38 out of 38 people found this review helpful.
Luck Never Gives: It Only Lends
Date of Review: Oct 11, 2002
The Bottom Line: Brilliant story for the YA 15 and up group.
I had heard really good things about The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants before getting my copy fro the library. I heard that is was a fresh look on the lives of teenage girls, a subject that I tend to know a lot about since a) I was one and b) my cousin is 13 and I send her book suggestions every month. Sometime she emails back to say she loved or hated the book. Either way it's a great way for me to stay in touch with what is going on her life and to expand her reading list a little further.
Brief Plot
The novel bases itself around four girls, Bridgette, Lena, Tibby and Carmen. Together they try on a pair of vintage jeans and even though all four are different body sizes and shapes the pants fit perfectly on all. This leads them to believe that these vintage jeans are magical and promise each other that they will send them out once they have started their first summer vacation apart.
Lena leaves for Greece where she attempts to keep to herself but fate has other plans for her, Bridgette leaves for camp in Baja California where she falls so hard in love that it scares her to death, Carmen visits south Carolina and Tibby remains at home working for the summer. Each obtain the pants during the summer and has different effects of wearing them. The four girls suffer setbacks of all kinds but ultimately prevail in the life experiences.
The Characters
Bridgette- Bridgette was a little hard to get used to because she seemed more like an adult tapped in a 15 year old's body. Sexually aware of herself and counselor Eric, Bridgette stops at nothing to get him to notice her and ultimately fall for her…but with complications of course.
Lena- Aware of her beauty but turned off by those who acknowledge it, Lena is a complicated young woman. She travels to Greece to visit relatives with a dismal look at boys but a certain towns boy has her eventually head over heels.
Carmen- the most spoiled of the group, Carmen has a shock of her life when her father announces he impending marriage to another woman. Race relations are also taken into consideration as Carmen's father is Puerto Rican and his wife to be is white.
Tibby- stuck at home for summer Tibby befriends a young girl dying of cancer. She also looks for love while making a film.
My Thoughts
I loved the way this book was set up. In each chapter the girls tell there stories by switching back and forth. its not something that is hard to get used to its simply a little distracting in the beginning of the book. Brahseres added some really cute quotes in the book at the beginning of every chapter and I thought this was a nice touch to the novel.
With regards to the content in the boom some of what Brasheres writes for her characters borders on adult. The character Bridgette actively pursues a boy is older and is not supposed to date campers. Her persistence is the one thing that I didn't agree with in the book. A note to parents: Bridgette is the most sexually active character and even though Brasheres spares the reader the details its an important piece of information to know.
One of the themes that I think Brasheres wanted to get across is open communication between adults and teenage girls. She specifically has several of the lat chapters end with the characters opening up to the adults in their life and expressing their feelings on death, love and acceptance. Brasheres writes in terms that seem to say Look, parents aren't always cool but generally they will listen if you have any problems as a teen. Another theme explored in the book is how deep friendships should go. The girls live their lives but with a feeling that they always have to keep their friendship in check. Towards the ending the reader experiences a feeling that friendship can last but its ok to want to grow up and not share exactly everything.
Brasheres put together a solid YA book that to me can compete with most of the chick lit out there these days. These characters are funny, spirited and exude confidence about themselves that many young woman should have. I wholehearted recommend this book but not before a warning. If you are concerned about your pre-teen reading anything you don't feel they should be check out their books first.
?2002
Tiffy0380
