The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants has a special place in my heart. They're not the best books ever written, but they spoke to me nonetheless. I hasten to add that I am a quite casual Traveling Pants fan; I've read the first three books and some of the fourth, and I own both movies. I was nevertheless surprised to hear that Ann Brashares had written another installment in the series, however. The cynical side of me thinks she just wrote it so she would have a guaranteed seller on her hands, but even if that is the case, Brashares's writing doesn't really suffer. In fact, I would say her prose is better than it's ever been, bearing in mind it's been a long while since I read the first book. Yet as well-written and ultimately good as this book was, it was also one of the saddest, most heart-wrenching things I've ever read.
Okay, if you don't want to be spoiled for this book, stop reading NOW. Major, major spoilers ahoy. In fact, it is impossible to really discuss this book without discussing the huge, series-changing spoiler, because it's the main plot point in the book. Look away!
All right, if you're still with me, let's get on with the review.
Tibby dies.
Tibby was never my favorite of the girls, but it's gutting to read about nonetheless. And while there's a good, plot-relevant reason for it, you never get to see her perspective on anything, even in the chapters before she dies (which are few; she dies very early on in the story). Her absence is palpable in more ways than one. She's missing from the narrative just as she is missing from the Sisterhood itself.
The girls, who are now all about to turn 30, have started growing apart in recent years, and Tibby has been with Brian in Australia for a long time before the novel starts. Lena, Carmen, and Bridget all receive an invitation from Tibby to come together in Greece, complete with plane tickets. When they arrive, however, they find out that Tibby drowned in the Caldera the night before. As they go through her things, they find a letter addressed to them indicating that Tibby knew she was going to die, and they proceed to spend much of the rest of the novel thinking that Tibby committed suicide (and blame themselves for not doing more to reach out to her).
At its heart, this is a story about grief and death, and it is very, very difficult to read. Carmen mentions in both the prologue and the epilogue that she and the others are not equipped to handle "the leaving," and this is made abundantly clear in the story proper. Bridget wanders aimlessly around northern California for weeks and ends up going to Australia to get the full story out of Brian. Lena shuts herself off from her family and friends, only leaving her apartment to work (and later on in the story, to finish off another tired Kostos plotline). Carmen is devastated, but when her obviously self-interested fiance complains that she's letting her heartbreak overwhelm her, she throws herself into playing the part of enthusiastic actress and bride to be to get him off her case.
This goes on for chapters. Stylistically, there's nothing wrong with it. In fact, it's very well-written on a purely technical level. But it is incredibly sad, and difficult to get through. If you're a crier, be prepared to sob. Even if you're not, prepare to be misty-eyed or at least feel hollow. I once said that Mockingjay was the first book I read that I just did not want to finish, because it was so bleak and depressing. I didn't have quite the same feeling when I was reading Sisterhood Everlasting, but it was a similar experience. I was engrossed and repulsed simultaneously; mostly I just wanted the girls to be able to feel happy again.
The book does pick up again once Bridget meets Tibby's daughter, Bailey. Yes, as someone who loves babies, I might be slightly biased, but there was finally something other than overwhelming sadness to read about, so I think I might have felt relieved anyway. Much as Bailey represents a new way forward for Bridget (and later on Carmen and Lena - a way to "keep on loving [Tibby]," as they say), she brings a spark of hope into the novel. The girls start piecing themselves together again. Slowly, they figure out through old letters of Tibby's that she did not commit suicide after all; rather, she was dying of Huntington's disease, and her drowning in Greece was simply a tragic accident that brought on the inevitable months earlier than planned. Bridget helps Brian and Bailey move to a farmhouse in Pennsylvania, where it turns out that Tibby purposefully bought a property with room for Carmen, Bridget, and Lena so they could help Brian raise Bailey. The Sisterhood unites once more, this time hopeful for the future and confident in their love for one another.
Sisterhood Everlasting is, in and of itself, a decent story. It is logically planned-out, it pushes the right emotional buttons, and it has a satisfying conclusion. But part of me wishes I had never read it. I cannot unread it, no matter how hard I try, and, having watched both movies again, the series just feels inherently different. I didn't expect to feel this way, but there you have it. Everything has a new double meaning, and there's a little twinge of sadness in my heart whenever Tibby comes up on the screen, or when all four of the girls are together. As I said, Tibby was never my favorite, but then, I don't think any of the other girls were my favorites either. Their friendship was the most important part of the series for me. It held everything together. Now that Tibby is gone, even after the end of this book, it's as though the joy I used to have in reading these books has started fading away. Part of me loved Sisterhood Everlasting, and part of me just wants to fling it out the window.
