Sisterhood Everlasting

I bet many of you read one or more of the books from "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series by Ann Brasheres.   I used to teach middle school and therefore had read a few of the books in the series and thought they were cute preteen books.  I discovered a 5th book in the series this weekend when I was searching for new books on OverDrive and read the summary.  This fifth installment is actually about the girls as adults.  It is nice to see how each one has changed, yet stayed the same.  The book starts with Tibby inviting the other three to Lena's grandparents' house in Greece.  When the other three arrive, Tibby is nowhere to be found.  After 12 hours of her missing, they file a missing person report with the local authorities.  The police arrive within a day and inform the girls that a young woman's body has washed ashore and they believe she has drowned.  When the girls discover personal letters Tibby has left for each one, they assume she has committed suicide.  As a reader, when I discovered this (very early on in the book - don't worry, not a spoiler) I was mad.  This was supposed to be an uplifting book and instead I was depressed.  As the girl's learn more about Tibby's life, you find out what really happens, while following the multiple plot lines of the other three: Lena is still in love with Kostos, and they reunite after Tibby's death through frequent letter-writing; Bridget (Bee) is still dating Eric and questions what direction her life needs to do; and Carmen is living in NYC as an actress and engaged to a man named Jones.

Through all these plot lines, I think the author was trying to teach the reader that life is short and you shouldn't sit by idly watching life go by.  You need to take action yourself.  I can think of a few examples from the book I can share without spoiling the ending:

• Lena and Kostos love each other, but they haven't seen each other in 10 years.  After Tibby's death, Kostos comes back to Greece to help Lena grieve.  They become friends again.  After Kostos returns to London, they begin a letter-writing correspondence.  Both loves the other, but don't freely admit it for a long time.  They both are waiting around for the other to take the bold first steps and eventually both do at the same time.  But when they finally take action is when both get what they really want.
• Bridget has a similar journey.  She has been with Eric for almost 15 years, but is still not married and officially settled down.  She forces herself to take time apart from him and goes on a journey of her own (both physical and emotional) before she realizes that he is her future and what she wants.

All in all, it was a cute book.  Not necessarily difficult or cutting edge, but a nice final chapter in the lives of the sisterhood.