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The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants) (平装)
by Ann Brashares
| Category:
Teens, Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 118.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
MSL Pointer Review:
With a bit of last summer’s sand in the pockets, the Traveling Pants and the Sisterhood that wears them embark on their 16th summer.
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
This book was absolutely amazing! I loved the first one and couldn't wait to get this one; when it arrived in the mail I ripped open the box and read it straight through.
This book takes place the summer after the first one (hence the title). Although Lena, Carmen, Tibby, and Bridget will be spending some of their summer together, they lives end up taking completely different paths.
Bridget, who was originally supposed to stay home for the summer, decides to go to Alabama to see her grandmother Greta. She wants to find out about her mother, and she also wants to try to rediscover herself after feeling lost as a result of her experiences the previous summer.
Lena stays in Bethesda and gets a job, but feels unhappy and a little lost. When fate puts her and Kostos together again, Lena's emotional strength is tested in new ways.
Carmen finally has a chance at love with a cute boy, Porter, but she can't help feeling pushed aside by her mother. Carmen's mom has got a new boyfriend, David, and things are not going the way she wants them to at all. Will Carmen's bad side from last summer reappear?
Tibby goes to film camp where she has to make a film about someone who has played an important role in her life. Will she make a shallow film or will she face her problems and do something that she can be proud of?
For those Kostos lovers out there (myself included), everyone's favorite Greek hottie plays a big part this summer. Some old favorite characters are back, like Brian McBrian and Paul and Krista. There are also new people to love or hate, like Greta, Billy Kline, Alex and Maura, and David.
The author provides more insight into the Septembers' mothers' relationships with each other as well, and we learn more about everyone.
Reading this book is like getting reacquainted with old friends. These girls are not fictional characters, they are real people! If you loved Ann Brashares's first novel, then this second book will blow you away!
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Carolyn Rowe Hill , USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
Three of the four Septembers have a really rough summer in this Second Summer of the Sisterhood. They have much to learn about what it means to be their respective mothers. The fourth embarks on an odyssey to find out more about who she is and who her deceased mother was as a person. She finds an endearing love in the grandmother she scarcely remembers. Once again, the pants travel back and forth among them, though I felt their significance less in this book than in the first one (and they must be getting really filthy, too).
Lena, Carmen and Tibby remain in Maryland, while Bridget goes to Alabama. She has had a difficult year after events last summer, and all are greatly concerned for her. She has put on weight, dyed her luscious blond hair brown and has retreated into a cocoon of emotional agony. The loss of her mother when she was eleven has cost her more than she can understand or realize. Bee's (Bridget's nickname) father is an emotional cripple, unable to ease the way for either of his children. Carmen's mother, Christina, has a new boyfriend. You can imagine what Carmen and her self-righteous temper can do with that! Tibby is attending a summer film class at a nearby university. She learns about true friendship, the hard way, of course. Young friend, Bailey, who died last summer, comes to her rescue, posthumously. Lena and Kostos... oh my, oh my.
These stories can be very helpful to teens, both boys and girls. While I find it hard to believe most teens are as disrespectful toward their mothers as these characters are... at least I don't remember it that way myself...there are wise lessons to be learned within the pages of the Sisterhood series. Ann Brashares writes beautifully, and the sayings at the beginning of each chapter add much to the book's interest and value. One of the most thought-provoking ones this time: Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed. Think about it... hard.
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Kaplan (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
This enchanting sequel to "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" is every bit as charming, wonderful, sweet and brilliant (to this adult's eyes, anyway) as the first book... and has a theme so true and so wise and so non-preachy that I recommend it as must reading for all teenaged girls AND their moms.
The girls are now one year older, and, as readers of the first book well know, they have not come through the past year unscathed. They are still mourning a death (Tibby), still conflicted over too much too soon with a too-old guy (Bee), confused over love and longing in a foreign country (Lena) and grappling with an out-of-control temper (Carmen).
As the new summer begins, each of the girls has an issue with her mother (even Bee, whose mother is long dead), and these issues come bubbling to the surface unexpectedly and often cruelly. We get to see the age-old mother-daughter conflict from the teenaged point of view, and how refreshing, if not painful, it is for a mother of a 20-year-old to see just what she may have been thinking at 17! What I love most about the book(s) is that the girls are good, decent and wonderful people--with all the human frailities and faults. And their battles with their respective mothers are so true, so heart wrenching and yet so real, that the solutions to each of the battles wring entirely true.
I can't wait for the next book in this enchanting series. I know this is a set of books for adolescent girls, but Moms, I'm telling you, there's good reading in here for you too. Maybe more than our daughters will ever know.
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Rausseo (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
This excellent sequel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is as charming, sweet and brilliant as the first book. But, it's also more mature and deep and emotional, and we can only thank the author for taking the story a step further, transforming what was a little but honest story into one of the most engaging book series of this decade.
One year after their first summer apart, Lena, Tibby, Carmen and Bee are about to begin a new summer, but each girl is still bearing a different scar from their past actions. Now, as the summer begins, we see the girls confronting their past fears, and well as also some unresolved issues with their mothers. The book explores the emotions of these girls in such an honest way, it's impossible not to feel a little related with all of them.
The Second Summer...is a deeper book, maybe a little serious, but also more satisfying, because we see our girls mature and face their joys and tragedies in such an admirable way, one can't help but get involved emotionally in their lives. We care about these characters, their fates, we want them to know the real life and the sadness that sometimes comes with it, but we also want them to come out victorious in each one of their battles.
This is a book I recommend to daughters and mothers. It will help you understand each other more. It will work magic just as it did in the sisterhood's lives!
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Kathleen Bailey (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
As a self-confessed unenlightened male, I'm a little late coming to the party that is The Sisterhood of the Pants, the acclaimed novel for young adults by Ann Brasheres. Truth is, I've only read Brashares' sequel, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. But I highly recommend the sequel--for young adults on up - as a beautifully written, often entertaining, never less than touching look at girls growing up.
The premise of both novels is that a quartet of young females, whose mothers were close friends and who were born within a few days of each other, happen upon a single cheap pair of jeans that miraculously fits all of them, despite their differing body sizes. The girls thus regard the Jeans as magical and decide that they will share the Jeans amongst themselves each summer--wearing them for a while, passing them on to the next girl, and then recapping, at the end of the summer, the events that happened while they wore the Jeans.
That probably sounds pretty silly to the uninitiated. But the Jeans are merely a taking-off point for four close friends to share their growing experiences (and often pains) and to continually renew their bond of friendship. Even as the girls grow up and apart, they continually return to this bond as unique, special, and not something to be taken lightly.
In the summer depicted in Second Summer, Tibby begins college by attending a film class in which she must create a documentary about a close relative. She makes an ironic movie about her flighty mother that ends up having devastating effects, both on the mother and on Tibby's view of life. Bridget spends the summer bonding with a grandmother from whom she had been cut off by her bitter father. Lena bemoans that she had broken off a relationship with the love of her life, only to have the boy unexpectedly return. And Carmen, the daughter of a divorced mother, resents when her mother begins a rewarding relationship with a new man and seemingly leaves her out of the picture.
In synopsis, this sounds like a bad soap opera. But it is all written in delicate, soaring prose that lovingly depicts each girl as a believable, heartfelt individual. In their efforts to keep from being hurt by life, the girls do a lot of irritating things, to themselves and those around them. But while their actions often alienate their loved ones, they never alienate the reader. Instead, the book offers some rare insight into what it means to grow up female in an often scary world.
It must be noted that the book often deals with what movie ratings euphemistically refer to as "adult language and situations." Is that a bit startling for a book that is being promoted for its young female friendships? Perhaps. Are said situations out of the realm of possibility for young females these days? Sadly, I think not.
As such, the book will probably be a comfort to girls who want to know that they are not alone in negotiating the landmines of a male-dominated society. Any other readers can simply appreciate a book that depicts young girls in full-bodied, intelligent prose. I can't recommend the book enough.
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Schryver (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
A year has past since the pants ceremoniously entered the girls lives. This year Tibby is the one leaving town, and the others have plans to stay home for the summer.
Tibby is going away to videography camp at a college nearby where she will learn not only about her talent as an artist, but she truly begins to grow into herself. Carmen is faced with first dates, both hers and her mothers. Being the apple of her mothers eye for so long, Carmen isnt sure what to think of having to share her mom. Lena, is lovestruck and lovetorn with Kostos. Difficult decisions and broken hearts abound. Unexpected plans send Bridget away where she is faced with her family's past and her own loss of self during the past year.
A wonderful book, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood is as good, if not better than the first. I feel like I know these girls so well and share in their triumphs and their downfalls. We see them grow with each book. Such honesty and reality from the author is to be comended. A superb job, Ms. Brashares. |
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Emily Wilson (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
This book is quite arguably the best book I have ever read. Brashares is a fantastic author, and her use of language brought vivid imagery to the entire book. I have read a lot of books, including all of the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, etc., and i'm not quite sure, but I think this book is the best of them. I laughed, and cried. Each of the four girls has very distinct personalities and problems, and each brings a certain something to the book. It is very hard not be be drawn into this book, and to feel the characters' emotions. I would strongly recommend this book to any girl between the ages of 13 and 18.
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Nightsky (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
Another summer with the Sisterhood. Once again, Brashares has created a completely believable, fun plot, with just the right twists and lessons.
Lena: Pines for the handsome Kostos back in her hometown even after she's broken it off with him. Then, at a surprising moment, Lena does something she's never done before: plunges headfirst into heavy emotions.
Tibby: Goes to a summer filming camp where she meets Alex and Maura. While she attempts to push her memories of Bailey away, her friend Brian tries to show her that she should be confronting them face to face.
Carmen: Turns once again into an angry machine when her mom starts dating a guy from her office. When she finally realizes her mistake, she frantically patches up everyone's relationships but her own.
Bridget: Impulsively goes to Alabama to confront her past headfirst, and learns that to truly be free, you have to face everything.
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Lawrance Bernabo (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
Since my introduction to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was through the movie made of the first book in this series by Ann Brashares, I was initially surprised that the titular pants did not play as important a role in the novels as they did in the film. But I quickly understood and accepted the fact that the Sisterhood was more important than the traveling pants. So even though the pants come into play in a couple of surprising ways (they do not fit one of the members of the sisterhood and they end up looking really good on someone who should not be wearing them), the focus is once again on Tibby, Lena, Bridget and Carmen.
It is Lena's turn to write the introduction and as was the case the previous summer when Carmen had the honors, this portends that during The Second Summer of the Sisterhood that it is Lena whose life is most traumatized (at least I am willing to argue that is the case). The previous summer Tibby was the only one to stay home, so this time it is Lena and Carmen who have no place to go (at least at the start of the summer). I was not surprised that once again Bee hit the road, because of all of the girls she is the one who most needs to rediscover herself, while Tibby gets her chance to see what life is life away from friends and family for a few months.
Bridget impulsively decides to go to Alabama and visit her maternal grandmother while Tibby is doing a summer film program at a college in Virginia. This summer Carmen is upset by the love life of her other parent as her mother starts doing some serious dating. As for Lena, she has decided to break off her long-distance romance with Kostos and now has to deal with being hurt and angry that he apparently has a new girlfriend back in Greece. Now, since I am the parent of a teenage girl and not myself instead of having an intense sense of identification with any or all of the Sisterhood, what I like about these novels is that the girls are all flawed, but that their friends always call them on their imperfections. Carmen is quick to anger, Lena is reluctant to talk about her feelings, Tibby has a tendency to ignore things (and people) right under her nose, and Bee is a dangerous combination of reckless and fearless. I do not know if younger readers pick up on these human flaws from the start, but Brashares does make them clear by the end of each book.
If the problems Brashares gives her characters are common traits for teenagers, then hopefully her readers will endorse her idealized way of dealing with the inevitable problems that result from anger, silence, ignorance, and recklessness. These girls talk to each other about the things that friends should be talking about. When one of them wants to run and hide, then the others, either individually or collectively, seek and find her so that they can talk about the things that need to be talked about. Sometimes they even talk to their mothers (or other adults), which is obviously even harder, but which can also have good results. Granted, in this regard the Sisterhood is probably most unrealistic given the awesome destructive tendencies of teenage girls with regards to how they treat each other, but for those interested in something more proactive than what they say in "Mean Girls," these books by Brashares are a good place to go.
The back of the book contains a series of Questions for Discussion. These are all multiple part questions, so you do not only have to decide which girl you would most like to be (Tibby), but which one would make the best friend for you (Tibby), and which mother you would most like to have (Christina, I think, but ask me again later on). This is followed by a conversation with Brashares and three pages of Readers Circle Books suggestions for what to read between Sisterhood novels. There is also a preview of Brashares' third book, "Girls in Pants," although that is hardly needed as a marketing ploy since I have to believe everyone who gets beyond the first book is going to read all four and bemoan the fact that the author plans to leave the Sisterhood to their own lives at that point.
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A kid reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-14 00:00>
I loved the first book, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I also think that anyone who liked it will also love reading about the second summer.
Lena's story, I believe, is by far the most interesting story in the book. What happens between her and Kostos at the end is so sad and so good that you can't stop reading.
Bridget's adventure is also quite interesting. You find out a lot about her past, but you also get to see Bridget transform into the girl everyone knows and loves again.
Tibby's story, in my opinion, is the most boring story in the book. All you see is that she makes a movie she, gets a friend and mother mad at her, then realizes her mistakes and makes the biography about Bailey she should have been making from the beginning.
Carmen was a bit of a brat. I mean, she ruins the only relationship her mother has because she was jealous of how happy her mom was, drags along a boyfriend she doesn't like to show she can be happy with a guy, and then complains about being unhappy. This is what made the story, for me, not as good as the first book.
All through these stories though, you see a fifth story taking place. You get to see the mothers of the Septembers start their friendship once again.
These stories ,pieced together, make and final product that ,other than some minor problems, something everyone will love.
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1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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