Helpful Score: 3
A wonderful book filled completely of the relationships between women - the ups and downs. I absolutely fell in love with the group of women and was sort of jealous of their relationships. The men in their lives made an appearance, but the women held the centerpiece
Most of the time these books are told from each of their perspectives, but I was absolutely thrilled that it stayed from the perspective of the one character. I think that a sequel could be made and Clayton could take the group through their next phase from another person's voice.
Although, I don't tend to enjoy some of the more historical parts of books, I loved how it worked into their lives. They attended rallies and were affected by the history of the times.
I really enjoyed this book, it was so easy to get into and I was sad to say goodbye to these women. The women folk would definitely enjoy this book for the relationships and the events that affect their lives.
Most of the time these books are told from each of their perspectives, but I was absolutely thrilled that it stayed from the perspective of the one character. I think that a sequel could be made and Clayton could take the group through their next phase from another person's voice.
Although, I don't tend to enjoy some of the more historical parts of books, I loved how it worked into their lives. They attended rallies and were affected by the history of the times.
I really enjoyed this book, it was so easy to get into and I was sad to say goodbye to these women. The women folk would definitely enjoy this book for the relationships and the events that affect their lives.
Helpful Score: 3
It is a rare thing to read chick lit with an explicitly feminist message, but that's precisely what one gets from Meg Waite Clayton's The Wednesday Sisters. The novel tells the story of five women, all young wives and mothers, who become friends in suburban San Francisco in the late-1960s. All five have aspirations and dreams, which for many of them focus on writing. Thus, the five friends form a writers' group, and the novel tells the story of their efforts to support one another in meeting their goals within the confines of late-1960s expectations of young women. In this Clayton has created a good and engaging story, one with developed characters and which easily retains the reader's interest and sympathy.
One of the larger goals of this novel is clearly to explore women's lives in a time of tremendous change and upheval. The five women are clearly placed in time-- they watch the moon landing, and they attend an anti-war rally. Where the book was most interesting for me was in its treatment of second wave feminism, looking at how the growing movement shaped the lives of these five women. The book opens in 1967, before the myriad transformative events that will shake the world in 1968. What strikes the reader, and where Clayton does an especially good job, is in showing how white, suburban America in 1967 looked far more like the 1950s than what most of us associate with the 1960s (tie-dye, drugs, bra burning, and the like). But the changes do begin to happen, and the Wednesday sisters do not remain untouched. The book makes clear that the pace of the changes with which we credit the 1960s was sometimes slow, and that for many people, ideas had to change before the realities of their daily lives did. Most importantly, this books highlights some of the limits of feminism (and the other radical changes of the late-1960s). My one sifnificant criticism is that I didn't care for the way in which the story was told in retrospect with Frankie, the narrator, offering 21st century commentary on things she thought and did in the 1960s, offering side notes like "Of course we thought differently then." Just letting the characters be and exist in the 1960s would give them more complexity, and also highlight the limits of change. These women have their flaws. They have racist ideas. They have strong ideas about how families should be structured and the duties of husbands and wives. I'd prefer to just watch these things exist, unfold, and see how they changed, rather than getting presentist commentary.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this book. It's a great summer read, particularly for the daughters of these 1960s women who are now young mothers, wives, writers, and businesswomen.
One of the larger goals of this novel is clearly to explore women's lives in a time of tremendous change and upheval. The five women are clearly placed in time-- they watch the moon landing, and they attend an anti-war rally. Where the book was most interesting for me was in its treatment of second wave feminism, looking at how the growing movement shaped the lives of these five women. The book opens in 1967, before the myriad transformative events that will shake the world in 1968. What strikes the reader, and where Clayton does an especially good job, is in showing how white, suburban America in 1967 looked far more like the 1950s than what most of us associate with the 1960s (tie-dye, drugs, bra burning, and the like). But the changes do begin to happen, and the Wednesday sisters do not remain untouched. The book makes clear that the pace of the changes with which we credit the 1960s was sometimes slow, and that for many people, ideas had to change before the realities of their daily lives did. Most importantly, this books highlights some of the limits of feminism (and the other radical changes of the late-1960s). My one sifnificant criticism is that I didn't care for the way in which the story was told in retrospect with Frankie, the narrator, offering 21st century commentary on things she thought and did in the 1960s, offering side notes like "Of course we thought differently then." Just letting the characters be and exist in the 1960s would give them more complexity, and also highlight the limits of change. These women have their flaws. They have racist ideas. They have strong ideas about how families should be structured and the duties of husbands and wives. I'd prefer to just watch these things exist, unfold, and see how they changed, rather than getting presentist commentary.
Overall, though, I enjoyed this book. It's a great summer read, particularly for the daughters of these 1960s women who are now young mothers, wives, writers, and businesswomen.
Loved this book about the friendships between five young stay-at-home Moms in the 70's who meet in a park in Palo Alto, CA, while watching their kids play. They encourage each other to write and meet once a week at the park to read and critique each other's work. The story evolves around their individual lives, their friendships, and their writing. Read it, you'll like it!
Helpful Score: 2
I was so excited to get engrossed and become friends with this books characters...I was hugely disappointed for what could have been a wonderful book was a snoozer. I rarely do not finish a book, but this one I couldn't do. Books that begin bad, I hope to get better by the middle, this one didn't and I can not even stomach reading another boring page...
Helpful Score: 2
This novel follows friendship among five women who meet in a park in the late 1960s. It is a comforting read that helps one understand the importance of friends and their support when you need them. As the various women experience the bunps and leaps that life hands them throughout life they find friends help them through divorce, cancer, the loss of babies one after another and just life. It's the kind of quiet comforting read that we all need sometimes.
Helpful Score: 1
Very touching story about the strength of friendship, and love.
Helpful Score: 1
5 women, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Ally and Brett meet in the neighborhood park in Palo Alto during the 1960's. They are young mothers. And they share a love of books and writing. This is their study group for encouragement to write and then critique each other. They have their issues, cheating husbands, scars, not able to keep a baby to term, cancer, etc. The story follows them in their younger years on how they deal with this and still have sucess with their writing.
Helpful Score: 1
The book is very good in some respects. I grew impatient with the women all being so very dependent upon their men for all of their happiness and security. They did learn along the way that they were able to take responsibility for their own lives but it seemed to take too long or too much of the story.
I also found it hard to believe that they all were able to carry on the long term friendship for so many years. I've lived many of those same years and have found that it is nearly impossible to expect that many people to stay that close for decades without at least a few of them moving away or just general drifting away. I have a good imagination but there are limits.
It is a good solid story nonetheless and worth reading for a different perpective on the late 60's. I did like "The Help" better in that time frame.
I also found it hard to believe that they all were able to carry on the long term friendship for so many years. I've lived many of those same years and have found that it is nearly impossible to expect that many people to stay that close for decades without at least a few of them moving away or just general drifting away. I have a good imagination but there are limits.
It is a good solid story nonetheless and worth reading for a different perpective on the late 60's. I did like "The Help" better in that time frame.
Helpful Score: 1
Great book about the importance of women having other women in their lives.
Helpful Score: 1
One of the best books I've read in quite some time. It made me laugh and cry, empathize, sympathize, and feel great as well. The author draws you in to make you feel as though you know all of the characters and feel what they feel. An amazing book about friendship and its importance in life.
Helpful Score: 1
I did not finish this book and only got through about 1/4 of it. Didn't hold my interest well enough, although I can't say it is a bad book. My rating of two stars is probably not fair, but that is applied to what I did read.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book and didn't want it to end. I am anxiously awaiting Claytons next book which is due to come out this summer.
During the late 1960s, five totally different women find themselves consistently meeting together every Wednesday at a park in Palo Alto, California. Initially defined by what their husbands do, these young homemakers and mothers are all fairly far removed from the Summer of Love. The 'Wednesday Sisters', as the ladies begin to call themselves - Frankie, Linda, Kath, Ally and Brett - actually don't seem to have much more in common with each other beyond a shared love of literature and the 'Miss America Pageant'.
Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago; brutally honest and blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete; Kath is a Kentucky-bred debutante; quiet Ally has a secret that she has been keeping to herself; and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett always makes sure to wear white gloves with her miniskirts. Yet somehow these five women find a way - over the course of nearly four decades - to redefine the meaning of the word family. By sharing their mutual admiration for the work of such authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Daphne du Maurier, Sylvia Plath, and Charles Dickens and watching the 'Miss America Pageant' on television together each year; the ladies form an extraordinarily strong and lasting bond that will sustain all of them through the years.
As the years roll on and their children grow older, the quintet forms a writers' circle to express their hopes and dreams through writing poetry, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, this talented sisterhood also experiences history in the making - Vietnam, the race to put a man on the moon, and a women's movement that challenges everything that they have ever thought about themselves. All the while, the ladies support each other through the various personal struggles that they experience in their own lives: the changes to each of them that come from infedelity, longing, illness, failure, and success. The Wednesday Sisters is a humorous and poignant novel; a literary feast for book lovers that earns a place among those popular works that honor the joyful, mysterious, unbreakable bonds between friends.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, the story was very well-written and wonderfully historically detailed; I found that this author worked the various historical events into the story in a realistic and completely believable way. While I appreciated the detailed historical context - and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because of it - I must say that I actually loved reading the stories of the 'Wednesday Sisters' themselves; their own personal life stories, slightly more than the historical context. I would give this book a definite A+! and am eagerly awaiting the chance to read Ms. Clayton's sequel: The Wednesday Daughters.
Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago; brutally honest and blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete; Kath is a Kentucky-bred debutante; quiet Ally has a secret that she has been keeping to herself; and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett always makes sure to wear white gloves with her miniskirts. Yet somehow these five women find a way - over the course of nearly four decades - to redefine the meaning of the word family. By sharing their mutual admiration for the work of such authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Daphne du Maurier, Sylvia Plath, and Charles Dickens and watching the 'Miss America Pageant' on television together each year; the ladies form an extraordinarily strong and lasting bond that will sustain all of them through the years.
As the years roll on and their children grow older, the quintet forms a writers' circle to express their hopes and dreams through writing poetry, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, this talented sisterhood also experiences history in the making - Vietnam, the race to put a man on the moon, and a women's movement that challenges everything that they have ever thought about themselves. All the while, the ladies support each other through the various personal struggles that they experience in their own lives: the changes to each of them that come from infedelity, longing, illness, failure, and success. The Wednesday Sisters is a humorous and poignant novel; a literary feast for book lovers that earns a place among those popular works that honor the joyful, mysterious, unbreakable bonds between friends.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, the story was very well-written and wonderfully historically detailed; I found that this author worked the various historical events into the story in a realistic and completely believable way. While I appreciated the detailed historical context - and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because of it - I must say that I actually loved reading the stories of the 'Wednesday Sisters' themselves; their own personal life stories, slightly more than the historical context. I would give this book a definite A+! and am eagerly awaiting the chance to read Ms. Clayton's sequel: The Wednesday Daughters.
This was an excellent book. The story was moving and I actually felt as if I knew the characters personally. I highly recogmend this book.
Very well written and absorbing. This is not the sort of book I usually read, but I stayed up late more than once because I enjoyed it so much.
A rather boring, uneventful read. Not much action in the story. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this book.
I was never a big reader until I got into my mid-20's. It usually takes me a long time to read a book, even one that is enjoyable. I picked up The Wednesday Sisters late last week and am now finished with it, I couldn't put it down (and that's with having 2 boys under the age of 2). It was a definite page turner and you wanted to know what happened next to the sisters and their writing.
I tried, really I did...
BUT I could not get into this book. It may have been the number of characters (too many to keep track of. The author switched back & forth among their stories) or just a boring topic for me. Whatever it was, I never finished this book.
BUT I could not get into this book. It may have been the number of characters (too many to keep track of. The author switched back & forth among their stories) or just a boring topic for me. Whatever it was, I never finished this book.
I do love books about women and family relationships. This was an odd assortment of friends who came together at a park one day and became lifelong friends. Each one dealing with their husbands and families and medical crises, but never failing in their friendship.
I had a hard time with this book. It didn't hold my interest. I really thought I was going to like it. Disappointed!
The Wednesday Sisters recounts a friendship among five women who live in California during a pivotal time in American history. Their common bond is a love of books, which eventually turns them in the direction of becoming writers themselves. I loved the references to books that I also found enthralling. The novel traces their individual challenges that include infidelity, inter-racial marriage, cancer, infertility issues and assorted insecurities. The sense of the women's movement is strongly reflected in this book, and it parallels their own emergence as individuals in their own right. I particularly liked the part of this book that dealt with the compassion and solidarity shown when Linda faced a devastating situation, but I didn't find any of the characters endearing or sympathetic. There is a juxtaposition between the narrator as the "I" in this book and then the narration in the third person. I prefer books where all the characters speak as "I" in different chapters so the reader can get a sense of each total person, but this vehicle worked in imparting the depth of their friendship.
Wonderful story about the power of friendship amongst a group of women.
I could not put this book down. Very good.
Very interesting read.
