Ann Brashares' Sisterhood Everlasting
After a couple of fairly lame books, Brashares has decided to return to her bread and butter and revisit the traveling pants girls, only it's ten years later and they're all 29. (And I had to read it, b/c I like those pants books.) Of course, most of them are still involved with (or obsessed with) the same dudes they were with back in high school, which, COME ON. Also, Lena is exactly as annoying and stupid as ever and Carmen is surprisingly boring and somewhat unlikable. I mean, when my favorite character is Bridget, you know something is wrong in the world of the magical pants. Though Bridget is surprisingly compelling in this one. Anyway, after drifting apart, the girls reunite in Greece, but things don't go according to plan (I actually said "What the F@&%" out loud at this plot point). Still, I kind of liked this, even though it's patently unbelievable as well as predictable, and frankly problematic from a feminist perspective (I have a lot to say about this, but as River Song would say, "Spoilers!"). Oh, and let me point out one last thing--each section starts with an epigraph, mostly cliched things from the Great Writers (Waugh, Whitman, White, etc)--but a couple are, randomly, from the Shins. Haha.
I dunno. B?
2 comments:
I didn't mind the big plot point mostly, but I don't understand why these people are almost 30 and they still can't talk to each other when bad stuff happens? What kind of magical friendship is that??
I did really like Bridget's story, though, and I thought it was the most believable because of what her mom was like and everything.
The Lena stuff just continued to annoy me - it's like how many times do you think that hot Greek dude is going to come for you?? And I would TOTALLY just live in Santorini if I had the option of a house there! That part with her sister was just obnoxious - like after over 10 years she would say "and you lost the pants!"
Carmen was less unlikeable in this book than she was in the first one when she was all "wah wah wah" about everything, but still, I just got so annoyed with how immature they still were for people who were supposed to be just a couple of years younger than us.
And I would talk to my friends if I were sad or hurt or in a crappy relationship. I wouldn't just go on some "personal" journey and firebomb my whole life.
BUT for the pleasure of having more about these characters to read even if they are annoying as hell, I would support your B rating.
YES, that was my major problem with it too--even if they'd grown apart (which seemed like it only happened a couple years earlier), the characters we knew (and most people in real life) would TOTALLY have told each other about major life events and crises. Completely unbelievable just to try and spring a surprise on us later (and I guessed the one part before then anyway). That really didn't work. And yes, Lena was THE WORST.
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