Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel - Softcover

9780060928339: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

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.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
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.

From the Back Cover:
Now, four years after her award-winning, underground bestseller, Little Altars Everywhere, praised by Pat Conroy as "a splendid first novel," Rebecca Wells returns with a masterfully written novel that brims with insight, humor and compassion.

When Vivi and Siddalee Walker, an unforgettable mother-daughter team, get into a savage fight over a New York Times article that refers to Vivi as a "tap-dancing child abuser," the fallout is felt from Louisiana to New York to Seattle. Siddalee, a successful theater director with a huge hit on her hands, panics and postpones her upcoming wedding to her lover and friend, Connor McGill. Vivi's intrepid gang of lifelong girlfriends, the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together.

In 1932, Vivi and the Ya-Yas were disqualified from a Shirley Temple Look-Alike Contest for unladylike behavior. Sixty years later, they're "bucking seventy" and still making waves. They persuade Vivi to send Sidda a scrapbook of girlhood mementos titled "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."

With the scrapbook in hand, Sidda retreats to a cabin on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, tormented by fear and uncertainty about the future, and intent on discovering the key to the tangle of anger and tenderness she feels toward her mother. But Vivi's album reveals more questions than answers and leads Sidda to encounter the legacy of imperfect love and the unknowable mystery of life.

With passion and a rare gift for language, Rebecca Wells moves from present to past, unraveling Vivi's life, her enduring friendships with the Ya-Yas and the reverberations of Siddalee. The collective power of the Ya-Yas, each of them totally individual and authentic, permeates this story of a tribe of Louisiana wild women who are impossible to tame.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood calls to mind The Joy Luck Club in its exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters; in its unearthing of family secrets, it evokes The Prince of Tides. Ultimately, in its aching longing, in its deep humor, in its heartbreaking fun and in its joy and forgiveness, Rebecca Wells has created a big, original, incandescent novel whose Louisiana landscape and indelible characters radiate with grace, wit and love.

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.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherPerennial
  • Publication date1997
  • ISBN 10 0060928336
  • ISBN 13 9780060928339
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages368
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780060759957: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel (The Ya-Ya Series)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780060759957
Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2004
Softcover

  • 9780062040350: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel (The Ya-Ya Series)

    Harper..., 2011
    Softcover

  • 9780060502256: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

    Harper..., 2002
    Softcover

  • 9780060193454: The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood

    Harper, 1998
    Hardcover

  • 9780060173289: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel

    Harper, 1996
    Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New paperback Quantity: 2
Seller:
Gulf Coast Books
(Memphis, TN, U.S.A.)

Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 0060928336-11-30648469

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 5.93
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Red's Corner LLC
(Brookhaven, GA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. All orders ship by next business day! This is a new paperback book. For USED books, we cannot guarantee supplemental materials such as CDs, DVDs, access codes and other materials. We are a small company and very thankful for your business!. Seller Inventory # 4CNOOA000RYA

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 1.45
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.49
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0060928336

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 4.87
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0060928336

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 4.92
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0060928336

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 7.71
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0060928336

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 7.68
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
EKER BOOKS
(Bryantown, MD, U.S.A.)

Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # mon0000068207

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 6.99
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Books Unplugged
(Amherst, NY, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk0060928336xvz189zvxnew

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 14.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0060928336-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 14.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Wells, Rebecca
Published by Perennial (1997)
ISBN 10: 0060928336 ISBN 13: 9780060928339
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.54. Seller Inventory # Q-0060928336

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 56.48
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds