "translation" not "traslation," and what exactly is "someone doesn't understand enough english to realize the title is in french" supposed to mean anyway? Correct your grammar and your logic. Just because the title is in French, you cannot automatically assume that the text is in French as well.

Attendrissant !.......2002-08-26

"Une danseuse de claquettes maltraite ses enfants..." Quand Vivi Walker lit dans le « Sunday New York Times » le portrait que brosse d'elle sa fille Siddy, metteur en scène à succès, elle la renie sur-le-champ. Afin d'aider à renouer le dialogue entre la mère et sa fille, les amies intimes de Vivi finissent par la persuader d'envoyer à Siddy son album souvenir : « Les divins secrets des petites ya-ya ».
Siddy va alors plonger dans l'univers des ya-ya, du nom cajun que les quatre amies se sont donné lors de leur folle jeunesse en Louisiane. Elle découvre un petit groupe à part, soudé par une amitié que rien n'a jamais pu affaiblir. À travers ces souvenirs fragmentés, Siddy découvre ainsi une image inattendue de l'exubérante Vivi, une femme meurtrie que seul le soutien indéfectible de ses amies a pu maintenir debout.
Une bien belle histoire d'Amitié.

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!.......2002-07-21

As I work in a bookstore, I get to hear a lot of stupid comments, but this surely must be the best (or worst) stupid comment I have ever read in my life. FYI, it is indicated in English, no less, just under the book cover that the book is written in French. And since when "les" et "des" became English words???

Investigate.......2002-06-23

This is why it's a good idea to use the "look inside" feature when it's available, as it is with this book. That would have cleared up any confusion long before it arrived at the door.

As for the assertion that the Ya-Yas spoke French in "Divine Sisterhood" - not exactly true either. Calling each other and their children "cher" or "bebe," much like we call each other "hon" and "dear" in Texas, is more local slang than another language altogether. The only character in the book who spoke French at any length was Genevieve.

I wouldn't go so far as to insult anyone by suggesting they have a literacy problem in English - that's obviously not true. But I long ago learned that buying something sight unseen, even if you liked a previous book by the same author, is unwise. Do your research - Amazon provides the sample pages for just that reason.

It's in French.......2002-03-27

... I understand English quite well (well enough to know to capitalize it) and I also know French. However, just because the title is written in French would in no way make it obvious the book is written in French as well. After all, the Ya-Ya's used French in their conversations throughout Ms. Wells' first 2 Ya-Ya books.

Book Description

An emotionally charged addition to Rebecca Wells' award-winning bestseller Little Altars Everywhere and #1 New York Times bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Ya-Yas in Bloom reveals the roots of the Ya-Yas' friendship in the 1930s and roars through sixty years of marriage, children, and hair-raising family secrets.

When four-year-old Teensy Whitman prisses one time too many and stuffs a big old pecan up her nose, she sets off the chain of events that lead Vivi, Teensy, Caro, and Necie to become true sister-friends. Ya-Yas in Bloom shows us the Ya-Yas in love and at war with convention. Through crises of faith and hilarious lapses of parenting skills, brushes with alcoholism and glimpses of the dark reality of racial bigotry, the Ya-Ya values of unconditional loyalty, high style, and Cajun sass shine through at a time when the dynamic web of sisterhood is the only safety net strong enough to hold families together and endure.

Performed by Judith Ivey

Customer Reviews:

They edited out my favorite part!.......2007-04-10

I bought this because I loved the book so much, I wanted to be able to listen to it while traveling, but they left out the funniest part!

Authors:

Authors

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