Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

by Rebecca Wells

Series: The Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2)

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▾LibraryThing recommendations

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White Oleander by Janet Fitch (1999)
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▾Member recommendations

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SimoneA: Both well written books about the strength of women and forgiveness.
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Fliss88: Similar honest style of writing, about another family in southern America.

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▾Member reviews

English (86) Spanish (1) All languages (87)

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Showing 1-5 of 86 (next | show all)

This is a story of friendship and love. This is also a story of loss and secrets buried.

The main character Sidalee mirrors many of us on our quest out of the past. For anyone who has discord with a parent...never understanding why they do the things they do.

This is a mother's story. Vivi's tragic life evokes tears and understanding. In a world of tough decisions, it's easy to see how tough women are sculpted. I found healing in DIVINE SECRETS, and an appreciation of life from another perspective. (

)

hopefully86 | May 1, 2013 |

I found this book pretty weird. The child abuse was so lightly dealt with -- and it's still abuse if it only happens once. Physical abuse, even on just one occasion, sticks in your mind. Especially when you're a child and you haven't had that many experiences yet. It's not something to be just... dismissed and so easily forgiven.

That kind of distracted me from the supposedly awesome stuff about this novel.

Also, such melodrama. Cut it out, guys. (

)

shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 |

Who doesn't want to be a part of the Ya-ya sisterhood, flaws & all, after reading this book? I couldn't help but love these women. (

)

JG_IntrovertedReader | Apr 3, 2013 |

Better than I thought it would be, but I'm not sure how frequently I'll go back to read it... (

)

leftik | Apr 3, 2013 |

Like this book - great story of southern ladies (

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suefitz1 | Apr 3, 2013 |

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Is contained in

The Ya-Ya Boxed Set by Rebecca Wells

Has the adaptation

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood [videorecording] by Callie Khouri

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▾Common Knowledge

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Series (with order)

The Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2)

Canonical title

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1996-05-22

People/Characters

Viviane Joan Abbott Walker (Vivi)

Aimee Whitman-Claiborne (Teensy)

Denise Rose Kelleher (Necie)

Caroline Eliza Bennett (Caro)

Siddalee Walker (Sidda)

(show all 9 items)

Important places

Louisiana, USA

Important events

Awards and honors

American Booksellers Book of the Year (Adult, 1999)

Orange Prize Shortlist (2000)

Epigraph

We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later...Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth.
--Mary Antin

Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all of us love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour--unceasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.
--Henri Nouwen

Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable. But there it sits, nevertheless, calmly licking its chops.
--H. L. Mencken

Dedication

This book is dedicated to
TOM SCHWORER, my husband, helpmate, and best friend
MARY HELEN CLARKE, midwife of this book and steadfast buddy
JONATHAN DOLGER, my agent, who keeps the faith.
And to the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, in all its incarnations.

First words

Sidda is a girl again in the hot heart of Louisiana, the bayou world of Catholic saints and voodoo queens.

Quotations

Piney pitch is the secret to starting a fire. Unless you have kerosene, of course.

I believe that God doesn’t give you more than one little piece of the story at once. You know, the story of your life. Otherwise your heart would crack wider than you could handle. He only cracks it enough so you can still walk, like someone wearing a cast. But you’ve still got a crack running up your side, big enough for a sapling to grow out of. Only no one sees it. Nobody sees it. Everybody thinks you’re one whole piece, and so they treat you maybe not so gentle as they would if they could see that crack.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

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Bestseller

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

▾LibraryThing members' description

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▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 006075995X, Paperback)

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.

(retrieved from Amazon Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:30:12 -0400)

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▾Library descriptions

When theatre director Siddalee Walker inadvertently reveals some of the less-savory facts of her Louisiana childhood to the New York Times, the article brands her morther, Vivi, a "tap-dancing child abuser." Vivi virtually disowns Sidda, but the Ya-Yas sashay in and conspire to bring everybody back together.… (more)

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