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Little Altars Everywhere by Rebecca Wells, Judith Ivey (Read by)
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(Audio - Unabridged, 7 Cassettes)
- Pub. Date: May 2002
- 11pp
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: May 2002
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- Format: Audio, 11pp
- ISBN-13: 9780060095611
- ISBN: 006009561X
- Edition Description: Unabridged, 7 Cassettes
Synopsis
The companion to the beloved bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, here is the funny, heartbreaking, and powerfully insightful tale that first introduced Siddalee, Vivi, their spirited Walker clan, and the indomitable Ya-Yas.
Denver Post
A gem of a book....Wells offers a virtuoso performance.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Rebecca Wells grew up "in a world that valued storytelling immensely, and where your status in the community was determined not solely by your wealth or profession, but by how good you could tell a tale." Based on that criterion, Wells has already achieved an aristocratic standing among readers who found her Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to be life-changing reads.
More About the AuthorCustomer Reviews
- Reader Rating:
- Ratings: 31Reviews: 24
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Little Altars Everywhereby Anonymous
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January 23, 2008: Who writes about a mother molesting her own children??? Divine Secrets was great- but this took it too far into a perverted way. I am so disappointed with Rebecca Wells.
Little Altars Everywhereby Anonymous
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October 11, 2007: Despite the less than flattering title I gave this review, I do recommend reading it. This is not a traditional novel with a specific beginning, middle, and end, but rather a collection of stories--funny, sad, and, yes, horrific--told from the viewpoints of various family members growing up on a plantation in Louisiana in the early 1960's. The book was split in two sections, with the second half devoted to the now adult children of Vivi and Big Shep and how they turned out after leaving the fold. While Well's stories reflected a range of emotional ups and downs, I think she did a good job of capturing the realities of growing up in an abusive, alcoholic household. Every disagreement is over the top and threatens violence. Every mildly funny moment is rolling on the floor laughter. In short, every reaction is to the extreme. And kids living in the middle of it, simply accept it as a fact of life--what else can they do? I did, however, have one big problem with this book and that was in tying it to Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which I had read first several years ago. Divine Secrets painted Vivi, the matriarch, as complex and difficult at times, but not necessarily detestable. Little Altars, however, made her a monster--and the worst kind of a monster--the kind people just shrug off, ignore, or whose monstrous behavior simply gets buried or explained away. I have to say after reading Little Altars Everywhere, I had a lot of trouble with Well's seeming celebration of the Ya-Ya's and their notion of 'sisterhood'. Surely these women all knew the abusive bent of their leader Vivi, but like the doctors who looked the other way at Siddalee's whipping marks when they treated her for her asthma, they seemed to simply ignore it. In my book that's not sisterhood--that's just plain sick. I know movies often stray far from the storyline of the book, but after reading 'Little Altars', I'm glad I never saw Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood--because I would end up hating all these women for their collusion. Enough said--read it anyway. If nothing else, it is certainly a thought-provoking collection of childhood memories.
Fact File
Name:
Rebecca Wells
Current Home:
An island near Seattle, Washington
Place of Birth:
Alexandria, Louisiana
Education:
B.A., Louisiana State University; Graduate work, Louisiana State University and Naropa Institute
Awards:
Western States Book Award for Fiction, for Little Altars Everywhere 1992; ABBY Award for Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, 1999
Biography
In 1992, a Louisiana-born playwright and actress introduced the world to a clan of quirky Southerners that instantly made an indelible imprint on readers all over the country. Little Altars Everywhere was the warm and witty story of the Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana, and it established Rebecca Wells as one of the most beloved writers in contemporary literature. She solidified that position further with Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in 1996. Now, nearly ten years later, Wells is giving her avid fans yet another reason to celebrate.
Wells originally made waves as an acclaimed playwright. After a childhood spent indulging in the Southern tradition of verbal story-telling, Wells decided to develop her innate skill for yarn-spinning by penning plays after moving to New York City to pursue a career as a stage actor.
It was not until the early '90s that Wells decided to try her hand at a novel. While telling the larger story of the dysfunctional Walkers, Little Altars Everywhere chiefly focused on a young girl named Siddalee, a character which author Andrew Ward once described as "one of the sharpest little chatterboxes since Huckleberry Finn." Little Altars became both a critical favorite and a bestseller, and paved the way for the smashingly successful Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which continued Siddalee's story and revealed her mother Vivi's affiliation with an exuberant society of Southern women. The Ya-Ya Sisterhood not only wowed critics across the country, but it hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and inspired a cult-like following of readers to rival Wells's fictional sisterhood.
Unfortunately, during the years following the release of Wells's most beloved novel, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, an illness that no doubt slowed her productivity. "Before I started treatment, on my weakest days, I was unable to lift my hands to type," she says on her web site. "My husband would hold a tape recorder for me so I could talk scenes that were in my imagination. On some days, I could not walk. My husband would lift me out of my wheelchair and into my writing chair. I could only write about 20 minutes, always at night. I learned to humble myself to limitations of energy, and I learned to be grateful that even though my body was so sick, my imagination was still very much alive. I consider Ya-Yas in Bloom to be my ‘miracle baby.'"
Indeed, her legion of fans will agree that her latest release is nothing short of miraculous. After nearly a decade since the release of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Rebecca Wells has finally produced the third installment of her popular series. Ya-Yas in Bloom reaches further back than either of her previous novels, examining the origins of the Ya-Ya sisterhood in the 1930s through various narrators and a family album-like format. Wells's devoted followers will surely find much to enjoy in what the author describes as a "more tender book" than her last two works. "Illness -- and the love and forgiveness I have been given have taught me about the need for Tenderness," she says. "Now I know more deeply that we all need more compassion and kindness than this fast, consumer-driven world encourages. Life is not easy. It is filled with pain. It is also filled with joy and moments of ...[a]nd all of a sudden, you realize how beautiful this raggedy life really is."
Wells's positive outlook should only glow more brightly as her health continues to improve. As for the Ya-Yas, Wells is happy to report, "Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I definitely hope to write more Ya-Ya books. The universe of the Ya-Yas has a million tales, and somebody has to tell them!"
Good to Know
While attending the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, Wells studied language and consciousness with legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg.
Writing is not the only thing that this author takes seriously. In 1982, she formed a chapter of the Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament in Seattle, Washington.
Some fun and fascinating outtakes from our interview with Wells:
"Flowers heal me. Tulips make me happy. I keep myself surrounded by them as soon as they start coming to the island from Canada, and after that when they come from the fields in La Connor, not far from where I live. When their season is over, I surround myself with dahlias from my friend Tami's garden."
"I believe that we are given strength and help from a power much larger than ourselves. I believe if I humble myself that this power will come through me, and help me create work that is bigger than I would have ever been able to have done alone. I believe that illness has led me to a life of gratitude, so I consider Lyme disease at this point in my life to be a blessing in disguise."
"I value humor, kindness, and the ability to tell a good story far more than money, status, or the kind of car someone drives."
"I dislike the second Bush administration's abuse of power. I abhor his administration's waging of war, and the systematic design to make the rich richer and the poor poorer."
"I love being with my husband and family, walking outside, standing in La Luz de La Luna in her ever-changing stages, playing with my dog, singing, dancing, having dinner with friends, playing word games in the parlor, thrilling at our sheep eating alfalfa out of my hand, going to the island farmer's market on Saturdays. I love being told by my doctors that there is every reason to believe that I will get ‘better and better' from Lyme disease. I love that I am privileged enough to have been diagnosed and treated for the fastest growing vector-born bacterial disease in this country."
Feature Interview
In the spring of 2006, Rebecca Wells took some time out to tell us about some of her favorite books and authors, inspirations, and how she made it as a writer. What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
The Gift by Lewis Hyde. For me, this book is solid gold for those involved in making any kind of art. Hyde divides the book into two parts: first, a wide-reaching exploration of indigenous people's gift-giving societies; secondly, a study of what happens to a piece of art when it is put forth into a commodity society. Hyde gave me a way to look at not only my work, but also my life -- and all life -- as a gift. Pure gift.
This book, tattered from years of carrying it in suitcases, duffel bags, and carry-ons has been my talisman as I continue to try and understand how to keep the spirit of gift-giving while I work for profit. This book gave me a vocabulary for talking about any art form. After readings and re-readings, after success came to me, it helped me establish my personal aesthetic: Does a work of art constrict the heart or does it open it wider to more love and generosity?
What are your ten favorite books, and what makes them special to you?
Flannery taught me that matters of the spirit can be voiced through the most unlikely characters, and she taught me that a sense of humor was crucial. While I do not share her strict adherence to Catholicism, my life has been forever touched by the Catholicism of the first 18 years of my life, and I consider Catholicism to be not just a religion, but a culture. I call Miss O'Connor by her first name because I often invoke her spirit, and feel a close affinity with her. Afflicted by lupus, straying only rarely from her mother's farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, she kept on writing until her death at age 39.
When I struggled to write Ya-Yas in Bloom, I needed a wheelchair to get to my writing room. Once I got there, I stared at a photo of Flannery standing, held up by two crutches on the porch of her mother's house, surrounded by her beloved peacocks, and felt more courage. I also love Flannery because she said that nobody laughed or cried more at her own work than she did while she was writing it. I can't help it; I do the same thing.
Barry's understanding of the inner-workings of the city of New Orleans are nuanced and true, and stunned me with their insider knowledge. Rising Tide is so deeply related to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina that I remain heartbroken at the natural destruction, and furious at the manner in which these disasters were handled. The state of Louisiana will never be the same, and I mourn this.
What are some of your favorite films?
So many movies, such little time! Here is my short list, not necessarily in order of importance in my life:
What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you're writing?
It depends on what mood I'm trying to evoke. While writing the 1930s scenes in Ya-Yas in Bloom, I listened to pre-World War II dance music.
When I write, I see the scenes in my head. Coming from a theater background, I work more like an actor-writer than a pure writer. I am always interested in what a character might have dreamed the night before the scene takes place. I see movements of characters like blocking on a stage. I have my own movies in my head. It is fine if other people make movies of my work, but I have my own movies in my own mind and heart. The music I play while writing is sort of a soundtrack.
Sometimes I can't play any music at all; I need total silence. Other times I crave music.
When I want some pure Louisiana music, I'll radio stream to the music played on KBON 101.1 FM Louisiana Proud Radio, (http://www.kbon.com), a locally owned Louisiana Music powerhouse situated in the heart of Cajun Country, in Eunice, Louisiana. Their programming is a unique blend of Cajun, Zydeco, Blues, Oldies, and Swamp Pop and can be heard all over. If my body is strong that day, I'll get up and boogey till I'm tired, then rest a bit, then go back to the computer. If they play a bittersweet Cajun waltz, I'm a sucker for the emotionality that fiddle can evoke. I once gave a Cajun waltz to a character in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood just before he left for World War II. I cried listening to the waltz and while writing that scene. I have also been known to listen to Yo-Yo Ma's Bach Solo Cello Suites at least 500 times.
If you had a book club, what would it be reading?
Artists in a Time of War by Howard Zinn. I believe we need to be reminded that reading can lead to action, that brave artists have spoken truth to power during other wars, and we can take inspiration from them. We can talk in our book clubs, and then we can walk our talk.
What are your favorite kinds of books to give -- and get -- as gifts?
Books of poetry. Depending on the person, I might give W. S. Merwin, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, or Roethke.
Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you're writing?
I have a green stone with the word "Hope" on it, given to me by a friend when I needed it most. I think courage, then hope are the two sources of inspiration for a writer. When I'm writing a novel, I sometimes feel as though I'm in a leaky little boat trying to cross a huge ocean. Hope eludes me. I look at the stone and tell myself: hope is here; you just have to reach up and hold onto it. Like a ring on the subway.
I am surrounded by books which inspire me, pictures of the people I love, and stacks of papers appear which I have no idea what to do with. I have never been accused of being overly organized.
I also have the image of the book cover I am pondering pinned on the bulletin board near my computer. My husband and I have chosen all of the covers for my books, and early on, these images provide a visual touchstone for me.
If I'm strong, I start out the day with meditation and inspirational reading, which always includes a poem. When I sit down to write, my little dog, Mercy, a King Charles Cavalier spaniel, lies in her bed beside my feet. She is my "familiar." I'm convinced she helps me write. Just looking at her curled up, dreaming her dogly dreams, calms me, and lets me return to my writing with more relaxed shoulders.
In my writing studio is a treadmill and yoga mat. On strong days, I alternate writing with walking and stretching. I'm trained as an actor and sitting as long as a writer needs to hurts.
Because of chronic Lyme, I also have weak days. Heck, we all have weak days as writers and non-writers whether we have Lyme or not. On those days, I try to give in to the fact that my energy is low, and that the most I can do is jot down a few notes on a legal pad while lying in bed, or talk a scene into my tape recorder which is then magically transcribed for me. I have tried vocal recognition software, but it flat-out refused to recognize my Southern diphthongs. No matter how hard I tried, that software betrayed me, so I finally gave up. Basically I'm a writer who uses a computer to type. My sweet husband, without whom I couldn't write a thing, takes care of the other workings of the machine. He supports me in every way while I'm writing a book. I don't know how I got so lucky.
What are you working on now?
A new Ya-Ya novel.
Many writers are hardly "overnight success" stories. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes?
I had a zillion jobs as a cocktail waitress where men loved to accidentally touch me when I brought them packs of cigarettes on a tray that I had to get for them from the cigarette machine. I worked in one place where there was a knifing on the dance floor. Soon after I was fired, there was a murder in the parking lot. This was Louisiana, so I was not terribly surprised, but I was tired of trying to get tips by wiggling my butt.
I use to lust for a successful career as a stage actress. So I eventually moved to New York City, where, in between jobbing out to regional theatres, I held such illustrious jobs in Manhattan as modeling "Squeaky Shoes" at the International Toy Show. I worked as a waitress at an East Side hotel where we were referred to as "waitrons." They let me ride my bike across Central Park for my shift before firing me for refusing to put little "hats" on the legs of pork chops before I served them because they burned my fingers. They even made me pay for my brown and beige polyester uniform after firing me. Now I ask you.
I got lucky when I wrote a solo play for myself in 1982 because the only roles I was being cast in as an actor were those that called for me to be cute, perky, and mindless. Finally I realized that my career in the theater was going to be seriously limited by the fact that I am 5' 1 and 1/4. That is to say that I would never play "Portia" in "Merchant of Venice," even though I had memorized the role in case I ever had the chance.
Seattle has been wonderful to me as a writer. I came out to the Northwest to act in a play at The Empty Space Theatre, and ended up staying so I could write. It was so much cheaper to live out here than in Manhattan. Actors actually owned houses and had families. This was before Seattle was discovered and became a hip scene.
I broke a tiny bone in my foot dancing in a play of mine and it sidelined me for a good while. I was so depressed, but it was one of the many blessings in disguise I've been given. Not being able to strut my stuff as an actress made me sit down and write Little Altars Everywhere. The whole time that fat-ass critic that lives on my left shoulder kept saying: "You can't write. You're a theater person. You're not a writer." But I kept on writing. I was lucky again to be able to perform my book as I was writing it. The night I remember most vividly is reading the chapter "E-Z Boy War" from Little Altars Everywhere" just as the first Bush administration began bombing downtown Baghdad. I almost did not make it through the reading. I kept thinking about downtowns in general, and how they all have kindergartens.
Writing during war breaks my heart and makes me furious.
So. I finished Little Altars Everywhere, and trusting my then agent, allowed the manuscript to sit at one publishing house for nine months -- long enough to have a baby! I didn't know any better. I just thought they were taking a long time to make up their minds. The manuscript was returned to me on the day after Labor Day, 1988 with a terse rejection letter. I remember sitting on the steps of our rental house and sobbing. Our next-door neighbor came over, and when I told him, he started cussing like crazy. He acted out all my anger and I loved him for it -- and he and his sweetie and me and my sweetie ended up drinking beer in the back yard looking at Mt. Rainier. Looking at a mountain like Mt. Rainier can help you put things in perspective.
Next, I got this publishing grant from an arts council. It stipulated that I had to find a publisher within a year. The year passed and I had not found one publisher willing to take a chance on an unknown writer. I had a small panic attack on the way home from the island bakery after a woman at the arts council told me they would revoke the grant since I had not found a publisher in time. I felt like such a loser! I was a leper; no one would touch me, or my manuscript. Finally someone suggested a tiny press that had only done a few books of poetry. They accepted the manuscript of Little Altars Everywhere, giving me the biggest gift: a good editor. I finished the book and it became a bit of an underground hit, selling 20,000 copies quickly, and making it difficult for the little press (now defunct) to keep up.
My then-agent sold Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood on the strength of a detailed outline and three chapters. I started writing up a storm, really having fun with the first part of that book. Then my editor left for another house, leaving me in a huge publishing house where nobody had heard of my novel-in-progress. After much haggling, and tons of anxiety, I managed to move the manuscript to HarperCollins, the house to which my editor had moved.
HarperCollins published Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in 1996 in hardback. By 1998-99, I was amazed at how many people were reading it, talking about it, showing up at readings. I had never expected such a response. I was just hoping the book would sell enough copies for me to get an advance to write another book. I was reading for thousands of people on the stage from that book, using my acting background like never before. I was having a ball. The hot white light of success hit me straight in the eyes. Then I started getting sick with weirder and weirder symptoms. It was not until the end 2004 that I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease.
If you could choose one new writer to be "discovered," who would it be?
She is not new, and I could not say she is really "undiscovered," but I'd love the whole world to know the work of Naomi Shihab Nye, the American-Palestinian poet, children's book writer, and peacemaker who lives in San Antonio. Her poetry, like William Stafford's is so clean and true, it's like drinking a glass of pure water when you're painfully thirsty.
What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
Life is short. Enjoy yourself. Write what heals you and helps you make it through this veil of tears. Don't compare yourself to anyone. Stay safe within the sentence you are writing. Remember that in ancient times, books were written not to get on a bestseller list, but to be read in the dark hours of the soul when a person is hanging on by a thread and then she picks up your book and reads a sentence and her life is changed.
From the Publisher
The companion to the beloved bestseller Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, here is the funny, heartbreaking, and powerfully insightful tale that first introduced Siddalee, Vivi, their spirited Walker clan, and the indomitable Ya-Yas.
Denver Post
A gem of a book....Wells offers a virtuoso performance.
Seattle Weekly
Rebecca Wells' long-awaited first novel is a brilliant piece of work...a structural tour de force...a classic Southern tale of dysfunctional and marginal madness. The author's gift for giving life to so many voices the reader profoundly moved.
Pat Conroy
What an exciting new voice, and what a splendid first novel. Just wonderful!
Andrew Ward
Some writers have all the luck. Not only did Rebecca Wells get to be Catholic, she also got to come from Louisiana. This means that half of her is conversant with the Mystery, and the other half is crazy. Out of this chemistry she has written a brilliant, pungent, and hilarious novel about the Walker clan of Thornton, Louisiana. . . I'd like you to meet Miss Siddalee Walker, a force of nature and a tool of fate, and one of the sharpest-eyed little chatterboxes since Huckleberry Finn. Little Altars Everywhere teems with wonderful characters. . . But it's Wells' tireless and ruthless evocation of childhood combined with an unfailingly shrewd comic ear that makes Little Altars Everywhere such a thoroughly joyful and welcome noise.
Seattle Times - Robert Moss
Rebecca Wells' long-awaited first novel is a brilliant piece of work...a structural tour de force...a classic Southern tale of dysfunctional and marginal madness. The author's gift for giving life to so many voices the reader profoundly moved.
Denver Post
A gem of a book. . . . Wells offers a virtuoso performance.
Denver Post
A gem of a book....Wells offers a virtuoso performance.
Seattle Weekly
Rebecca Wells' long-awaited first novel is a brilliant piece of work. . . a structural tour de force. . . a classic Southern tale of dysfunctional and marginal madness. The author's gift for giving life to so many voices the reader profoundly moved.
Western States Book Award Citation Jurors
Wells presents an astonishing family of voices, potent in its pain, dazzlingly brilliant in its stretches and perceptions. This hilariously sad immersion into the Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana, will leave few readers unchanged.
Western States Book Award Citation Jurors
Wells presents an astonishing family of voices, potent in its pain, dazzlingly brilliant in its stretches and perceptions. This hilariously sad immersion into the Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana, will leave few readers unchanged.
Award Citation Jurors
Western States
ConroyPat
What an exciting new voice, and what a splendid first novel. Just wonderful!
Publishers Weekly
The lineage of Wells' first novel can be traced directly to the 'adult children' literature that has gained popularity in recent years. 'I have one main rule for myself these days: Don't hit the baby. It means: Don't hurt the baby that is me. Don't beat up on the little one who I'm learning to hold and comfort . . . ,'' Siddalee says in the book's final chapter. Her voice, like those of the lesser narrators (sister, two brothers, parents, grandmother, blacks who work for the family), sounds increasingly contrived as the book progresses. The structure doesn't help matters, allocating one or two chapters to most characters -- in Part I showing Siddalee and her siblings as children in Louisiana in the 1960s, in Part II the same characters 30 years later. Attempts at black dialect or small-town Louisiana slang are also superficial. The entire book consists of retellings, with little room (or incentive) for readers to share the action. There are some wonderful sections, such as when the grandmother's lap dog has a 'hysterectomy,' then learns to put dolls to bed as if they were her children, but such moments cannot sustain the reader's interest through more than 200 pages.
Library Journal
In her 'family of stories,' playwright Wells sets up plenty of 'little altars' for the numerous members of the Walker clan to kneel at and make confession. This crazy, joyful Louisiana family has its share of secrets -- from alcoholism to incest -- that are slowly revealed as each person has his or her say. Readers will be most interested in the oldest daughter, Siddalee, whose sheer irreverence and consuming curiosity propels what little plot there is until she finally discovers how to forgive her family. Wells's keen sense of character and superb ear for voice unify the loose assemblage of tales. -- Rita Ciresi, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Library Journal
In her 'family of stories,' playwright Wells sets up plenty of 'little altars' for the numerous members of the Walker clan to kneel at and make confession. This crazy, joyful Louisiana family has its share of secrets -- from alcoholism to incest -- that are slowly revealed as each person has his or her say. Readers will be most interested in the oldest daughter, Siddalee, whose sheer irreverence and consuming curiosity propels what little plot there is until she finally discovers how to forgive her family. Wells's keen sense of character and superb ear for voice unify the loose assemblage of tales. -- Rita Ciresi, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Western States Book Award Citation Jurors
Wells presents an astonishing family of voices, potent in its pain, dazzlingly brilliant in its stretches and perceptions. This hilariously sad immersion into the Walker family of Thornton, Louisiana, will leave few readers unchanged.
What People Are Saying
Pat Conroy
What an exciting new voice, and what a splendid first novel. Just wonderful!
Andrew Ward
Some writers have all the luck. Not only did Rebecca Wells get to be Catholic, she also got to come from Louisiana. This means that half of her is conversant with the Mystery, and the other half is crazy. Out of this chemistry she has written a brilliant, pungent, and hilarious novel about the Walker clan of Thornton, Louisiana...I'd like you to meet Miss Siddalee Walker, a force of nature and a tool of fate, and one of the sharpest-eyed little chatterboxes since Huckleberry Finn. Little Altars Everywhere teems with wonderful characters...But it's Wells' tireless and ruthless evocation of childhood combined with an unfailingly shrewd comic ear that makes Little Altars Everywhere such a thoroughly joyful and welcome noise.
W P. Kinsella
Voice and energy are two prerequisites for successful storytelling. Little Altars Everywhere displays very strong voices, and the energy fairly crackles off the page. Rebecca Wells is a writer to watch.
Andrew Ward
Some writers have all the luck. Not only did Rebecca Wells get to be Catholic, she also got to come from Louisiana. This means that half of her is crazy. Out of this chemistry she has written a brilliant, pungent, and hilarious novel about the Walker clan of Thorton, Louisiana....I'd like you to meet Miss Siddalee Walker, a force of nature and a tool of fate, and one of the sharpest-eyed little chatterboxes since Huckleberry Finn. Little Altars everywhere teems with the wonderful characters....But it's Wells' tireless and ruthless evocation of childhood combined with an unfailingly shrewd comic ear that makes "Little Alters Everywhere" such a thoroughly joyful and welcomed noise.
Loading...Product Details
- Pub. Date: May 2002
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- Format: Audio, 11pp
- ISBN-13: 9780060095611
- ISBN: 006009561X
- Edition Description: Unabridged, 7 Cassettes
Table of Contents
OOH! MY SOUL Siddalee, 1991.......... xi
PART ONE.......... 3
WILDERNESS TRAINING Siddalee, 1963.......... 3
CHOREOGRAPHY Siddalee, 1961.......... 15
WANDERING EYE Big Shep, 1962.......... 27
SKINNY-DIPPING Baylor, 1963.......... 39
BOOKWORMS Viviane, 1964.......... 51
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS Little Shep, 1964.......... 67
BEATITUDES Siddalee, 1963.......... 79
THE ELF AND THE FAIRY Siddalee, 1963.......... 91
THE PRINCESS OF GIMMEE Lulu, 1967.......... 99
HAIR OF THE DOG Siddalee, 1965.......... 113
PART TWO.......... 131
WILLETTA'S WITNESS Willetta, 1990.......... 131
SNUGGLING Little Shep, 1990.......... 145
CATFISH DREAMS Baylor, 1990.......... 153
E-Z BOY WAR Big Shep, 1991.......... 169
PLAYBOY'S SCRAPBOOK Chaney, 1991.......... 185
LOOKING FOR MY MULES Viviane, 1991.......... 195
THE FIRST IMPERFECT DIVINE COMPASSION BAPTISM.......... 209
VIDEO Siddalee, 1991
Reading Group Guide
Plot SummaryI feel a hairline fracture of pain in my heart. And I feel it: the sweet pure longing of each of us, still intact. My family stands in a circle around me. All the innocence, the old woundings. It grows so quiet. I feel my godchild's breathing against my chest, but it is also the breathing of parched babies in drought-stricken lands. I feel each member of my family's breath dropping in and out, until it seems like we are all part of one giant bellows. And all the suffering spirals down into one shaft of sunlight which shines though one stained glass window in Thornton, Louisiana. This is what I come home to. I do not have to crawl across the desert on my knees. I do not have to swim through turbulent oceans to stop the drownings. All I have to do is watch and pray, and love them. Not save them, not hurt them, just love them.
Little Altars Everywhere, the first novel by Rebecca Wells, is the bittersweet story of the Walker clan of Thornton, Louisiana. Vivi Abbot Walker, the mother, is the eye of the hurricane. Her husband, Shep, is a cotton planter, and the two of them have four children: Siddalee, Little Shep, Baylor, and Lulu, who is named for Tallulah Bankhead, one of her mother's patron saints.
Each member of this funny, charming, and wounded family describes the view from his or her perch on the family tree. The book opens in 1963 with the recollections of Siddalee as a young girl, and continues with entries from her siblings, parents, and the black "help" who cannot save the Walker's from their darkness.
Twenty-seven years later, Wells returns to the Walkers, and this time the stories are startlingly different. The previous stories weren'tnecessarily lies, but they weren't the whole truth. It becomes clear that ultimately, there is no one truth within a family; there are only each character's tiny pin-light of truth. Little Altars Everywhere is finally about the tiny murders that occur within a loving but lost Catholic Louisiana family. It offers no miracles of redemption; instead it suggests the power of an open heart to offer protection to the innocent.
1. Wells uses multiple narrators to unfold the story in Little Altars Everywhere. What advantages are gained by this? Does this multiple perspective mean that we sense the story from a broader perspective from that of any one character? And what, if any value, is that broader perspective when evaluating the moral behavior of a character? Does the use of multiple narrators point to a truth that is too big, too uncertain, and too complex for any one character or person to put all together into a cogent vision? Do multiple narrators soften our judgments about a character?
2. What attitude does the novel take toward institutional religion (i.e., denominations), spirituality (a belief in and need for God and meaning), and human suffering. Catholicism is a strong presence in the novel. How does Catholicism both bless and damage the Walker family?
3. Vivi imparts a complex legacy to her children. What are the ingredients of this legacy? Shame? Suffering? A sense of wonder? A capacity for rapture?
4. Wells has said that "humor is the healing art." Discuss this in light of this novel.
5. Wells opens the novel with references to Little Richard in the "Prologue" and to Aaron Neville in the concluding chapter? What significance might this have? What role does racism play in the story of the Walkers? How does the value system of Chaney and Willetta differ from that of Vivi and Shep?
6. At the end of the novel, Sidda has a moment of insight into both her life and the lives of her family when she suddenly realizes that, "All their longing was pure." What does Sidda mean by this expression?
7. How can the acceptance of suffering help transform that suffering into love?
About the Author: Rebecca Wells, a Louisiana native, is an author, actor and playwright. Her works for the stage include Splittin' Hairs and Gloria Duplex, for which she created the lead roles. She has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Western States Book Award for her first novel, Little Altars Everywhere. She tours a one-woman show based on Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Wells lives on an island near Seattle, Washington.
Read an Excerpt
Chapter One
Wilderness Training
One thing I really hate about Girl Scouts is those uniforms. Theybring out my worst features -- fat arms and short legs. Mama tries her best to give that drab green get-up some style, but I just get sent home with a note because the glitzy pieces of costume jewelry she pins on me are against regulations.
The only reason I joined Scouts in the first place was all because of merit badges. I wanted to earn more of those things than any other girl in Central Louisiana. I wanted my sash to be so heavy with badges that it would sag off my shoulder when I walked. There wouldn't be any doubt about how outstanding I was. When I walked past the mothers waiting in their station wagons outside the parish hall, I wanted them to shake their heads in amazement. I wanted them to mutter, I just don't know how in the world the child does it! That Siddalee Walker is such a superior Girl Scout.
I love going over and over the checklists for earning those badges in the Girl Scout Handbook. I have eight badges. More than M'lain Chauvin, who constantly tries to beat me in every single thing. I have got to keep my eye on that girl. She is one of my best friends, and we compete in everything from music lessons to telephone manners.
I was making real progress with my badges, and then our Girl Scout troop leader up and quit right after the Christmas holidays. She said she could no longer handle the stress of scouting. She didn't even tell usherself -- just sent a note to the Girl Scout bigwigs, and they cancelled our meetings until they could find someone to take us on.
And wouldn't you know it, out of the wild blue, Mama and Necie Ogden decide to take things over and lead our troop. I could not believe my ears. Mama and Necie have been best friends since age five. Along with Caro and Teensy, they make up the "Ya-Yas." The Ya-Yas drink bourbon and branch water and go shopping together. All day long every Thursday, they play bourrée, which is a kind of cutthroat Louisiana poker. When you get the right cards, you yell out "Bourrée!" real loud, slam your cards down on the table, then go fix another drink. The Ya-Yas had all their kids at just about the same time, but then Necie kept going and had some more. Their idol is Tallulah Bankhead, and they call everyone "Dahling" just like she did. Their favorite singer is Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand, depending on their moods. The Ya-Yas all love to sing. Also, the Ya-Yas were briefly arrested for something they did when they were in high school, but Mama won't tell me what it was because she says I'm too young to comprehend.
At least Necie goes out and gets herself a Girl Scout leader's outfit. Mama will not let anything remotely resembling a Scout-leader uniform touch her skin. She says, Those things are manufactured by Old Hag International. She says, If they insist on keeping those hideous uniforms, then they should change the name from "Girl Scouts" to "Neuter Scouts."
Mama drew up some sketches of new designs for Girl Scout uniforms that she said were far more flattering than the old ones. But none of the Scout bigwigs would listen to her. So instead, she shows up at every meeting wearing her famous orange stretch pants and those huge monster sweaters.
The first official act of Mama and Necie's reign is to completely scrap merit badges, because Mama says they make us look like military midgets.
Whenever I gripe about being cut off just as I was about to earn my Advanced Cooking badge, Mama says, Zip it, kiddo. Don't ever admit you know a thing about cooking or it'll be used against you in later life.
Now at our meetings, instead of working on our Hospitality, Music, and Sewing badges, they have us work on dramatic readings. They make us memorize James Whitcomb Riley and Carl Sandburg poems and then Mama coaches us on how to recite them. She calls out, Enunciate, dahling! Feel it! Feel it! Love those words out into the air!
All my popular girlfriends look at me like: Oh, we never knew you came from a nuthouse. I just lie and tell them Mama used to be a Broadway actress, when all she ever really did in New York was model hats for a year until she got lonely enough to come home and marry Daddy.
Our annual Scout camp-out always comes up just after Easter. I just dread it. I'm in the middle of reading a truly inspiring book called Judy's Journey. It's all about this girl who's exactly my age, and she and, her whole family are migrant workers. They have to travel from place to place, living hand-to-mouth. Judy works in the fields and never complains, and she is brave, and a hard worker, and very popular with all the other migrant kids. Her father plays the harmonica, and her mother is so kind and quiet. I fantasize around fifty times a day about being her instead of me. I would just kill to stay in my room and finish that book instead of going on a stupid camp-out, but you've got to do these things whether you want to or not. Otherwise any chance you have at popularity can go straight down the drain and you will never get it back.
You have to start early if you plan to be popular. Mama was extremely popular when she was growing up. She was elected Most Well-Liked, she was head cheerleader, captain of the girls' tennis team...
Little Altars Everywhere. Copyright © by Rebecca Wells. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.Read a Sample Chapter
Little Altars EverywhereA Novel
WILDERNESS TRAINING
Siddalee, -1963
One thing I really hate about Girl Scouts is those uniforms. They bring out my worst features-fat arms and short legs. Mama tries her best to give that drab green get-up some style, but I just get sent home with a note because the glitzy pieces of costume jewelry she pins on me are against regulations.
The only reason I joined Scouts in the first place was all because of merit badges. I wanted to earn more of those things than any other girl in Central Louisiana. I wanted my sash to be so heavy with badges that it would sag off my shoulder when 1 walked. There wouldn't be any doubt about how outstanding I was. When I walked past the mothers waiting in their station wagons outside the parish hall, I wanted them to shake their heads in amazement. I wanted them to mutter, 1 just don't know how in the world the child does it! That Siddalee Walker is such a superior Girl Scout.
I love going over and over the checklists for earning those badges in the Girl Scout Handbook. I have eight badges. More than M'lain Chauvin, who constantly tries to beat me in every single thing. 1 have got to keep my eye on that girl. She is one of my best friends, and we compete in everything from music lessons to telephone manners.
I was making real progress with my badges, and then our Girl Scout troop leader up and quit right after the Christmas holidays. She said she could no longer handle the stress of scouting. She didn't even tell us herself-just sent a note to the Girl Scout bigwigs, and they cancelled our meetings until they could find someone to take us on.
And wouldn't you know it, out of the wild blue, Mama and Necie Ogden decide to take things over and lead our troop. I could not believe my ears. Mama and Necie have been best friends since age five. Along with Caro and Teensy, they make up the "Ya-Yas." The Ya-Yas drink bourbon and branch water and go shopping together. All day long every Thursday, they play bourree, which is a kind of cutthroat Louisiana poker. When you get the right cards, you yell out "Bourree!" real loud, slam your cards down on the table, then go fix another drink. The Ya-Yas had all their kids at just about the same time, but then Necie kept going and had some more. Their idol is Tallulah Bankhead, and they call everyone "Dahling" just like she did. Their favorite singer is Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand, depending on their moods. The Ya-Yas all love to sing. Also, the Ya-Yas were briefly arrested for something they did when they were in high school, but Mama won't tell me what it was because she says I'm too young to comprehend.
At least Necie goes out and gets herself a Girl Scout leader's outfit. Mama will not let anything remotely resembling a Scout-leader uniform touch her skin. She says, Those things are manufactured by Old Hag International. She says, If they insist on keeping those hideous uniforms, then they should change the name from "Girl Scouts" to "Neuter Scouts."
Mama drew up some sketches of new designs for Girl Scout uniforms that she said were far more flattering than the old ones. But none of the Scout bigwigs would listen to her. So instead, she shows up at every meeting wearing her famous orange stretch pants and those huge monster sweaters.
The first official act of Mama and Necie's reign is to completely scrap merit badges, because Mama says they make us look like military midgets.
Whenever I gripe about being cut off just as I was about to earn my Advanced Cooking badge, Mama says, Zip it, kiddo. Don't ever admit you know a thing about cooking or it'll be used against you in later life.
Now at our meetings, instead of working on our Hospitality, Music, and Sewing badges, they have us work on dramatic readings. They make us memorize James Whitcomb Riley and Carl Sandburg poems and then Mama coaches us on how to recite them. She calls out, Enunciate, dahling! Feel it! Feel it! Love those words out into the air!
All my popular girlfriends look at me like: came from a nuthouse. I Just lie and tell them Mama used to be a Broadway actress, when all she ever really did in New York was model hats for a year until she got lonely enough to come home and marry Daddy.
Our annual Scout camp-out always comes up just after Easter. I just dread it. I'm in the middle of reading a truly inspiring book called Judy's Journey. It's all about this girl who's exactly my age, and she and her whole family are migrant workers. They have to travel from place to place, living hand-to-mouth. Judy works in the fields and never complains, and she is brave, and a hard worker, and very popular with all the other migrant kids. Her father plays the harmonica, and her mother is so kind and quiet. I fantasize around fifty times a day about being her instead of me. I would just kill to stay in my room and finish that book instead of going on a stupid camp-out, but you've got to do these things whether you want to or not. Otherwise any chance you have at popularity can go straight down the drain and you will never get it back.
You have to start early if you plan to be popular. Mama was extremely popular when she was growing up. She was elected Most Well-Liked, she was head cheerleader, captain of the girls' tennis team, and assistant editor of the yearbook. Everyone at Thornton High knew who she was, Even though it sometimes wore her out, she said Hi! to every single soul she passed in the hall. It was a lot of work, but that is how her reputation was built. Mama understands the gospel of popularity and she is passing it on to me so I won't be left out on the fringes.
We head out to Camp Mary Alice real early on a Saturday morning. It is twenty or so miles from Thornton, in the deep piney woods. They named the camp for this very famous Louisiana Girl Scout who gave up her entire life for scouting. There is a main lodge built of logs with a huge fireplace at one end, long tables set up in the middle, and a big kitchen at the other end. Not far away, at the edge of the woods, there is a screened-in cabin filled with bunk beds where you sleep.
Right off the bat, Necie backs her Country Squire station wagon into the flagpole and bends it in half I'm inside the cabin unfurling my bedroll when I hear this big uproar. I bolt out the door andwouldn't you know it--there is the Girl Scout flag flapping in the...
Little Altars EverywhereA Novel. Copyright © by Rebecca Wells. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
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