Promising. Ultimately, a disappointment.: (2010-06-15) 
I'm going to go ahead and give this one a 2.5 stars.
Pros: First off, it is well-written. The premise is interesting and the concept is intriguing. I loved the fact that this was about books; writing and reading them. The characters were molded all differently, and each have their own distinct personalities.

Cons: There was not much character development. I felt as if they were just stuck in their own little worlds from beginning to end. I didn't really connect to any of them, and in fact, found them kind of unlikable. I even thought that the entire story was predictable.
It also seemed a bit rushed; while there were many sub-plots, that weren't discussed well. It was as if the author just brushed through them, leaving me a bit confused.

Overall, this was just a disappointing novel. While it isn't a horrible book, as the premise was extremely promising and the writing was done well, I thought that in the end, it simply failed to deliver.

good read: (2010-06-06) 
My sister recommended this book to me and I bought for a book club discussion. I thought the perspective was great, I really enjoyed reading about how women's options have changed over the years. I also enjoyed the perspective of the women becoming writers and intend to use parts of it with older students in writing class.

I have passed it on to other teachers!

women empowering women: (2010-05-24) 


This is a charming and timeless novel about the power of friendship among women, and the power of friendship in pursuing one's dreams.A perfect treat for your friends, for yourself to enjoy by the fireplace or the pool, and a fantastic discussion book for your bookclub. We loved it!

Tender, beautiful...: (2010-05-07) 
The Wednesday Sisters strikes that perfect balance between wonderful language and gripping story. I wanted to read all about these women from the start, so much that I stayed up all night to do so (I have a small child, so not choosing sleep says a WHOLE lot here). I loved the historical setting of the sixties, just when women were starting to realize that they didn't have to make the same choices their mothers and their mother's mothers had made. There is sisterhood, running, writing, disease, birth---you name it. A lovely read. I am still drawn in by the beautiful cover!

Unfortunately, this book was a letdown for me: (2010-04-19) 
I had high hopes for this book. (Maybe I had such high hopes that I had raised the bar too high?) I had read somewhere that Ms. Clayton used to be a corporate transaction attorney at a large law firm. After she ceased practicing law, she wrote this book. As a lawyer and aspiring writer, I was drawn to it from that angle. Then there was the fact that the book is about a group of aspiring writers, who form a writing group and try to publish. That sounds like me, so I thought I could relate. Finally, the book takes place in San Francisco starting in the 1960's. The interview I'd read with Ms. Clayton said she'd scoured old newspapers and magazines for historical tidbits to include in the book. How exciting! I thought.

Well... I have to say that the beginning of The Wednesday Sisters: A Novel really didn't meet my expectations at all. I found the first third of it quite dull. The characters all seemed stereotypical and flat to me. And it seemed like the story was dragging and almost nothing was happening! I pushed on, thinking a big part of it was that I just couldn't relate to these women. They admitted that they had put their dreams on hold, or permanently curtailed them, to marry their husbands, and their lives revolved around their children. It's not that I didn't want to read a book about housewives, but I think that many housewives, in real life and in books, are awesome. Many have confidence, charisma, interests and hobbies. But these women were so self-defacing that it was annoying. The main character, Frankie, tells the entire story, and she's always saying things like, "I can't imagine that I could actually write a book... I'd like to, but I'm no good, and what would these other women think?" We're not talking about writing a masterpiece novel here, or publishing, just writing in general. I wanted to scream at her, it's not that hard, just get a little self-esteem and try it! I really didn't understand the big deal.

Knowing the author's background, and that she was both a lawyer and a mother, I started thinking that maybe the problem was that she was writing what she didn't know, and it didn't seem real. But even the historical parts weren't that interesting in the first third of the book. The characters were on the outskirts of society, seemingly purposefully left out from everything exciting that was going on. They would see feminist protests on the news, but not attend. (Then Frankie would couch the events by saying something like, "We didn't know what to think of these crazy women on TV... we are just little stay at home moms who don't know anything about the world." Honestly, if I were a housewife I would be offended at the way that women in my profession/position were portrayed by the characters in the book!) Then there would be tidbits of history dropped in all too conveniently, like, "we read in the news that this happened..."(couched by Frankie in terms of "not that we understand what it all means, of course"), which to me isn't all that exciting. It's like too much historical data was given without the main characters really being a part of the context.

I kept reading The Wednesday Sisters since I had had such high hopes. Towards the middle, the book started to get better. And then the last third turned into a pretty good read. I think it's because the characters were actually doing something, making decisions instead of letting life just happen to them. For the first time, some of them seemed like separate characters, instead of all being lumped into one stereotypical housewife. (Some of them still fell flat to me even during the exciting parts). And they also went out into the real world and took part in some of the historical goings-ons, which made the historical parts a lot more interesting.

In the end, I think that the best parts of The Wednesday Sisters make for kind of a stereotypical chick-lit-for-mature-chicks read. Like, ladies that belong to knit clubs and church socials would probably like some of this book. But I bet even they'd be bored with a lot of it. It just doesn't go anywhere, or do anything, until near the end, and I don't know if a lot of people would hang on that long! I hate to give negative reviews, so I'll throw in something positive and say that this book has a lot of interesting parts about writing and the writing process, and it includes some good quotes and tips from famous writers. But even that part is annoying, because one of the women, Bret, will say things like, "Well, you know, Mark Twain always said..." at the beginning of their writing groups, causing Frankie to must out loud "How does Bret have such a good memory and always remember what all these great writers said?" Still, The Wednesday Sisters has some appeal for writers, so I recommend it, with reservations, to other writers. For this reason I give it two stars.

For more book reviews and other posts of interest to readers and writers, please visit my blog, Voracia: Goddess of Words.