The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants: Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants: Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Completion Date: June 8, 2011

Reason for Reading: Finish the series.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Brashares comes the welcome return of the characters whose friendship became a touchstone for a generation. Now Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting.

Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn’t take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can’t seem to shed her old restlessness.

Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever—but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.

As moving and life-changing as an encounter with long-lost best friends, Sisterhood Everlasting is a powerful story about growing up, losing your way, and finding the courage to create a new one.

I am really surprised to say this, but I really wound up liking this book. I was having a bit of a hard time getting into things at the time, but this book was entirely different from what I had been reading and it worked really well. This is the fifth book in the famous Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series and is hands-down the best of the lot. The characters are older, though, so that could be part of the appeal. It was really interesting to see what happened to them in the 10 years since the 4th book took place. They think that have everything that they wanted from life, but drastic changes take place that change everything. I was a bit worried about the direction the book was going in, but it actually all worked out for me.

The four friends have been close since they were babies, but things have happened in the last 10 years that has driven them apart. A lot of it is distance and not knowing how to bridge it anymore when it is only part of the group. Tibby has moved all the way to Australia, so she is not in close contact at all. She decides, though, that the four of them have to reconnect and so she sends them plane tickets to do just that. After this, nothing will ever be the same again. The first problem is that after the reunion, things have changed so much that the girls still don't know how to connect with each other. It isn't until other events happen that Tibby finally succeeds in bringing them together.

It was a touching story and yes, it was a bit of a coming-of-age story. Normally I don't like that so much, but it suited my mood at the time. These were characters that I had spent time with before, though, so it made it a story that I was all ready invested in. I think writing a book that followed up right after the fourth book never would have worked. It was a smart idea to set it in the future and then flash back to the events that happened during those years when it pertains to the story.

I quite enjoyed this book. It was a satisfying end to the series.

I received this book for review from Random House Canada.

Series:

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood

Sisterhood Everlasting

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Quartet by Ann Brashares

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Completion Date: January 20, 2007
Books Completed: 9

Publication Year: 2006

Pages: 336

Owned Prior to 2007

Book One in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Quartet

From Random House:

Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn’t look all that great; they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they’re great. She’d love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they’re fabulous. Lena decides they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything), thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs they decide to form a sisterhood, and take the vow of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye. And now the journey of the pants–and the most memorable summer of their lives–begins.

As these are rereads for me, and been reviewed all over the place, I am just going to rate the first three books and concentrate on the fourth one, as it was new to me.

This one was actually my least favourite, coming in with a 3/5

The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Books Completed: 10
Publication Year: 2006
Pages: 416
Owned Prior to 2007
Book Two in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Quartet

From Random House:

With a bit of last summer's sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the Sisterhood that wears them embark on their 16th summer.

Bridget: Impulsively sets off for Alabama, wanting to both confront her demons about her family and avoid them all at once.

Lena: Spends a blissful week with Kostos, making the unexplainable silence that follows his visit even more painful.

Carmen: Is concerned that her mother is making a fool of herself over a man. When she discovers that her mother borrowed the Pants to wear on a date, she's certain of it.

Tibby: Not about to spend another summer working at Wallman's, she takes a film course only to find it's what happens off-camera that teaches her the most.

I find that the writing style improved a bit with this one, but not a lot, so I give it a 3/5 as well.


Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood
Books Completed: 11
Publication Year: 2006
Pages: 368
Owned Prior to 2007
Book Three in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Quartet

From Random House:

The Pants first came to us at the perfect moment. That is, when we were splitting up for the first time. It was two summers ago when they first worked their magic, and last summer when they shook up our lives once again. You see, we don’t wear the Pants year-round. We let them rest so they are extra powerful when summer comes. (There was the time this spring when Carmen wore them to her mom’s wedding, but that was a special case.)Now we’re facing our last summer together. In September we go to college. And it’s not like one of those TV shows where all of us magically turn up at the same college. We’re going to four different colleges in four different cities (but all within four hours of one another—that was our one rule). We’re headed off to start our real lives. Tomorrow night at Gilda’s we’ll launch the Pants on their third summer voyage. Tomorrow begins the time of our lives. It’s when we’ll need our Pants the most.

This book is why I was actually looking forward to reading book four. The first time I read these books I read all three of them at the same time, just like I did this month. A friend had lent them to me, and I felt compelled to read all three. I give this one a 4/5

Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
Books Completed: 12
Publication Year: 2007
Pages: 400
Received from Random House in 2007
Book Four in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Quartet

From Random House:

With unraveled embroidery and fraying hems, the Traveling Pants are back for one last, glorious summer.

Lena: Immerses herself in her painting and an intoxicating summer fling, fearing that the moment she forgets about Kostos will be the moment she sees him again.

Carmen: Falls under the spell of a sophisticated college friend for whom a theatrical role means everything and the heritage of the Pants means nothing.

Bridget: Joins a dig for an ancient city on the coast of Turkey and discovers that her archaeology professor is available in every way except one.

Tibby: Leaves behind someone she loves, wrongly believing he will stay where she has left him.

Join Ann Brashares's beloved sisterhood once again in a dazzling, fearless novel. It's a summer that will forever change the lives of Lena, Carmen, Bee, and Tibby, here and now, past and future, together and apart.

Okay, I do not know if it is blogger or this computer, but nothing has gone right with this post so far. This post might suffer as a result, because I would like to catch up on my reviews, but I cannot help being annoyed. I seem to have lost the picture of book three. I am going to add it back in later because adding pictures tonight is doing weird things to the formating and I do not want to lose everything as a result. I will delete this after I have everything straightened out, just venting right now.

On with the review:

As I said above, the third Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book was my favourite. The first two are good, do not get me wrong, I like the whole series, but I just found the writing style for book three more to my liking. I would say it is likely because the girls are older, so I expected book four to be even better. In any case, I still would have looked forward to book four, and if there ever comes a point where there is a book five, I will read it. I just was not blown away by book four.

My favourite parts of the book were honestly Bridget. She was on this really cool dig that I enjoyed experiencing. I have always had a fondness for archaeology, so I thought reading about the dig was interesting. Bridget, as always, puts her whole soul into it. She grows up in this book, though. She comes to terms with who she is, and tries to make her life better instead of sleeping all the time like she did before. There is of course the forbidden romance angle, but I will leave that to you readers to learn all about.

Lena grows up in this book, too. She starts to be a bit more forceful, and does some very shocking things for Lena. She just goes to show that there is a bit of wildness in everyone. I think in the course of this book she finally has it figured out. The thing that she has been looking for. She likely will still have her shy moments, but she let it all out in this book.

Tibby is relatable. She does something that she has never done before and the one thing that she was worried would happen, almost did. I will let you experience that with her, but I find it very teen. She might have gone a bit far with how she reacted, but that's Tibby for you. She never really seems to know what to do with her emotions. She has already gone through her rough patches, losing Bailey in the earlier books, but in this book she seems to come to understand what is important to her.

Then, there is Carmen. Carmen has had her ups and downs, but she seems to have come to terms with many things. She is just finding life after high school rough. She is not sure where she belongs in things anymore, and is constantly putting herself in the role of the outsider instead of the star. In this book she really lets her inner star out, though, and she shines.

I guess you can say that all the girls grow up in this book, which is especially shown in the end. They have all four of them been through a lot, but they have remained friends and that does not seem to be something that is going to change soon. They know that they were always together, but the pants just brought them closer together. That is something that cannot easily be taken away.

I thought this book was overall pretty good. I really expected it to be better than the other three, but book three was better for me. I do not even know why. It just was.

I give this book a 3.5/5

I will now take this time to thank Random House for sending me these four books. I will fix the awkwardness with the formating when I get home.

Authors Gender:
Female: 11
Male: 1

I have previously read this author before this blog was available.

Nice Surprise!

I just went to let the dog out (my whole house is gone away) and I thought I had got the mail, but our mail slot is one of those ones that is in the door. So, I open the door and there's a little bang. More books! I already got the one I can't talk about, but I can talk about these. Back when I read The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books, I borrowed them from a friend. Well, there is a fourth one coming out next year, and I thought in prepartion I would reread the first three. Got the first three today! With magnets! lol My mother is going to come home and wonder what is up with the weird magnets on the fridge, but since I am not a kid and don't have a locker anymore, the fridge is really the only place to put magnets! Anyways, the third one was my favourite. I hope they are good the second time around.

Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood is due out in January 2007!

(I am kidding myself, do I really look like I am cleaning?)