The Wednesday Sisters

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

Published June 2008

I've been looking forward to reading The Wednesday Sisters for a couple of months. I saw this in a bookstore, and I knew I had to read it, even though I wasn't going to buy it. So, I waited until it was available at my library.

It was worth the wait! The Wednesday Sisters really did live up to my expectations. And of course, there were plot points I wasn't expecting.

Simply, this book is about the lives of the five women who make up the Wednesday Sisters--Kath, Ally, Brett, Linda, and Frankie. Frankie, the narrator, is new to the neighborhood and bond with the four other women over their mutual love of books. A few of the books mentioned are: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Middlemarch by George Eliot, and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Here is Frankie reflecting on her favorite--Rebecca:

...I sat wondering why I was drawn to Rebecca. Because the narrator was an
unremarkable girl who'd landed a remarkable man? Because she, like me, imagined
other women's lives in great detail, and always imagined those women as better
than herself? (pg. 41)

Soon, this group of readers turns into a group of writers. But, their love of reading and writing is simply the tie that binds them.

Set in the 60's, the reader uncovers another element of the novel when these women deal with infertility and the desperation that accompanies it, infidelity, interracial marriage, and illness. All of these women, however, are trying to discover themselves in a world that won't let them. Frankie states, "...a girl didn't have to relinquish her dreams on her wedding day" (pg. 33).

One neat thing for me was reading the cultural details of the 60's. A few mentioned include the shooting of Bobby Kennedy, the phone being released with the * and # keys for the first time, and the man on the moon. There is quite a lengthy scene depicting the group watching Neil Armstrong's famous footsteps. While this scene was powerful, I think someone who was actually alive and remembers the even would be really moved by it.

I do think the book was well-written. Though, I did notice my favorite passages were in the first half of the book. The narration is great. I feel it does get a little choppy towards the end however. Despite a few flaws, and decisions by characters I didn't always agree with, I really enjoyed spending 284 pages with these intelligent and independent women. And in the end, the reader gets a little update on these Wednesday Sisters.

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