I then read Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares. This is the first adult-level book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I loved the movies, and I hoped the book would be as compelling. Unfortunately, it missed its mark, but not for reasons you might think. The book is well written. The characters are well developed. I really did care about what happened to them. But that may have been the problem, at least from my perspective. The book seemed to gloss over some pretty serious topics, and I felt Ms. Brashares did a disservice to her audience, especially seeing as that audience is the grown up girls who read the Sisterhood... series.
Here were my two primary concerns, given that audience: (spoiler alert!!!!)
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First, Bridget found out she was over five weeks pregnant after a night of binge drinking, but nothing was ever mentioned about the concern of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). According to the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS), "FASD does not just occur in children of mothers who abuse alcohol or are heavy drinkers. The latest research shows that as little as two drinks in early pregnancy or four drinks all at once (a binge episode) can kill developing brain cells." (http://www.nofas.org/educator/ )
I would have loved for Ms. Brashares to have taken the teachable moment in her book -- geared toward young women -- to address the leading known and most preventable cause of mental retardation and birth defects.
The second concern is also related to Bridget and may have been a theme throughout the books, though, as I said, this is the only book I read, though I did see both movies. Throughout the book Bridget seems to be suffering from depression, some of which apparently becomes quite severe. Mental illness, including depression, is a disease. It's not something that will go away because a person's circumstances change or because she finds herself pregnant. Bridget seemed to be in need of intervention, and the story really glossed over the severity of depression -- a disease that is genetic, which the author seemed to understand by the portrayal of Bridget's mother.
Once again, there seems to be a missed opportunity to teach those readers who need intervention for their depression but who align themselves with a character such as Bridget who just seemed to snap out of it.
So, it's an OK read, but it's not great, especially given the fact that you won't really learn anything from it.
~Guida
