Author: Ann Brashares
Publisher: Listening Library, 2007 (print available from Delacourte Books for Young Readers, 2001)
Narrator: Angela Goethals
The summer they all turn 16 will be their first summer apart. Lena, Carmen, Tibby and Bridget have been best friends since before they were born, when their mothers met in a pregnant ladies' aerobics class. While they're usually joined at the hip during the summer vacation, it's not possible this year. Lena will be going to Greece to visit her grandparents, Bridget is off to Baja California (in Mexico) for soccer camp, Carmen will be spending the summer with her dad in South Carolina, and Tibby is stuck at home in D.C., alone.
Basically, they find this incredible pair of pants that manages to fit all of their very different bodies perfectly. So they make a pact to send the jeans to each other throughout the summer (and exchange letters, of course). But things don't go exactly according to plan for them all, and they will need the pants and each other to get through it.
I wasn't the biggest fan of this book. I can't see what so many others love about it, but I appreciate that it is loved. I just couldn't bring myself to really connect with any of the characters, and in fact didn't really like any of them. They were all pretty bratty, even though they did grow up a little over the summer. Mostly, I was just bored with it all. That said, there were a few good points, and I even teared up once.
Goethals was a good narrator for this story. She managed to make each girls' voice slightly different, and was calm and smooth throughout the narration. She put emotion into the reading when it called for it and did an overall great job.
I don't think I will be picking up the sequels, though I am glad I finally can say I've "read" this. It's sort of a modern classic YA book. Anyway, if you have read it and liked it, please comment below. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Disclosure: I got this audiobook from the library.
I really enjoyed Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but I read it back when I was a bratty young adult, so maybe that makes some difference?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I think I tried to read it when I was younger too and just couldn't get into it. I think it might just be me.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really care for it either and never picked up the sequels. But I have enjoyed the movies.
ReplyDeleteHer newest novel for adults, My Name is Memory, is excellent though.
Michelle, glad to know I'm not the only one! I'm also happy to hear her newer book is different. Maybe I'll like that one.
ReplyDeleteI adored these books. I think Carmen is really bratty, and there are certainly other bratty characters, but I didn't get that sense as much with Tibby (who I think is bored, not bratty), Lena and Bee. Then again, Brashares seem to comfortably establish them up as upper middle class, and that's an environment I'm used to, so this could explain my reasoning.
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