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Post by Mel on May 18, 2005 17:44:11 GMT -5
Has anyone read these books? Are they really good? They sound so much better than the movie.
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Post by Ellen on May 18, 2005 21:58:34 GMT -5
I'll find it on amazon and give you some reviews
Honestly it seems kinda stupid to me, but I'm not into that sort of genre.
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Post by Ellen on May 18, 2005 22:01:03 GMT -5
And as for the movie, when are the movies ever as good as the books.
They were just a soft, ordinary pair of thrift-shop jeans until the four girls took turns trying them on--four girls, that is, who are close friends, about to be parted for the summer, with very different sizes and builds, not to mention backgrounds and personalities. Yet the pants settle on each girl's hips perfectly, making her look sexy and long-legged and feel confident as a teenager can feel. "These are magical Pants!" they realize, and so they make a pact to share them equally, to mail them back and forth over the summer from wherever they are. Beautiful, distant Lena is going to Greece to be with her grandparents; strong, athletic Bridget is off to soccer camp in Baja, California; hot-tempered Carmen plans to have her divorced father all to herself in South Carolina; and Tibby the rebel will be left at home to slave for minimum wage at Wallman's.
Over the summer the Pants come to represent the support of the sisterhood, but they also lead each girl into bruising and ultimately healing confrontations with love and courage, dying and forgiveness. Lena finds her identity in Greece and the courage not to reject love; Bridget gets in over her head with an older camp coach; Carmen finds her father ensconced with a new fiancée and family; and Tibby unwillingly takes on a filmmaking apprentice who is dying of leukemia. Each girl's story is distinct and engrossing, told in a brightly contemporary style. Like the Pants, the reader bounces back and forth among the four unfolding adventures, and the melange is spiced with letters and witty quotes. Ann Brashares has here created four captivating characters and seamlessly interwoven their stories for a young adult novel that is fresh and absorbing. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Post by Ellen on May 18, 2005 22:05:32 GMT -5
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, June 18, 2003
Reviewer: A reader
While overall, I thought this book was fine and possibly engaging for young women, I strongly think the 12 year old age guideline is too young, both for some of the contents of the plot and for the deeper and more meaningful aspects of what a girl could discover from the book. In other words, I thought the chararacters were interesting to an older teen aged girl, but 12 year olds are not teenagers. In fact, these characters are 15 and almost 16, all about to be juniors in high school. And those ages, I think, as a mother, are the appropriate ages for a girl to be reading this book. Not only is there mature sexual content and encounter (albeit, which one of the characters cannot handle), the characters themselves, and their metamorphises, what they go through that summer, what they learn about themselves, will be much more understandable and appropriate to a 14 or 15 or 16 year old, then to an impressionable 12 or 13 year old. I would liken it to reading Jane Eyre, or Little Women, before a girl is old enough to understand the levels, the deep meaning, the beauty of these books. Sure, girls of 11 and 12 are capable of reading these books, but it is the parents' jobs to say "not yet". I also am disturbed that none of the other reviewers that I read on line seem to understand that one of the characters is self-destructively manic depressive and that would be something ( in fact I would urge any mother who lets her daughter read this book) to discuss the behaviors with her daughter.
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Post by Ellen on May 18, 2005 22:09:14 GMT -5
Wonderful title, pitiful book, February 8, 2003
Reviewer: Dafydd Mac an Leigh
"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" is a brilliant title. It's unusual, it's an attention-grabber, and it opens up all sorts of possibilities about what one might find inside the book. Unfortunately, what's inside the book is collection of worn-out cliches and contrivances, drawn from after-school specials and teen soaps.
A snappy Prologue, told in the first person, describes the discovery of the Pants and the development of the rules of how they're to be worn, treated, and passed along. After the Prologue, however, the first-person narrative is abandoned and the Pants become an insignificant spectator to the action. And the action is boring and predictable from the moment the four girls go their several ways for the summer:
Lena stays with relatives in Greece and meets the devastatingly handsome Neighboring Boy, whom she first dislikes, and later grows to admire. Their relationship is entirely formulaic, right up to the matchmaking grandmother and the embarassing Artemis/Acteon incident.
Anyone with half a brain could see Carmen's predicament coming a mile away. She goes to visit her father, expecting to have him all to herself - and promptly meets his new live-in fiancee, who has two teenage children of her own.
Tibby's segments are frought with stereotype. The depressing nature of her summer job is so exaggerated it becomes ridiculous, and impossible to take seriously. Nor is there anything new with the Brave Dying Girl Who Gives Her A New Outlook On Life, or the Pimpled Video-Game Whiz.
Bridget arrives at soccer camp, and almost immediately decides have sexual intercourse with a hot, twenty-something coach - who puts up very little resistance. Unfortunately, the book spends so much time building up the seduction that there's little room at all for the consequences of their affair.
The more I read this book, the less I enjoyed it. What interesting bits it does have - Bridget's priamry coach who keeps penalizing her for playing well, Lena's tentative relationship with her enigmatic grandfather, even the Traveling Pants themselves - are kept on the sidelines while formula and stereotype are given full play. I found the characters so unbelievable that I couldn't sympathise with any them; I found the situations so predictable and contrived I wasn't interested in reading what happened next.
If only the book itself could have been as clever as its title.
She sleeps with her soccer coach...eww.
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Post by Ellen on May 18, 2005 22:12:31 GMT -5
A bit too cutesy, November 29, 2004
Reviewer: Alli
I read this book on a rainy weekend expecting it to be fantastic. Unfortunately, it fell quite short of my expectations. The characters were boring and lacked real personality. Sure they each fit into a stereotypical teenage role, but they lacked spunk. Its a quick and entertaining enough read, good for the middle school aged girls out there. I recommend Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings for the high school girls out there looking to really relate.
Not what you'd expect...EVEN BETTER!!!, August 11, 2004
Reviewer: "i_luv_sethcohen"
I was really prepared not to like this book. I'd read some of the reviews, and although they were good, I just couldn't bring myself to read a book about travelling pants. It just sounded so out there and stupid and from what I thought so very unentertaining. Boy was I wrong. It was so good. The heroines were diverse and each had amazingly interesting plots. Its a really good read. I definitely recommend it.
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Post by Ellen on May 18, 2005 22:15:16 GMT -5
Pants for All People, May 16, 2005
A Kid's Review
At first, this book was hard to understand, the way they bounced back between characters, but once I got used to it, it was impossible to put down! I liked how they blended different personalities into best friends, so almost anyone could relate to the characters. I really enjoyed this book, and can't wait to read the next one!
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Post by Kip, Sophie, Mimi on May 21, 2005 8:47:01 GMT -5
Yeah. I read all three. I think they're awsome books.
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Post by Mel on May 21, 2005 13:47:31 GMT -5
When did the third one come out?
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Post by Kip, Sophie, Mimi on May 21, 2005 14:08:28 GMT -5
A few months ago. I can lend it to you if u want.
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Post by Kip, Sophie, Mimi on May 21, 2005 14:08:57 GMT -5
oops  i'm so stupid of course i can't |
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Post by Mel on May 21, 2005 14:20:47 GMT -5
lol!
That's ok.
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Post by Kip, Sophie, Mimi on May 21, 2005 16:48:31 GMT -5
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Post by Ellen on May 21, 2005 17:37:18 GMT -5
Wow, you really like those shoes. I've got a new avatar too.
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Post by Mel on May 21, 2005 18:48:58 GMT -5
I need a new avatar.
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Post by Mel on May 22, 2005 11:35:45 GMT -5
Bumping this back up. ^
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Post by Kip, Sophie, Mimi on May 22, 2005 16:55:20 GMT -5
Lol. Yeah.
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Post by Kip, Sophie, Mimi on May 27, 2005 10:37:51 GMT -5
The movie was awesome! I liked the books better, but the movie was still could. You coi=uld say they "tamed" the inappropriate parts. And no, Melissa, the guys weren't very hot.
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Post by Kip, Sophie, Mimi on May 27, 2005 10:38:09 GMT -5
lol
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Post by Mel on May 27, 2005 10:41:41 GMT -5
The movie doesn't sound that good.
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i'm so stupid of course i can't