The Wednesday Sisters Review & Giveaway

They say timing is everything and when it comes to reading just the right book at the right time, that saying is sometimes right on the mark.

In November of 2000, I sat in a hotel room, in my pajamas, with some of my women co-workers. We were in Connecticut to attend a funeral of another of our co-workers, who passed away after a short battle with Breast Cancer. The conversation, as it sometimes does, turned to books and that’s when one of the women said to us “you girls all need to read this book.” She was referring to Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells. A few days later, I grabbed a copy of the book and found myself immersed in the Southern Ya-Ya’s lives and it turned out to be the perfect uplifting read.

So I find it interesting that the first book I decided to read after my own Mother’s death was The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. As it turns out, just like in that hotel room way back in 2000, I would definitely recommend this book to my girlfriends.

In the novel, the year was 1968 and Frankie, the narrator, had just moved to California from the Mid West. At a park across from her house, she meets four other women, Linda, Ally, Kath and Brett, who begin meeting for playdates with their young children. As they watched the Miss America pageant (which becomes a favorite annual event) Linda comes up with the idea of starting a writing group and every Wednesday meet at the park to discuss their writing, and the Wednesday Sisters were born. What starts as a weekly get-together becomes a life long bonding ritual for the five women.

Even though I would clasify The Wednesday Sisters as a light read, very often the author touched upon some hefty subjects including racism, the Vietnam War, the American Space Race and Cancer. The mention of some of these historical and pop-culture references set the pace of the novel quite nicely and I could relate easily to the characters and the minefields we all have to trudge through when trying to connect with our peers.

I mostly identified to Frankie, who even though was a promising student in high school, wasn’t able to go to college since her father only made it a priority that his son’s attended. Frankie says:

I imagined my tombstone: simple gray marble with perhaps an angel carved at the top; BELOVED WIFE AND LOVING MOTHER; CHERISHED DAUGHTER AND SISTER. It ought to be enough. But all those years I’d watched my brothers go off to college – I didn’t know if I could spend my whole life that way, playing the supporting role, having no part of me that wasn’t defined by my relation to someone else.

Don’t we all feel a little like that sometimes?

I guess my only beef with this book was the fact that it was too short. It is a lot of information to sqeeze into 280 pages, and yet I felt that all the characters could have been a little more vivid given some more time on the page.

Does this sound like a book you would like to read? Lucky you then, since the publisher sent me an extra hard cover copy to giveaway! If your interested, just leave a comment on this post by midnight EST time on Monday, July 28th. For an additional chance, mention this contest on your blog (linking back to this post) and you’ll get an extra entry! I’ll pick a name on Tuesday the 29th so hurry up (and Nicole, you aren’t eligible since I’d be happy to share my copy with you)!

Oh, and check out these other reviews of The Wednesday Sisters: Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?, Lesa’s Book Critiques and Lesley’s Book Nook!