Monday, July 14, 2008

Review: The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

Released last month, I have read wonderful things about The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. I was very excited to read it and the book lived up to my expectations!

Set in the late 1960's, five women meet at a neighborhood children's park. They meet once a week on Wednesday mornings. They start out as a lot of women's groups do - talking about what defines them: their kids and their husbands. But one of the women pushes the group to start doing something - writing! She buys journals for each of them and every week they have to share something they've written. It's a struggle at different times for each woman, but they all eventually do write. And as they write, they share more of themselves than they ever would have just chatting weekly at the park.

The book takes us through a number of years of friendship, love, heartbreak and joy. Through Miss America pageants, the space exploration excitement, and the changes taking place politically in that era. But most of all, it takes us through the changes in the women. As they grow together and individually.

I really liked this book. I cried, laughed, and wished I was a part of the Wednesday sisters. I could see myself as reluctant, not thinking I have anything to say in my writing, yet loving the friendship. The husband's have supporting 'roles', yet are real and definitely a part of the story. The book is written as a 'look back' by one of the Wednesday sisters with a little synopsis at the end of what they did with the rest of their lives. But I would have loved to read more about their lives, their friendship, their children as I enjoyed the writing and the characters very much. I definitely recommend reading this book!

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

1 comment:

April said...

This sounds like a really wonderful book! I had not heard of it before, but am now going to add it to my looooong list of books!