I have always had a soft space in my heart for the Sisters of the Traveling Pants. Like them, I am a Bethesda girl from birth. I too have a hard time finding jeans that fit just right. I love sour gummy worms, and a voodoo ritual involving them sounds wonderful to me. Heck, I read these books while hanging around in locations mentioned in the books themselves- how could I not love them? So when I heard that Ann Brashares had come out with a "ten years later" sequel, the saccharinely titled Sisterhood Everlasting, of course I jumped on it.
Now let me just say that I am not a fan of the movies based on these books. While the first one did capture some of the right spirit, they unforgivably took characters who were careful deconstructions of archetypes, and just made them into the archetypes themselves (especially Lena). Easy, but cheap and sloppy.
Now for the uninitiated, the books followed the adventures of four teenage best friends who had known each other since their mothers met at pregnant-lady aerobics (this is a silly plot construct, but pregnant-lady aerobics is the sort of thing that actually happens in Bethesda, so I let it slide). There's Carmen: the author's apparent pet, who occasionally strays into "fiery Latina" land, but is also overly analytical and funny and self-aware. There's Bridget: my least favorite, a sporty, glamorous blonde jock, but also someone who has kept herself moving near- constantly as a distraction since her mother's suicide when she was a child. There's Lena: Beautiful and a talented artist (and turned into a simpering cliche by Alexis Bledel in the movie), but also cripplingly shy to the point of being borderline misanthropic. And there's Tibby, my favorite: filmmaker, self-described "phony rebel", Mistress of Snark and really quite brave seeing as how Brashares always saddles her with something wrenching to deal with.
Our novel opens with our girls scattered to the four winds (four winds . . . four girls . . . see what I did there?). To make things simpler, I'll go girl-by-girl for each of their plots.
Carmen: For heaven's sake, we know you're the favorite! She does have a lovely bit of narration here and there, but feels like such a blatant author avatar and the girl-finds-glamorous-life-but-loses-herself thing is so tired (not to speak of the somewhat twitchy implications that she can only be happy in a relationship with someone who is Hispanic like her). She makes me sigh in annoyance at a waste of a character with potential (especially in the third book) in favor of self indulgence.
Lena: I just like this character. She does dumb things, but they are the sort of dumb things I might do, and I root for her. I like that, perhaps alone in YA Novel-land, she is someone who deals not with don't-let-the-cute-boy-see-me-looking-at-him social awkwardness, but a true introvert personality- she has friends and relationships and loves them, but her joy comes from quieter places. Thus, when she faces confrontation, it's not about "coming out of your shell" but about mustering the courage to act wildly out of character when it's needed. Her story is a slightly sappy romance, but she worked so hard at it, I had to smile.
Bridget: This character, by virtue of inherent blond athleticism, annoys me. I loved her plot in the second book, and I can sympathize with the "keep moving" approach to distress, but her plot drove me up the wall. In the first book, high on self-confidence but inwardly reeling from her mother's suicide, she impulsively slept with a camp counselor WHO WADS NOT SUPPOSED TO TURN OUT TO BE HER TRUE LOVE WHO SHE LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER WITH AGHHHHHH. That is all.
Tibby: . . . . . I don't wanna talk about it. *sniff*
Suffice it to say, if you read these books, you'll love this one. The same things will frustrate you and make you smile and make you cry, you'll still wish you had a magic-pants sisterhood, and whatever else, it will feel good to be back.
Our novel opens with our girls scattered to the four winds (four winds . . . four girls . . . see what I did there?). To make things simpler, I'll go girl-by-girl for each of their plots.
Carmen: For heaven's sake, we know you're the favorite! She does have a lovely bit of narration here and there, but feels like such a blatant author avatar and the girl-finds-glamorous-life-but-loses-herself thing is so tired (not to speak of the somewhat twitchy implications that she can only be happy in a relationship with someone who is Hispanic like her). She makes me sigh in annoyance at a waste of a character with potential (especially in the third book) in favor of self indulgence.
Lena: I just like this character. She does dumb things, but they are the sort of dumb things I might do, and I root for her. I like that, perhaps alone in YA Novel-land, she is someone who deals not with don't-let-the-cute-boy-see-me-looking-at-him social awkwardness, but a true introvert personality- she has friends and relationships and loves them, but her joy comes from quieter places. Thus, when she faces confrontation, it's not about "coming out of your shell" but about mustering the courage to act wildly out of character when it's needed. Her story is a slightly sappy romance, but she worked so hard at it, I had to smile.
Bridget: This character, by virtue of inherent blond athleticism, annoys me. I loved her plot in the second book, and I can sympathize with the "keep moving" approach to distress, but her plot drove me up the wall. In the first book, high on self-confidence but inwardly reeling from her mother's suicide, she impulsively slept with a camp counselor WHO WADS NOT SUPPOSED TO TURN OUT TO BE HER TRUE LOVE WHO SHE LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER WITH AGHHHHHH. That is all.
Tibby: . . . . . I don't wanna talk about it. *sniff*
Suffice it to say, if you read these books, you'll love this one. The same things will frustrate you and make you smile and make you cry, you'll still wish you had a magic-pants sisterhood, and whatever else, it will feel good to be back.
