Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
I first read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series when I was a teenager, and have always wondered what happened to these four friends. Did they stay close? Did they get married or have children? In this novel, Brashares answers these questions in a bittersweet way that might leave some readers wishing they had stopped after the fourth book. Just make sure you have your box of tissues ready! The book opens when the girls are on the verge of turning thirty.The girls have changed over the ten years since we’ve last seen them just like anyone would, and it is shown in the book. All of them have boyfriends, but none are married. They are all still friends, but only because phones and emails keep them together. They are spread out from San Fransisco to New York to Rhode Island all the way to Australia, and they seem to have trouble staying in touch, especially Tibby who ran off to Australia with Brian, not telling her friends she was going until she was gone.
Then Tibby sends each of them a plane ticket to meet at Lena’s family home in Greece, and the girls jump at the chance to meet up. Carmon, a glamorous actress, Lena, a moderateley successful artist, and Bridget, a wanderer who lives with Eric in California, are ready for their break from reality and their reunion with their friends. Then tragedy strikes, and the girls who survive are left wondering how well they truly know each other or themselves. Grief stricken, the girls struggle to find out how they can possible move on without one of their own.
The fifth book in the series stands alone, though without reading them, you might not grasp the true emotional intensity of the events that occur. Readers of the series will be more than satisfied with the ending to the story, though it leaves you a bit teary eyed. I highly recommend this book for lovers of the Sisterhood! You will not be disappointed!
Librarian Aide
Alyssa Lovell