The focus is on Renata’s mother Shelby and her broken relationship with Renata’s father, Louie. Unfortunately, they weren’t really the focus of the story.
Renata was pretty funny, but apparently pretty dense, but Honora, Gladys, and Isabella were tons of fun.
I liked most of the present-day characters. Sound familiar? I’m thinking of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and this book is nowhere near as good as that one. Younger generation, digging in the past, looking for parents’ secrets. I don’t have a lot to say except that I can’t help but feel like this has been done before. She runs home to her grandmother in Alabama, seeking answers to questions about her mother. Renata DeChavannes is reeling from personal loss. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. (Jan.I have an affiliate relationship with and Malaprop's Bookstore in beautiful Asheville, NC.
On the whole, it's a joyride, if a sometimes bumpy one. West's storytelling talent shines when she's following around the fiery belles, though she has trouble getting convincingly into the head of Renata's father, Louie, and the profusion of subplots can feel overwhelming. The story flies by, loaded with grand parties, sumptuous Southern meals, multiple affairs and harrowing calamities. So Renata heads to her Gulf Coast Alabama hometown, where her indomitable grandmother Honora DeChavannes steadfast former nanny Gladys Boudreax and Honora's longtime friend and former actress, Isabella D'Agostina McGeehee, live. At the heart of the novel is Renata DeChavannes, who has a pretty full plate: a tabloid ran a story about her longtime film director boyfriend's possible on-set fling with an actress her mother and step-father died in a plane crash five months ago her father is about to marry his fourth wife (a squeaky-voiced young thang named Joie) and she's just found a letter written by her mother instructing her to ferret out her mother's dirty secrets. Ripe with Southern charm and sultry atmosphere, West's diverting and funny latest unravels the tangled gossamer web of an eccentric extended Southern family.
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