Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
I'm going to pay overdue fines for this book.  It was due the end of last week and so it had gone unread and unthought of for 3 weeks... but the day I was going to return it I noticed a conversation about the book happening on facebook.  Friends were talking about how it wasn't what they expected and that there was a plot twist they wouldn't have guessed but that it was well worth the read.  This exchange drew me in just enough to decide to give the library the 75 cents or so and read it over the weekend. 

I loved the teen series Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  I enjoyed all the characters (though I have always been most fond of Lena) and the reads were fun trips through memories of friendships that I still treasure today.  Following this girls into their 30th year sounded like great fun...nothing in the book jacket description would lead you to believe otherwise but that couldn't be further from the truth.  Don't get me wrong.... I loved this book but if you are looking for a beach read that won't make you think, feel uncomfortable, and explore hard emotions with these characters than perhaps it should be set aside for a rainy day instead of a day with your feet nestled in the sand.... but pick it up and read it one day...it's worth it.

SPOILERS AHEAD - Don't read further if you haven't read the book and intend to do so ..............












Once I read on facebook that there were some plot twists I had a feeling that something happened to one of the Septembers... I thought perhaps we would find out in the beginning of the book that one of them was sick and the book would explore their relationship together as the illness progressed... I was fully expecting Tibby to announce an illness when the four arrived in Greece and the turn of events did surprise me.  After a while however I did figure out that there was more going on and that she must have been ill before the incident.  It didn't actually bother me to know this before the characters... it wasn't like figuring out a mystery before then end of a suspense novel ... This book was more about the characters and how they worked through their grief and their relationships than it was about plot details to me. 

I have a hard time reading about death and grief...it makes me think of people I love that I've lost and this book was no different.  I wasn't actually sure I had it in me to keep reading after the first few chapters... I think some of this stems from great writing and evoking of emotions just as must as it does from being a weeping prone individual!

I marked some pages as I went and I want to share a few passages that particularly struck me. This is just as much for myself as for sharing so that I can come back to these few lines in the future... long after I've returned the library book.

pg xii  Growing up is hard on friendship.

pg 66 She forgot everything instantly, as though she had no memory apparatus at all.  But in a sick-feeling way, she also knew her eyes and ears were taking these things in and keeping them.  These images and words would be there waiting for her, settling into some deeper layer that would someday resurface...and make her feel crazy and scared.

pg 228
Her vision of the world under the water represented a beautiful stillness, a version of heaven.  It was the lost city of Lena, her alternate universe, the life she yearned for but didn't get to have.

Lena's grief experience most closely matched my own and so I think her sections stood out the most to me throughout the book, but following each persons individual experience and growth as a result of it was very touching and rewarding in a sort of way.  I really wanted these characters to find their way, both in life and back to each other. 

This certainly wasn't a happy light read, but readers will take comfort in the ending, and will feel better for having read it.