Book Review: The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton (4/5)

I’ve had this book on my TBR for ages. A family friend heard me talking about my old writing group and said I should read this book since it reminded her of the group I was talking about. I had it on my TBR and ended up buying a copy at a book store in Chicago in 2015. I’m embarrassed to say I waited so long to finally read it. Rightfully, I started it in Chicago.

Cover image via Goodreads

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

Summary from Goodreads:

When five young mothers—Frankie, Linda, Kath, Ally, and Brett—first meet in a neighborhood park in the late 1960s, their conversations center on marriage, raising children, and a shared love of books. Then one evening, as they gather to watch the Miss America Pageant, Linda admits that she aspires to write a novel herself, and the Wednesday Sisters Writing Society is born. The five women slowly, and often reluctantly, start filling journals, sliding pages into typewriters, and sharing their work. In the process, they explore the changing world around them: the Vietnam War, the race to the moon, and a women’s movement that challenges everything they believe about themselves. At the same time, the friends carry one another through more personal changes—ones brought about by infidelity, longing, illness, failure, and success. With one another’s support and encouragement, the Wednesday Sisters begin to embrace who they are and what they hope to become, welcoming readers to experience, along with them, the power of dreaming big.

This was a slow novel but I couldn’t put it down. All of the women were wonderfully unique and universal. I cared deeply about each of them and the things in their lives that made them different and loveable. Frankie was a good narrator because she was honestly the blandest of the women. Her story was interesting, but it was more about her husband and outside the focus of the book. My image of Kath, Brett, Linda, and Ally changed dramatically throughout the book and I loved that. I, like Frankie, had ideas about them at the beginning but loved them for different reasons later. Clayton did an amazing job of making me love these women.

Each woman was well-developed. Reading the interview with Clayton in the back, she talks about making each unique and it stands out as one of the novel’s strongest points. I identified with Linda and her athletic ambitions. I’ve read a lot about the women’s running movement that she is so interested in so it was fun to see a character who latched on to that.

Kath was my favorite character. In the beginning, I felt she was passive and a little naive. But the way she dealt with Lee’s infidelity was amazing. Her strength in confronting him and the strong face she showed her children was amazing. I respected her so much for the job she was able to take and how she found success and was able to help Brett. She really became the best version of herself without Lee and it was so great to see.

Linda’s athleticism was relatable to me. I didn’t expect that from a book set in this time period. I also related to Ally a bit, but not personally. I have a really close friend whose husband is non-white while she is. She’s mentioned to me the way people look at them and reading about Ally and Jim made me think of her. I can’t imagine how much worse it would have been in this time period but it made me consider how we really haven’t come that far.

Meg Waite Clayton Image via Wikipedia

It sounds weird, but I loved when they got in a fight. It was so true to life, how friends say something stupid and upset each other but can be too proud to say they’re sorry and wait until you’re all sick of not being friends and apologize and then everything is back to the way it was. It was reassuring to see characters in a book put their feet in their mouths as well.

I wasn’t a fan of how quickly the book wrapped up. I wanted more, and that’s really a testament to how good this book was. Everything was wrapped up, but just a bit faster than I would have liked. I see there’s a sequel, but it switches to their children and it just wouldn’t be the same.

Female friendships can be very powerful and are often featured in books. I liked that this book covered the rest of the women’s lives with their families and how they could support each other through those troubles. It looked at each person as an individual supported by the team rather than as only a unit.

Writer’s Takeaway: In the back of the book, Clayton talked about her process and how she was told Ally and Brett were too similar and how she was able to separate them better by giving Ally’s mother-in-law a voice and an opinion about her. It helped Ally stand out by seeing her through someone else’s eyes. That’s a great trick when dealing with a lot of different characters.

This book was warm and fun and introduced me to five wonderful women. Four out of Five Stars.

This book fulfills the 1960-1979 time period of the When Are You Reading? Challenge.

Until next time, write on.

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Related Posts:
Guest Post: The Wednesday Sisters Book Group by Meg Waite Clayton | Books on the Brain
Review: The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton | I’m Booking It