Title: Couldn't live up to the hype
Product review: I was skeptical when this book was chosen by my book club for its latest selection, and I tried to be fair and objective as I began reading. I have to say, though, that my initial hunch was correct. I thought it was a tremendous disappointment. The characters, including all four Ya-Yas were very superficial...I didn't find myself invested in them at all. Characters, scenes and dialogue did not ring true...they were all very labored and clicheed (here's an original character: a gay, witty costume designer), and rendered in pedestrian prose. And am I the only reader who found Teensy's morsels (or, rather morceaux) of French dialogue akin to fingernails on a blackboard? There was no emotional payoff for me, either; Sidda's reconciliation with her mother being triggered by memories of an elephant ride just didn't work, in my mind. The seeds of a good storyteller are there somewhee, I think, but in this work, Ms. Wells couldn't pull it off.
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