Friday, February 06, 2009

Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton


Spoken in Frankie's voice we introduced to the friendship of the Wednesday Sisters.


The story revolves around no-nonsense, athletic Linda, super smart Brett, quiet Frankie, Southern Belle Kath & shy Ally, friends who first meet every Wednesday in the park for play time with their kids, but where they eventually start to discuss what books they've been reading and the general small talk of forming friendships. Later, they discover that each has had a small desire in one way or another to become writers, so the Wednesday meetings change to writing critiques, as they each try to help the other into becoming better writers. We see their hopes, dreams and challenges of young families and budding friendships. We get a glimpse into 5 years of their friendship and watch through their eyes as the world is changing around them (the story starts in the summer of 1967) and how they themselves grow as individuals with the rest of the world.

It is an interesting view into a slice of American history we don't hear much about. Late 1960's in Palo Alto, CA before the computer & big dot.com boom. You really feel like you are living their lives as they meet weekly to support one another and each one in their own way become writers. Some more successfully than others. We see them struggle to find their own identity of the world is changing for women and Americans. Each friend has their own struggle, some physically and some emotionally but they are there for each other through it all.

I found myself really drawn into this story that at first I thought would be really superficial but ended up being thought provoking and enjoyable.