The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder: A Novel

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780060930622
• Notes: BUY WITH Boldness, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and aid to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Mould: New

Description

In the small river town of La Luna, Louisiana, Calla Lily Ponder bursts into being, a force of nature as luminous as the flower she is named for. Under the loving light of the Moon Lady, the feminine force that will guide and protect her throughout her life, Calla enjoys a blissful childhood—until it is tragically cut short. From her mother, Calla learns compassion and healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair." On the banks of the La Luna River, she discovers a sweet, succulent first love that is as enticing as the music, food, and dancing of her Louisiana home. When heartbreak hits, Calla leaves the familiarity of her hometown and heads downriver to the untamed city of New Orleans, where her destiny further unfolds.

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder is the story of a pink-collar heroine whose willingness to remain vulnerable in the face of adversity opens our own hearts to the possibility of love growing from sorrow.

---

Customer Reviews

Most excellent!
A very good read. I have read other Rebecca Well books. They are a "breathe of fresh air".

Anne

2010-08-30 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Incredibly disappointing.
It's REALLY hard to believe the same woman who wrote the Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood wrote this book. What happened? Sure, it's hard to equal, let alone top a book that was in the all time favorite category for so many readers. I wasn't expecting that, but one can hope. And I had reason to hope. Her first book, Little Altars Everywhere was not as good as the Ya Yas, imo, but was still a darn fine effort. But this book is a shocking fall from grace, if you think of a great book as a grace, and I do.

Many here have named its many faults correctly---thin characters, a pat story, bad dialogue, endless cliches and well worn metaphors, tells far more than shows. Sum up by saying it's all around bad writing. The prose in the Ya Ya's was exquisite, the perfect blend of craft and story. The prose in this book could be topped by a lot of students taking their first writing class. If this was Rebecca Wells' first book, it wouldn't get her an agent, let alone a publishing deal.

As I read it I found myself growing increasingly irritated till I wound up angry. It seems Ms. Wells phoned this book in, and if she couldn't see what a bad reflection of her talent it is, her agent should have told her. It is unfortunate that best selling writers often don't get edited because the agent/publisher cynically calculates it's not worth the investment with a best selling name, as it will sell anyway. Up till now Rebecca Wells' name was enough for me. No longer. I'll buy another of her books if and when it gets great word of mouth, and reviews. I'll never trust just her name again.

But I am still thankful to Ms. Wells for giving me such a fine reading experience with the Ya Yas and Little Altars. I have a memory of reading the last 50 pages of the Ya Yas on a Mexican Beach, my heart swelling with love for that book. I hope Ms. Wells will find her way back to the kind of writing that makes a reader feel that way.

2010-08-14 | Book lover (St. Paul, Mn.) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

---

Let down...
I loved the other books by Rebecca Wells, and was expecting more of the same in The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder. But I was sadly mistaken. While there were similar elements to her other works (prose, the magic allure of Louisiana, ups and downs), I felt that the characters were rather flat and one dimensional. Calla didn't seem to have any faults, which likens her to being unrealistic. Same could be said for Sweet (he was too perfect). Tuck, Uncle Tuck, and Sukey were the only ones who really showed any depth, because they had made mistakes, but even then, the depth was very vague and flat.
Another thing that bothered me, being the daughter of a young widow, how did Calla support herself during her mourning of Sweet? She just stopped doing hair with Ricky's blessing until such a time she could return to the real world? It was a while before she got Sweet's settlement. Not very realistic in my mind, having seen my own mother struggle with that.

I was also let down by the way the book ended. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I will say it was blah, could have seen that coming. How else could it end for a character that always has things work out for her?

I am really glad I bought this in paperback and didn't spend the money on a hardcover, as I did for Wells' other books. I won't have the regret having spent a lesser amount since I am going to pass it along to Good Will or just leave it on the break room table.

2010-08-03 (Alaska) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

---

I loved it, despite its flaws.

Calla Lily Ponder lives her life in the way that matters-- it's not about money or prestige, or what we're told on the 6 o'clock news. This is about loving, healing, and living even after the worst life can throw you happens. I love her magical zest for life, and read it more like an instruction manual for how I wish I could be. This book has soul, which softens its flaws. This is something to read if you're feeling a bit dull and need to put the zest back in.

As Calla Lily's mother, M'Dear says, "Don't strive for perfection. Strive for 'good enough'." This book is good enough, but has some beautiful shining bits that make it worth reading. I had borrowed it from the library first, and decided to buy it because it made me feel good to read it.

2010-07-30 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

---

Helpful seller
Seller answered questions about the book and sent in a timely fashion. It was exactly what I was expecting. I would use them again and recommend them to others.

2010-07-26 (ELK GROVE, CA, US) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Little Altars Everywhere: A Novel

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.

---

"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

---

Customer Reviews

A Welcome Visit to the 1960's Bayou
This was the first in the "Ya-Ya" series. We flash back and forth from the 60's to the 90's and learn of the Walker family through the eyes of the parents, Shep and Vivienne and their kids, Sidalee, Little Shep, Lulu and Baylor as well as their maid Willetta and her husband Chaney. All the adventure, dysfunction, local color, booziness and general mayhem is conveyed little by little, through memory or through present-day experience and we also learn of the Ya-Ya's - the girls Vivienne grew-up with and is still close to.

I must admit that I don't have a good memory of the movie. That could be a good thing because I loved the book - from the style of one chapter in a given person's voice to the the content of each chapter. You couldn't hate Vivi, but despised what she did to the kids. You pitied Shep, but wanted him to rescue the kids. All were believable, complex and well0developed, worthy of the sequel.

2010-05-23 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

---

I read this books years before the Ya Ya movie hit the screen...
...and I was SO disappointed in it. I couldn't relate to it at all. I felt as though I just wasted my money with this little book. Years later when the Ya Ya Sisterhood movie made it big, I saw the movie and read the book. I enjoyed the movie but had a hard time thinking that the southern ladies in their 70s actually would use the F word as much as those ladies in the movie did!! Well, that's Hollywood for you, I figured. Save your money with this book. Unless of course your parent was an alcoholic and then you could relate to the narrator of this story. Maybe then you'd like reading it(?) Idk. I thought it was a big disappointment. The Ya Ya Sisterhood was better. I was totally surprised when I discovered that the two books were actually written by the same person.

2009-03-10 | creativelyspeaking (USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

---

Disgusting and Depressing
I along with many others read Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood first. I LOVED it!!! It was one of those books I didn't want to end! I was elated when I found Little Altars everywhere at my local thrift store. I can't believe the diffence between the two!
I was caught off guard immediatley with the lesbian chapter. I had no idea that's where R. Wells was taking it. I had to read and re-read where the mother molests Little Shep because I was sure I was taking it the wrong way. I felt sympathy for Vivi in DSYYS, but not after this. If you want my opinion, read Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood and forget about Little Altars Everywhere. It's trash, plain and simple!

2008-04-23 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 1

---

Emotional Roller Coaster
This book was fabulous - not quite as groundbreaking as the "Divine Secrets.." but still fabulous nonetheless. It made me smile, it made me think, and it made me cry - all the things a good book should do and more. Buy it - read it! Enjoy.

2007-09-26 (GA, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

A Strongly Written Book About Growing Up
This isn't *really* my kind of book - it reminded me eerily of something like Margaret Laurence's "A Bird In The House", given it is a collection of interwoven short stories told from the perspectives of different members of a small-town Louisiana family, most notably from the character of Siddalee.

So why am I giving it four stars? Well there wasn't anything I didn't like about it. I found the prose easy to get through and imaginative. The stories for the most part were captivating and enchanting. The characters were well developed and familiar despite our polar opposite lives. The plot moved enough from section to section to keep me interested. I can't justfiy giving it a lower mark just because it's not my preferred style (ie: novel over short stories) or preferred subject matter (ie: modern day as opposed to the past).

The stories revolve around two points in the character's lives - their childhoods in the 1960's and their relatively young adulthood in the early 1990's. Vivi is their eccentric, perhaps dangerously so, mother who also features in the ya ya sisterhood book. Interestingly enough this book was written before (and publicized after) the ya ya sisterhood - yet there are frequent mentions of the ya ya's and some dark secret they share and so on...so I'm guessing that book was simultaneously in the works as this one. Big Shep is Vivi's husband, a working class man who makes a few poor choices that make him forget how to love.

Their children include the eldest daughter Siddalee, who is probably the most identifiable as the main character in the book. Sidda goes through several phases of independence/autonomy and relying on her family for guidance. Her younger brother Lil Shep doesn't feature much in the book other than his desire to be freed from the nasty secrets his family is keeping. I can't remember the next siblings name, I think it's Lulu, who stars in my favourite story in the book about petty theives and liars. Finally there is Baylor, the youngest, who lives in a dream both as a child and an adult.

Overall this is a nice, slow read...it's enjoyable to drink up on lazy summer days in bits and pieces, and very much personifies the southern climate it describes.

2007-07-26 (Winnipeg, MB) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

---

Ya-Yas in Bloom: A Novel

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

Ya-Yas In Bloom by Rebecca Wells
Ya-Yas In Bloom is every bit as funny and irreverant as Rebecca Wells first two books, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Alters Everywhere. I was not the least bit disappointed in this book that continued to fill in the gaps of how the Ya-Yas--Vivi, Necie, Teensy and Caro--first became friends at the age of four. Each chapter in the book was told from different perspectives and stages of life of the Ya-Yas and the petites Ya-Yas, their children. We learn even more details of the relationships they have with their husbands, their love/hate relationship with the Catholic Church, unconventional child rearing habits, racial tensions and tragedies. There were several places in the book that I was laughing out loud at the outrageousness that is so Ya-Ya! If you haven't had a chance to read this last book in the Ya-Yas story be sure to do so soon. It was a joy to read.

2010-03-24 | Pine Cottage Books (Evergreen, CO) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Ya-Ya Leftovers
I very much enjoyed the first two Ya-Ya books, so picked this one up expecting more enjoyable reading.

Unfortunately, it's only suitable for Ya-Ya fans who must have more stories of the Walker clan. This book amounts to nothing but left-overs. It appears to be charater sketches that were discarded for use in the first two books. Like the other books it's a collection of vignettes; but this book is more hodge-podge than its predecessors - and doesn't seem to have common plot. The third time Ya-Yas book seems boring; and has way too many characters; - you need the family tree on the book's cover to keep up with the story.

2009-07-26 (Pittsburgh, PA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

---

Tres blah...
I loved "Divine Secrets" and "Little Altars" and now I think I will have to re-read them in order to erase the memory of Wells' latest book. As the other reviewers said, there was no substance or depth of character. There were glimmers of the charm found in the other two books, such as Baylor's story, but these were few and far between. The Christmas pageant at the end was excrutiatingly bad. I have to wonder if the author dashed this book off at the publisher's request.

2009-04-03 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

---

excellent
This third collection of Ya-Ya stories was as beautiful, poignant, funny and sad as the first two. I had to keep a pencil by my side in order to underline the especially beautiful turns of phrase and, believe me, there were many.

2008-03-08 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Vote for strange, not deranged.
Not nearly as good as the first two in the series. There's a bit of feminist hogwash and gun politics at the end which is distracting from the story. I also didn't like the way she made the original YaYas seem a bit on the deranged side.

2007-09-14 (Maryland) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

---

The Ya-Ya Boxed Set

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.'"

---

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

---

Customer Reviews

Great book set
I'm grateful to have the original and the sequel in one box set. Loved the original more than the sequel; however they are both great.

2009-05-23 (Georgia) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

A Real GRITS Pleaser
You don't have to be a GRITS (Girl Raised in the South) to enjoy and identify with the strong, loving women characters in these novels. These books are as crazy as your drunk Uncle Rabon at a wedding and as poignant as the first anniversary of your favorite huntin' dog's death. We all should have friends like these - Ya Ya!

2007-10-25 | Real GRITS (Scenic NE Florida USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Go Ya-Yas!
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood and Little Alters Everywhere tell the tale of Vivi and her beloved girlfriends the "Ya-Yas" and about Siddalee, her daughter who she both physicaly and emotionaly abused. Sidda was beaten, slapped, and called names by her own mother who was a drunk. Vivi, though charming and fun, is also very selfish and cruel. Sidda goes from being a hurt, abused little girl to a tough and passionate young woman in her 30s who still fights with her mother over a Time magazine article in which she tells of her mother's damanging ways. As Sidda slowly comes to know more about her mother from a scrapbook, it forever changes her life as she starts to heal past wounds and being able to move on from her dark past. Sidda is a beautifuly written voice, and there's so much truth to these books. So many parents abuse their kids and all for selfish reasons and most of all because they don't love them. Sidda doesn't know how to love anyone, since her parents didn't love her enough. But Vivi, though an unfit mother, is sorry more then ever that she hurt her poor children and both women struggle to regain their realionship. I love this book. It's a great book. It made me cry and laugh. I love the South, so I loved this book and the child-abuse subject is a very universal subject matter which I'm sure a lot of people are very farmilar with and can understand and have been through.

2007-08-06 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Little Alters Everywhere
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.

2005-08-09 | mmbyrd56 (Henderson, KY) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

---

Boxed set allows reader to find out "all about the Walkers"
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.

2003-04-13 (Missouri) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

---

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780060759957
• Mould: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Faith, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and utility to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

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 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.

---

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.

---

Customer Reviews

Exhausting
I didn't realize this book was a sequel. I just read it on its own without any familiarity from prior reading.

It feels like the "strong Southern women with lots of secrets that are gradually revealed" plot has been done enough already. I got exhausted by these characters and the word "ya ya" was pounded into my skull like a spike.

If you are into these kinds of plots, you'll love it. If watching "Steel Magnolias" was all you needed to satisfy any craving for "strong Southern women" stories, don't bother. (I suspect that few men will enjoy this book. That could be part of my problem with it.)

2010-07-26 | KinksRock (New York USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

---

One of my top three favorite books of all time
I loved this book! I've read it three times. I can see how others would say that the characters are feminist or mean (which I loathe normally), but they're so well-developed that I could really relate to both Vivi and Sidda. I don't have a great relationship with my parents and it really helps explain the story of a life and loss and how that can affect a person's ability to parent. Vivi is a horrible/wonderful mother depending on her state of intoxication. She can be silly and fun and creative or abusive and neglectful. I also love my girl friends and cherish our friendships, so that was something else I could relate to.

I found the relationship between the friends enviable and charming and sweet. Each character had their own personality that was so well described, I could actually picture them as people and relate them to friends in my own life. And the story and plot itself captivated me to the end. it doesn't try to defend the mother, its just the story of how she came to be. Highly recommend!

2010-06-11 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

In my top ten favorite novels
I cried when I read a flashback of Vivi's childhood. I laughed out loud during some of the funny stories of the Ya-Yas. My heart ached for some of the trauma that poor Siddalee endured. I was angry at Vivi's mother for being just so terrible at it. I honestly can say that I've never actually felt as many emotions while reading a novel as I have during this one. I read a review of another reader that said she wasn't super excited to read this because the title is rather silly and I agree with that. However, titles can be deceiving. I had no idea what I was in for.

This book is anything but silly. It is an incredible drama with tales woven in of physical abuse, alcoholism, friendship, lost love, the kind of trauma that a mother can leave with a daughter, and trying to find a place in life when you feel damaged.

The author is a wonderful writer and storyteller. She also brilliantly went back and forth between different periods of time effortlessly. You must read this book. I've recommended it to nearly everyone in my life and I haven't heard one person say they didn't devour it and love every moment of reading it.

One other note - if you have seen the movie, please read the book! The book is so much better and has so much more detail. The movie compared to the novel was quite terrible.

2010-02-16 (Greater Boston Area, MA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Just Right
The book was in good condition and just as was described. Very reasonable price and was shipped very quickly. Will definitely buy from this dealer again.

2010-02-15 | juslibby1 (Talladega, Alabama) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---

Good Read
this book took me a little longer to read than Little Alters, but I still enjoyed it. I know I'm late in reading this series lol, but I'm off to Ya-Ya's in Bloom. How can anyone NOT like the YaYa's

2009-12-03 | butterfly (texas) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

---