Little Altars Everywhere: Amazon.de: Rebecca Wells: Englische Bücher

Amazon.co.uk

Little Altars Everywhere is much bleaker than its predecessor Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, told by Rebecca Wells with a whisky drawl. Divine Secrets was about heart break, bad parenting and loyalty, spiked with a delicious spitefulness that Scarlett O'Hara would have adored. It was impossible not to be bewitched and bewildered by the Southern charm and molten rage of Vivi and her friends, the Ya-Yas. Bad things happened but narrator Siddalee Walker, Vivi's eldest child, was left with "love and wonder" for her desperado, drunken mother. The charm and the drunken revelry is there in Little Altars Everywhere but it's more desperate and hung over and destructive.

Siddalee, once again, is the hub of the stories, a smart and sensitive raconteur, but the other children also take their part in unpicking the legend that is Vivi. Here Vivi Walker is larger than life and twice as scary, a sort of Mommie Dearest character where affectionate gestures are tainted with inappropriateness, and repressed anger and boredom snakes out into harsh violence. All her children are damaged in some way. Lulu becomes the town's best shop lifter, "The Princess of Gimme", whilst Baylor is depressed and emotionally "parked at the edge of a graveyard." Little Shep's story "Snuggling" goes a long way to explaining the crazy sadness of the Walker children; it tells of Vivi climbing into bed with him: "She looked at me and whispered, Give me a hug, Little Shep, give me a hug and a kiss ... then she reached down and started to rub her hand across one of my nipples." And "Willetta's Witness" brings on the darkness as all four children are "lined up against the wall of that brick house and everyone of them buck naked. Miz Vivi out there with a belt, whuppin' them like horses". Despite all this Little Altars isn't a depressing read; the whiplash wit and the whiskey phrases add some measure of merriment to the misery. --Eithne Farry -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

From Kirkus Reviews

A somewhat disjointed but appealing first novel--winner of the 1992 Western States Book Award for Fiction--set in the early 60's and 90's in small-town Louisiana. The story is narrated in turn by members of a curiously likable family--of terrible parents and unstrung kids--and by a pair of depressingly noble black servants. After a 1991 erotic dream tribute to Mama Viviane by daughter Siddalee, Part I begins with Siddalee, in 1963, telling of the Girl Scout camping weekend led by Mama and one of her ``Ya-Ya'' chums. (The Ya-Yas drink bourbon and branch water, play a kind of poker and shout and drink again, and call everyone ``Dahling'' like their idol Tallulah.) Meanwhile, those moments that ``came and went,'' the chances to be kind and set things right, are on the mind of Daddy, ``Big Shep,'' in his story. Both parents are awash in self- pity, feel threatened, and, to make things worse, Big Shep is not really one of the Old Boys, being Baptist (he talks to ``Old Podnah'' in the fields) and a farmer. Viviane feels no one knows what she really is and hates Siddalee's love of books: ``Life is not a book. You can't just walk away from it when it gets boring and you get tired.'' The parents drink away the silences within, while the children see all but don't really know all--until Part II and 1991, when they remember and examine their memories with hatred, bitterness, and, crazily, adult love. The servants disclose terrible cruelty; one son discloses sexual abuse; and another son pays witty tribute to the homeland and people in bitter cynicism and true affection. Wells's people pop with life, but it's quite a stretch from a sour mash Auntie Mame to an abusive Mommie Dearest without some fictional coherence; here, violence seems grafted rather than grown. But Wells's view of Mama Vivi and a Ya-Ya, bagged to the ears and rocketing down the road, is memorable. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

Alle Produktbeschreibungen

3 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Sad, Disturbing, Funny, Beautifully Written 30. Juli 2000

Von Ein Kunde

Format:Taschenbuch

Parts of this book made me breathless with its heart-breaking beauty. Parts made me laugh out loud. Parts have taken up their places in my mind and won't go away.

Much of the content of this book is difficult, although it ultimately is about survival. Alcoholism, abuse, casual racism.

Although many have called this book a novel, it is more a collection of related short stories told in various voices, most of which seem very authentic and real.

Like many people, I read the 2nd book "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" first. This is a more difficult, less funny book, but it is a book worth your time.

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1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Satisfying...a real story 17. Juli 2000

Sometimes it's difficult to read stories with depth and truth...but it is the reality of life. Families aren't perfect and we all have secrets. After reading "Divine Secrets" I wondered if I would enjoy the backward order of my reading. But I think that I might not have found the Ya Ya's so endearing had I read "Little Alters" first. This novel had depth, humor and profound sadness...but it was very real. It hurt me so much to read of the pain of Sidda and her siblings' childhood but it reminded me of mine. I appreciate that.

Catholic to Lutheran 3. Juli 2000

Format:Gebundene Ausgabe

This book is good in giving background for the next book by R.Wells. It was intriguing from page one to the end. Hard to put down. It was about the dark side of family dynamics. It confirms that no matter what your childhood is like, the child always loves the parent... ALWAYS. There is no love more natural, or undeniable because it is God-given.

"That place ain't nothin but a big air-condition house of sadness"...

Mit ihrem 1992 veröffentlichten Roman "Little Altars Everywhere" gelang Rebecca ein Riesenerfolg. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 30. Januar 2009 von Michael Dienstbier

Sad, Disturbing, Funny, Beautifully Written

Parts of this book made me breathless with its heart-breaking beauty. Parts made me laugh out loud. Parts have taken up their places in my mind and won't go away. Lesen Sie weiter...

Am 30. Juli 2000 ver�ffentlicht

Laugh & Smile & Cry with a Genuine Southern Accent!

Truly "performed" rather than just read by the author, who I think is just magnificent and love the southern accent (which might give pause to a few of you). Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 25. Juli 2000 von Mamalinde

Innocence offered up on the altar of madness

I wish that I had read this before its sequel, "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." With the background on the life of Siddalee Walker and her siblings offered in... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 18. Juli 2000 von Sherrie Martin

ya-ya no

After reading "Divine Secrets", the four lovable, ahead-of-their-times, Southern divas had a strong hold on me. I fell in love with these characters. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 11. Juli 2000 von disappointed reader

Great book!

This book was great, I think that it should be read before "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" since it is the first in the series. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 30. Juni 2000 von Stephanie Longo

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

I love this book. The characters are so rich and human. This book deals with pain, but it is also one of the warmest stories I have ever read. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 25. Juni 2000 von Richelle L. Reid

Rebecca Wells shows potential

Little Alter Everywhere shows serious potential in her first novel. The story can't decide if it wants to be funny or sad, like life, and we can't decide if the characters are... Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 12. Juni 2000 von Dan Barksdale III

Enjoyed but disappointed

I loved the first two chapters of this book. I thought it was going to be a funny novel. But there is nothing funny about the tragic turn the childrens' lives takes. Lesen Sie weiter...

Ver�ffentlicht am 6. Juni 2000 von Nat Yancey

Little Altars Everywhere [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

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