June 19, 2002 - 10:02 p.m.
I'm sitting in a dark room, listening to Ryan Adams, a terrific thunderstorm going on outside, with my two cats huddled at my feet, after spending the evening reading on my porch swing or chatting with a dear friend. Does life GET any better than this?
Tonight, while reading on afore mentioned porch swing, I was reading Devine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. I order you -- STOP what you're doing, right now. Stop reading this entry, beg, borrow or steal a copy of this book, then of course come back. I'll wait. ;)
Back? Good.
I saw the film with my mother and sisters on her birthday, and had been midway through the book then. After having read half the book, I thought the movie was satisfying, but after finishing the book, I recant previous satisfed feeling. This book is so rich. It's like creamy, buttery chocolate, melting in your mouth. Maybe that's not the best image, because Devine Secrets is bitter and sweet. Women have such a mysterious connection to their mothers and to their female friends. I was left wanting more of the men in the story, I think there was richness to their charachters that wasn't fully developed. But I understand the story was about women, and the mysterious, magical ties we have to one another.
The main character, Siddalee Walker, is a "modern" woman. She's got a career, and not a family. I know we all like to think we've progressed so far and that women can have jobs and families, but I'm not entirely sure they can. In my own family, my mother's career has always taken a backseat to her role as mother and wife. So anyway. Sidda. Sidda's a writer, and has an interview with the New York Times and in said interview she's pretty brutally honest about her life and childhood, which, as truths often are, are far from idyllic. Sidda's mother Vivi, is furious. Vivi is most definitely a throwback to a Southern belle, dramatic, used to the finer things in life, demanding, but good hearted. Vivi isn't a perfect character. At some points, you want to hate her . . . and yet, you find you can't. It's a perfect blend of rage and vulnerability, toughness and fear, unflappable self-esteem, and childlike desire for approval, and to be liked.
Vivi and Sidda are central charachters, but the author, Rebecca Wells surrounds them with these support charachters that are just phenomenal. The title refers to a group of four friends, Vivi, Caro, Neicie, and Teensie. These four women are bourbon soaked, cigarette smoking lushes, and at the end of the book you are absolutely in love with them. Each one has this perfect way of supporting the others and you know that when the first Ya Ya goes, the rest will soon follow, because they are seamless parts of one whole. The Ya Yas are what every girl wants in her friends. The way they just know when they are needed and they are perfect in their love for you. They make you yearn for a time when it was acceptable to hold hands with your girlfriends, and physical closeness wasn't so frowned upon.
I don't know if I'm being coherent. I'm still in the world of the book, truth be told. Rebecca Wells had me in the bayou of Louisiana while I was sitting on my front porch swing in Boulder, Colorado. Beautiful. Loved it.
That's all for tonight. I'm going to re-read this book.
