The Wednesday Sisters

Novel by Meg Waite Clayton

When I write these posts, I feel a little like Michelangelo, sculpting from the front of the marble to the back. The similarity is not in that I am a genius or that my posts are masterpieces (oh, the David! sigh). Far from it.  Rather, I acknowledge that I am completely making it up as I go along, with no plan, and with the knowledge that if it doesn't work, I'll have to just chuck it and start over.

Which is basically what this book is about. The Wednesday Sisters are in informal writing club, and while the book is in large part about their lives as moms in the late 1960's-early 70's, it's also about their writing process, as they begin novels and short stories, then revise or burn them. So the whole time I was reading, I was thinking about characters, plot structure, leads, point of view, time frames, and all the other intricacies of novels. That's not to say I wasn't very involved in the characters' lives. I was. I cried when Ally experiences a familiar heartbreak, and celebrated when two characters finally get published (one writes a book titled Michelangelos' Ghost, hmmm), and nodded when they woefully send their children off to kindergarten. It was a very relatable book for me. But I was also reminded constantly that it's a book about writing. And I'm kind of a writer. So it was kind of intense.

My one criticism is that I sometimes had a hard time keeping straight the characteristics of the five protagonists. Clayton works very hard to give them some definitive character traits, such as Linda's straightforwardness and Kath's Southern charm. But those characteristics became so prevalent that when any other subtleties are revealed, I kind of forgot who was talking. Maybe that's actually very realistic or the way that a group of women become when they are so close, but like I said, I got confused. Wait, maybe it's also that I read too darn fast.

By the way, I read this book because my mom made me. That sounds very seventh grade, but it's true. I already had a big stack of books to read (also borrowed from my mom) when she pressed this one one me, saying it was about writing and maybe it would inspire me to write. If I ever publish, it will be thanks to the persistence of my mom and my grandma. And a patient husband. And maybe a good babysitter...