Krishna
Best to dive straight into the story. This is a classic chick-lit, meant for young women readers. It is in the tradition of, and continuation of The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by the same author. The subtitle is ‘The sisterhood grows’.
Jo, Ama and Polly are friends. Jo the neat and Polly the sloppy are totally opposite in nature. They meet when they wait in the school for their late parents, decide to leave school by the back door on a dare and go home by themselves. Ama’s family is from Ghana. Ama’s elder sister, Esi, is brilliant and gets into Princeton. Jo’s elder brother Finn dies of heart trouble when he is only in the eighth grade and Jo in the fifth.
Figures right? Some racial tolerance, some emotional bonding…
Now Ama is going on a summer scholarship to a camp she is not interested in, Jo goes to the beachhouse with mom and … oh it is like watching Expo Centre of Disney! Jo gets a job. Jo’s dad and mom are separating. Just reads like a journal of three girls, with not much happening in their lives that may be of interest to an outsider. If you ask me ‘You know that it is a continuation of the Sisterhood book. If you were uninterested in that subject matter, why did you bother to read this book and now complain?’, well, I have no good answer to give you!
Jo is making out with Zach, a cute boy, Polly wants to be a model but does not have the body for it, and Ama is stuck in a hiking and rappelling class that she is unsuited for.
Jo feels that Polly is not ‘up to snuff’ to move with her new friends and tries to avoid both meeting. When they do, Polly is deeply hurt to overhear Jo wishing she was not there and leaves in tears.
Meanwhile Zach has gone back to her regular girlfriend, hurting Jo in the process. Ama gets lost in the camp and ends up at the ranger’s station. She then decides to abort the camp experience and head home. Changes her mind and rappels successfully and gets Noah as a boyfriend too.
Jo is caught kissing Zach by Elfie, the girlfriend and is in serious trouble.
Polly tries out for modelling school and gets invited to one interview thereafter. Turns out it is a doctor wanting to fix her teeth. She understands she is no model.
A story of growing up with the travelling pants people appearing in cameos and treated with God like reverence.
Ama learns to conquer her fear and enjoy outdoors and adventure in addition to the books. Jo learns who her true friends are and comes to terms with her parent’s separation. Polly learns to like who she really is (and discovers she is rich, which is totally irrelevant to the story) and they all grow up. This book has no real twists or plots and so I can write about it without worrying about spoilers.
You know… just fluff (especially girl stuff, chick-lit) – 4/10
– – Krishna