Ya-Yas in Bloom (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "My name is Viviane Abbott Walker..." (more)
Key Phrases: Little Shep, Big Shep, Aunt Jezie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Ya-Ya sisters shimmy on and off stage in this disjointed follow-up to Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Wells's bestselling novel about the singular friendship and escapades of four larger-than-life Southern women. The author is off to a good start with the tale of how Vivi, Teensy, Caro and Necie met as little girls in 1930, their spunk and liveliness a harbinger of things to come. But the focus on the Ya-Yas' early years soon wavers and the novel is all over the map—here a few tales about the grown-up Ya-Yas, like Vivi's run-in with her son's first-grade teacher, a pompous nun; there a story about Vivi's eldest daughter, Sidda, one of the so-called "Petites Ya-Yas," and her directorial debut at age eight at a Valentine's Day party. A chapter appears out of nowhere from the viewpoint of Myrtis Spevey, a contemporary of the original Ya-Yas, who is so excessively jealous and resentful of the friends that she comes off as a cartoon character. After a vexing 30-year leap, Myrtis's creepy, emotionally ill daughter, Edythe, takes over the narrative, kidnapping one of the Ya-Yas' grandchildren. What begins as a collection of haphazard but entertaining snippets from the Ya-Yas' lives suddenly bumps up against a sober story about a missing child and the lengths to which parents will go to protect their young. Readers may lose patience as even the loose family-album format fails to hold up, but Wells still charms when she focuses on the redemptive power of family love and the special bond that comes from genuine, long-lived friendship.
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From Bookmarks Magazine

Critics generally agree that the bloom may have left the Ya-Yas. The novel, a collection of vignettes about "the time that [insert: ‘it snowed,’ or ‘we drove to Houston for the Beatles concert’]," is more hodge-podge than its predecessors. The Ya-Yas’ antics seem stale, their child-raising overprotective. Too many characters, a confusing chronological mix of stories, and a muddled tone give the work an ad-hoc feel. Some bright spots will please fans, however. The dialogue and details continue to allure, and The Washington Post praised the novel for its "subversive," hell-raising women. "But it’s not the kind of book," says the Denver Post, "that will be passed from reader to reader, like The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060195347
• ISBN-13: 978-0060195342
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #565,109 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars (2.5) Steel Magnolias redux, March 29, 2005

By	Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Ya-Ya's in Bloom is Well's third effort to place the quirky Southern ladies of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood front and center. With a bit of background gleaned from both previous books, Bloom is instantly familiar through the antics of four little girls who become lifetime friends. Reintroducing their unique friendship, the Ya-Ya's stick to their loyalties through good times and bad. Vivi, Teensy, Caro and Necie first show up as toddlers in 1930, later as their older selves, along with a familiar "petite Ya-Ya", Sidda, Vivi's oldest daughter.

In order to accommodate the plot line, a couple of strange characters, relatively speaking, are inserted into this rarified world, the prickly Mavis Spivey and her disgruntled daughter, Edythe. These two facilitate the plot twist that besmirches Well's Ya-Ya's impressive family album, so far filled with inter-family problems, untainted by the problems of others. Now Wells presents a quasi-mystery, one that tries to breathe life into the story.

Unfortunately, this Cajun stew doesn't have the joy and spice of the Divine Sisterhood, though Wells gives it the old college try. Charming at their most powerful and eccentric, very real women hid a number of serious issues behind the cheerful facade of their bickering and teasing. There was a real sense of generational connectedness that spoke to women, north and south, of the relationship between mothers and daughters and why secrets are kept to protect the innocent.

In their current Ya-Ya incarnation, the dialog, the story line and the characters have almost become caricatures, devoid of the soul that made them such fascinating creatures, warts and all. Even the element of suspense is Ya-Ya'd, turned into foolish ramblings and pale interactions. The once inherently charming now borders on the tedious as tales are rehashed in an effort to win a new audience. This is certainly a popular series that has garnered a devoted audience. But perhaps it is time for these Ya-Ya's to gracefully retire, making room for a new bevy of Southern characters. Haven't these ladies earned a well-deserved rest, permanent icons in a culture that has joyfully welcomed them? Luan Gaines/2005.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ya-Ya Short Stories, April 20, 2005

By	Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is less of a novel than it is a collection of vignettes about the Ya-Yas and those around them. I realize I am going against the grain of 99% of those who have written reviews, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Rebecca Wells recaptures the spirit and spontaneous craziness of the four life-long friends, and fills in a few blanks in our knowledge, such as how the girls met and became friends in the first place. It might have been better if this book had been marketed as a group of short stories because, although there are some ties between chapters, most of the stories stand alone. I laughed out loud at some of the adventures of the Ya-Yas and their progeny and the book evoked the same sense of enjoyment I felt at being let in on their world in the first two books. This is not a novel in the conventional sense, but it does bring the reader back to the world of these four unconventional women and the friendships which sustain them throughout their lives.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waaah! I'll never get those three hours back!!, April 6, 2005

By	Jay Jay (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

I read "Divine Secrets" after resisting its hype. I thought I was too above it all to read a fluffy tale about Southern women. I was a snob about it. But that book drew me in, made me laugh and cry, enfolded me like a blanket. And it resonated with me, which surprised me greatly. I also liked "Little Altars" because I thought Wells was rather brave to explore some of the more disturbing aspects of the Walker/Abbot clan.

So, I certainly did want to like this book. But I was disappointed. Like a bunch of loosely constructed afterthoughts, no substance, it bored me. A hilarious word picture or bon mot here and there does not represent a well-constructed novel. The Christmas play at the end--- ugh! I was actually fidgeting in embarassment.

Time for the Yayas to hang it up, cherie....