Thursday, June 19, 2008

Review: The Wednesday Sisters

I came home yesterday with an armful of new books, relishing the thought of sitting down and choosing which one to read first. When I opened the cover of The Wednesday Sisters and read the first paragraph of the book jacket, the decision was made.

"Friendship, loyalty, and love lie at the heart of Meg Waite Clayton's beautifully written, poignant, and sweeping novel of five women who, over the course of four decades, come to redefine what it means to be family."

This kind of book is an easy sell for me...women and friendship, told through years and life changes. It's all just right up my alley. It may be a clichéd premise...but it's one that I'm unabashedly drawn to again and again.

As the novel opens, five women find themselves drawn together in a neighborhood park, bonds forming as they watch over their children and then strengthening as they develop a weekly writing group. Putting words to paper has different effects on each woman, but the excercise teaches them more about each other than coffee conversation ever could. Years pass, celebration and heartache come and go (such is life), and the writing continues.

I started reading this morning and read straight through the day, finishing the final pages with chill bumps on my legs and tears in my eyes. It's truly a wonderful read.



Note: The author graciously excerpted a bit of my review on her blog. Click here to see what other bloggers had to say about the book.

9 comments:

trish said...

I'm glad you liked this book, too. I think it will be one of my favorites of 2008. :-)

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to read it. Thanks for letting me know about your great review! I will add your link today:)

Lesa said...

Jill - Thanks for sharing your review. I added your blog to my subscription list.

Like you, I'm a sucker for books involving groups of women. Some of them don't live up to my hopes, but this one did.

Lesa said...

Jill,

I didn't realize how new your blog is. Once I subscribed to it, I went back to read the older entries.

I loved your nutshells, and it looks like you have a terrific blog. Thank you! I'm going to enjoy keeping up with it.

Wendy said...

Glad to see you loved this as much as I did!

caribousmom

Jill said...

Thanks, everyone, for stopping by. I'm new to all of this, but I'm excited to be a part of the book blogging community.

I will be adding a Blog List soon and will be sure to include you guys.

Lisa (Southern Girl Reads) said...

I am so excited to read this book! Thanks for the great review!

Les said...

I think you enjoyed this a bit more than I did. (See my post here, if you're interested.) As I mentioned in my blog entry, though, I think a lot of it has to do with the timing of when I read the book.

I'm enjoying your blog and will add it to my blogroll later today. Thanks for visiting my blog. Off to read more from your archives!

Jill said...

You know, Les, timing is indeed everything. I passed this on to my mom, who I just assumed would love it, and she couldn't get past 50 pages.