Gumbo YaYa

What a delicious Louisiana-flavored stew of friends and family, of Spanish moss-hung place, of loss and longing and redemption! I read these two books 25 years ago, long enough for them to seem new all over. And the distance in time from my own somewhat dysfunctional family of birth allowed me a bit more clarity in my emotional response.

Though Little Altars was published first, it was the Ya-Ya Sisterhood that was the number one bestseller and it was this I read first. It's the story, mainly, of Sidda who is struggling to escape the psychic wounds inflicted by her charming/crazy mother. It's also the mother's story and that of her life long friends, the Ya-Yas.

The tale is rich in remembrance--the good times (and they were many) and the bad times (and they were bad. It's a potent mix of booze and diet pills, kids running wild, rosaries and confession, Southern manners and Cajun music.

It's a terrific read and easy to get lost in. The characters are vividly painted, especially the mother--and I felt a real affection for them all. Wells never lets us lose sight of the fact that there's likely a reason people turn out the way they do.

Which brings me to Little Altars Everywhere. It's not a novel but a series of stories, told in the different voices of the characters from the novel. Each chapter answers questions and goes a long way toward explaining the motivations and mindsets of this fragile, flawed family. By the time I was done, I felt it was the stronger of the two books. And I was glad I'd read them in backwards order. 

It may be that these books resonated with me so strongly because they are set in times I remember--late Forties onward. And, as I said, the family dynamic was familiar--a charming, unpredictable mother, made volatile by a mix of diet pills and alcohol.

But the writing--the sense of place, the spot-on characterizations, the compassion for these characters--it all adds up to an amazing experience. Highly recommended.