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| Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants #5) Author: Ann Brashares Publisher: Random House Release Date: 14 June 2011 Pages: 349 |
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Brashares comes the welcome return of the characters whose friendship became a touchstone for a generation. Now Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting.
Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness.
Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.
As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.
Luna's Take:
First off, I know this review will probably be a little exclusive, since I know not all of you have read this series. But I just HAD to review it (can you tell I'm a huge Sisterhood fan??). I actually finished reading this over a week ago. I purchased the book its opening day, and it didn't take me too long to breeze through it. Hopefully I can get some of you to convert into fans, too. :)
This book starts off about 10 years after the conclusion of the last one, so the girls have all just turned 29. Although I'm still about a decade younger than the Sisterhood in this book, I didn't feel that the age barrier prevented me from fully understanding and empathizing with how the characters felt during the story. This is a tribute to Brashares, because I feel she manages to keep the core of each girl intact, despite there being such a long gap in the storyline.
Not to give anything away, but I wasn't too surprised that the girls weren't as close at the onset of this book as they were when they were mere teenagers. Anyone can attest to it - life happens. You find yourself more connected to some people than others over time. It is partly because of this bridge that Tibby decides to bring the Sisterhood back together, and they all end up meeting in Santorini.
What did surprise me was the fact that Lena and Kostos still have not gotten together! Their relationship has been a tortuous and tumultuous one, but at the end of the last book, as Kostos whispers "Someday" to Lena in Greek, I truly believed that their intertwined fates were sealed. As my favorite character (and not just because our names are so similar), Lena shocks me at times. But there are plenty of other twists in store for those of you who read this; it's so hard not to give much away!
One of the only criticisms I have about the book is regarding its dimensions - it's HUGE! Brashares had this book published under a different company, and I think that affected the length and width of it.. So now, it looks just a tad awkward next to the other four in the series, which are all synchronized - not only in size, but also in cover design. But really, this is just a superficial detail. Overall, I LOVED the conclusion to this epic saga; I ended the book in tears of happiness! So if you haven't yet touched a Sisterhood book, it's not too late to start!
