Rating: 
Summary: Better than 'Ya-Ya'
Review: This is a more realistic story than Divine Secrets. I read Divine Secrets a few years ago and enjoyed it. However, the story is a bit contrived. I think we're all pretty familiar with the eccentric southern woman character. It's been done to death. And the Ya-Ya's were just a bit too over the top for my tastes. It unfortunately glossed over their abuse of alcohol. However, Little Altars is a more realistic story. It shows how the Ya-Yas have a lot of fun but destroy the people who care for them. It's a much more depressing story than Divine Secrets. The sexual abuse was pretty shocking but believable given Vivi's family history. I disagree with the other reviewers that Vivi is "evil" in this book. She's not as likable here. In fact, she's not likable at all. But she doesn't seem "evil" to me but instead very damaged, doing to her children what was done to her. In summary, alcoholism and physical and emotional child abuse were hinted at in Divine Secrets but glossed over by the eccentricities and funny antics of the Ya-Yas. Here we see that their alcoholism isn't funny and almost destroys their children so I think it's the better novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Great but Disapointing
Review: Little Alters Everywhere by Rebecca Wells is a witty and tragic novel. The characters, Sidda, Shep, Little Shep, Viva, Willetta, and the others are each such profound characters with such diverse and distinct personalities. Wells begins the novel with a special style of humor that quickly turns to sadness. The reality of this southern dysfunctional family quickly overruns the humor at the beginning of the novel. She shocks the reader as she portrays, the mother Vivi, as an alcoholic and as a child molester. The father, Big Shep, is not man enough to stand up to his wife so he often just leaves the family to stay at his hunting camp. The problems the children face are heartbreaking. The black hired hands, Willetta and Chaney, are probably the most stable adults in the lives of the children. I found the book to be enjoyable but it left me with uneasy feelings as well. I'm anxious to read the sequel, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, in hopes of finding out what led Vivi and Big Shep to their evil ways.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: Reading Little Altars Everywhere prior to Ya-Ya Sisterhood is key to better understanding Ya-Ya. Together the two books tell a complete story. You've got good times, bad times, and the times that are really tough and heart-wrenching. Rebecca Wells has done a superb job with the story. Definitely put this on your list to read.
Rating:
Summary: A five-star melancholy story
Review: On Friday I stopped on the way home from work to buy "Little Altars Everywhere" by Rebecca Wells. It has been on my wish list for about a year now and I didn't even know it was related to the Ya-Ya Sisterhood until last week! Anyway like I said I got it on Friday afternoon and finished it by dinnertime on Saturday - it was THAT GOOD. Each chapter was told in a different characters' point of view. There were several by Sidda and a few from Vivi, but there was also some insight from Big Shep, Willetta, and Sidda's siblings Little Shep, Baylor and Lulu. This format provided better insight into the family's troubles than just Sidda's POV would have. The story overall is disturbing and sad - especially the chapters with Willetta and Little Shep. Plenty of happy memories are visited throughout the book but they are overshadowed by a dark cloud in every chapter, usually the result of something Vivi has done. Reading this book helped me to better understand its subsequent "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and I would highly recommend it with FIVE STARS!
Rating:
Summary: sadder than the Ya-Ya's, but a must-read...
Review: I read "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" a couple of years ago and fell in love with it. When I found out there was a book that came before of the same characters I had to read it. The book was good and a must-read for anyone that reads the Ya-Ya's. BUT be prepared. It's definitely a more disturbing picture of Vivi. While we get a better look into Big Shep's head (Sidda's father) and learn that his compassion runs deeper than Vivi's but he just either doesn't know how to show it or feels there'd be no point to it anyway. Vivi's dark side is much more than I'd suspected having read the second book first. Her alcoholism is plain as day in Altars whereas in the Ya-Ya's she just seems to be a social drinker. (Same goes for Big Shep) And you can see more clearly the emotional scars all of her children carry and how they truly feel about their mother. This book left behind some disturbing images in my head and I wish that I had been left with the ones I garnered from reading the Ya-Ya's. One's where Vivi's motherhood crimes did not seem so vicious and contemptable.
Rating:
Summary: Little Altars Everywhere
Review: Rebecca Wells is the author of Little Altars Everywhere. It is a novel about family relationships and the struggles they go through. She draws the attention of the reader through the use of emotions of even a seemingly heartless character. The novel can make you cry, yet at other times you sit there and laugh. Rebecca shows the value of family and friendship in this novel which is a crucial part of life in 1960's Louisiana. Rebecca Wells is often compared to Danielle Steel because of their use of emotions are very similar. Little Altars Everywhere won Rebecca the Western States Book Award. The sequel to this novel, The Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood was turned into a motion picture.
Unlike other novels, this one does not have a plot that goes in a straight line. It does not have an introduction, suspense, or a conclusion. Instead, it goes back and forth between the voices of the characters. There is not one main character.
There are two parts to this novel: The first part of the novel takes place in 1960's Louisiana. The second half is thirty years later. Each member of the family take turns talking in this intriguing novel. The parents, Viviane and Big Shep Walker, the children Siddalee, Little Shep, Baylor and Lulu, and the two black helpers Willetta and Chaney, talk about events that happen in their daily lives. What is interesting is, rather than having one narrator as most novels do, this novel is narrated by the individual characters, chapter by chapter. Each family member has a different point of view on events. They also have different view points of Viviane's alcoholism. Each character came alive in their respective chapters. You could picture these characters in your mind.
Viviane Walker is the alcoholic, mother who has extreme highs and lows. Big Shep is the father. He is a cotton grower and likes to duck hunt. Siddalee is the oldest daughter. Her and her mother love to read and spend hours at the public library. She is a devoted Catholic and her emotions tell a great story. Baylor tells of the family's summer house at Spring Creek: how wonderful it is during the summer and how it is just his mom, his siblings and the Ya-Ya's. He loves how they are allowed to do whatever they want when they are at Spring Creek without daddy ever finding out. Little Shep loves yard dogs and tells about his experience one day with his grandma Buggy's poodle named "Miss Peppy." He is adventurous and likes to have fun. The youngest daughter Lulu, is the rebellious one. Her chapter is all about how she shoplifts and gives the items she steels as presents to her family until one day she gets caught and plays it off like she is an orphan. Willetta and Chaney are the black couple who help out the family. Chaney's family has been working with the Walker family for many generations; they are both good at heart. All of these characters are expressed through Wells' use of emotion and make the story one you can not put down.
The second half of the novel takes place in the 1990's and each member of the family again take turns talking, but this time it is about their past. Siddalee grows up and moves to New York, becomes a play-writer, and has been in therapy for ten years trying to figure out her mother. She is so drawn into the past and her emotional scars that her mother has left on her that she doesn't want to go home and see her mother.
She feels that her mother has ruined her life. Each character talks about the alcohol, physical abuse and violence they all had to go through to live and cope with Viviane.
The southern setting of the novel again is in Louisiana in the 1960's and plays a key role in the relationships with family and friends. The author grew up in Louisiana and could really express what life was like. Like Sidallee, Ms. Wells also moved to New York and became a writer as well as an actress and a play writer. But, this is not an autobiographical novel.
This novel is a real page turner. It opens your eyes to what life was like in Louisiana in the 1960's, with a very dysfunctional family. It is happy and sad all rolled into one exciting, must read novel.
Rating:
Summary: a Good Book
Review: I thought Little Altars Everywhere was very well written. Not like anything else i have read before. I enjoyed reading every minute of it. I wanted to learn more about the Walker Family. Each page was full of interesting comments or stories.
Rating:
Summary: Little Altars
Review: "Little Altars Everywhere" is a humorous and heart-breaking look further into the Walker family. Although not quite as good as "Divine Secrets," it is an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing Novel with Some Twists
Review: I read 'Little Altars Everywhere' for my English class this year...it is a wonderful novel. The main character- Siddalee Walker- is not only intelligent beyond her years but she also possesses wit and quirkiness that makes a reader want to hear what she has to say. This book takes you through her life from her view and the views of everyone in her family plus some friends. It really gives the story more depth to have it told this way. It takes place in south and so the speaking style the author uses are really fun to read. Vivi says some funny stuff but I reallllly don't like her. Although there are some evil twists, I still would recommend this book. My favorite character was Big Shep. I thought there was a lot more to him than what the rest realized. My least favorite character was Vivi for reasons you will know if you read the book. Overall I think this was a really worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!!
Review: Well this book was not at all what I expected! It's so much darker than I thought it would be. I thought the Ya-Yas where a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky kinda group (I'm basing this on the few previews I saw of the movie)...but no...not at all. I didn't expect constant drunkiness, child-abuse, and cruelty. It did make for a very entertaining read though...as awful as that sounds. I couldn't put the book down! The messed-up world of the Walker family is funny, tragic, happy and sad all in one. I really recommend this book. I've just picked the 'Divine Secrets', and am really looking forward to what more this family can get themselves into!! Definitely a must read!
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