It still manages to be good chicklit in spite of the politics and the dark aspects.Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood was written in 1996 by Rebecca Wells. And rather than using strident polemic or high-flown theory, it's subverting the most girly of novelistic conventions. I think it's a strongly feminist piece, but in a really subtle way, because it's dealing with stuff that feminism usually disowns, like femininity and women who are not politically enlightened.

But at least it's not pretending that the world of privileged white Southerners between the wars was a perfect paradise untouched by the ugly reality of the racist underpinnings of that society. When the book is taking directly about race it's rather cringey. But I'm prepared to put up with that since it provides the frame for the Vivi story, and the portrayal of Sidda's tentative reconciliation with the mother who mistreated her is very well done, with a realism that really makes up for the soppiness of the romantic relationship. There's even the obligatory Gay Best Friend. Sidda's storyline is rather weaker it's not far off the done-to-death chicklit plot of a successful professional woman suddenly realizing that what really matters is true love, not worldly success, and conveniently getting married to an implausibly perfect man. The depth of that characterization, and the degree of moral complexity, are breathtakingly impressive. What's more, Vivi is rich blonde, ultra-feminine, hailing from the US South, and even rather racist, and yet she's a human being, not an aunt sally.

DSotYYS pulls off something which is near-impossible, creating a sympathetic but not excusing portrait of an abusive mother. The thing that's really outstanding about it is the portrayal of Vivi. At the same time, the prose is really excellent, the setting is beautifully evoked, and the characterization is top-notch. And if a book is going to be soppy, being soppy about true friendship grabs me a lot more favourably than the more standard soppiness about true love. It has a lot of the flaws of standard chicklit, flaws I am admittedly tolerant of if the writing is decent. How it came into my hands: Passed on from the anglophone community's informal book circulation.ĭivine secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood actually managed to be annoying and impresive simultaneously. Reasons for reading it: I had heard a lot of talk about it and it sounded like the kind of book I would either love or hate, and I was intrigued. Verdict: Divine secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood is moving and original, if rather sentimental.

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