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Title: The Wednesday Sisters: A Novel
ISBN: 0345502825
Author:
Meg Waite Clayton
Publicate Date: 2008-06-17
Publish: 2008-06-17
List Price: $23.00
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $12.44
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.42
Amazon Merchant Price: $15.64
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| Customer Review: |
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1: A Beautiful Celebration of Friendship
Meg Waite Clayton has written a compelling exploration of a friendship that develops between a group of women during a time of enormous change in the country, the sixties and seventies. Using events of historical significance as her back drop, Clayton's characters struggle to understand themselves as the world around them shifts and changes. Clayton's clever juxtapositioning of historical details like The Miss America Pageant and the first moon walk, as well as her tender and sensitive characterizations, serve as a heady reminder of our history as women, our struggles and our victories, and our continual and necessary fight to achieve equality.
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2: It was through the writing that we were coming to know who we were.
You get to see each of these women's lives and the struggles they go through. They each agree to write and try to be published.
This is a novel about friendship and finding true friends when you least expect it. It is also a story about hope and dreams.
I enjoyed this book, I was easily hooked and it was hard to put down. It does have a great story line and the characters are likeable. I laughed out loud in parts of it and got teary eyed in other parts too. This is the type of book, that if done right, would be a great film.
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3: Applause for this celebration of sisterhood
I came late to sisterhood. A half-generation younger than the women in The Wednesday Sisters, many in my generation scoffed at unliberated women like them. Many in my generation sought to make their way in a man's world, using men's strategies--strategies that felt uncomfortable and often did not serve us well. Yet, at the same time, many of us also became wives and mothers, where we were born again into the realization that the women's way--generosity of spirit and the compassionate, nurturing sisterhood role model--was the right way all along, the right way for us and for our ailing world. The Wednesday Sisters is the book I wish I had written about sisterhood. It transported me back in time to an earlier world that, at once and the same time, felt like home. I long for Meg Wait Clayton's next novel, for the next journey of the soul.
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4: Inspirational Look at the Power of Friendship
What do you get when you combine five women, a shared love of reading and a park picnic table? The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton, of course.
In the late 1960's five very different women meet as their children play in a Palo Alto park. United by their love of books and a shared passion for the Miss America Pageant, the five women - Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett and Ally - become friends. Eventually their love of books leads to the creation of a writing circle. The characters grow as women and as friends through their writing, and that growth is a fascinating process to watch.
We meet these remarkable women at a crucial point in American history. The Vietnam War is dividing the nation and the Summer of Love is at its peak. The first meeting of the Wednesday Sisters takes place the day after Robert F. Kennedy is shot, and the women find themselves drawn to the park; each one looking for comfort and normalcy on that dark day. As their friendships blossom, they watch in awe as Neil Armstrong walks on the moon and re-evaluate their roles as wives and mothers in light of the Women's Liberation Movement. All the while, they continue to write and encourage each other to pursue their dreams.
Meg Waite Clayton did an excellent job in creating vivid, interesting characters and showing how their lives changed as a result of their friendships and the turbulent times in which they lived. This is a fun, easy read, but there's also a lot of meat to the story. It's sure to be a popular choice for book clubs. I wouldn't be surprised to see The Wednesday Sisters on the silver screen at some point. This inspirational story of the power of friendship has a wide appeal.
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5: For Friends Everywhere
The Wednesday Sisters is the compelling story of friendship between five women who first meet in a 1960s Palo Alto park as their children play. Clayton has developed strong characters in Kath the spoiled doctor's wife, Linda the athlete, Frankie from Chicago, scientist Brett, and secretive Ally. Four are college graduates; one is not. A fierce, enduring bond develops between these five very different women as they discover mutual loves--great literature, expressing themselves in writing, and the Miss America Pageant. Every Wednesday, they bring paper and pen to the picnic table in the park. They discuss their latest reads and then write and share their poems and stories, at first timidly, and then more boldly as their talent, confidence, and level of trust develop. When they begin to type their stories and articles, they make four carbons, so each member can read and critique before the next week's discussion.
As the years pass, the women become more proficient writers and venture into the daunting world of submitting their work for publication. They share leads and keep a joint file of possible agents. They share successes and disappointments. One becomes an editor. One succeeds beyond anyone's dream, landing herself a spot on Johnny Carson's late night show.
Their friendship matures along with their talent. Secrets are revealed and honored. They stand with one another through triumphs and tragedies--births, broken marriages, life-changing illness. Every year, the women gather to watch the Miss America Pageant. It becomes a metaphor of their own development, from youthful dreams and ambitions to a more informed, moderate feminism. They are witnesses to a changing world--the Vietnam conflict, man walking on the moon, and the women's movement. The author is faithful to the details of the changing decades of the 60s and 70s. The women transition from one stage of life to another, from one decade to another, sometimes grudgingly (as they switch from typewriters to computers, for instance) and sometimes with ease. The same determination that keeps them writing sustains them all, no matter what life brings. This is no fairy tale in which life is perfect and everyone is instantly successful.
Clayton develops strong individual characters and tells a powerful story that celebrates friendship, trust, and life. She shows the healing power of telling one's story and the importance of having a group of trusted sisters with whom to share those stories.
by Susan Ideus
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
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