the sisterhood of the traveling pants
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a novel written in 2001
by Ann Brashares. The book follows the adventures of four best friends, Lena
Kaligaris, Tibby
Rollins, Bridget Vreeland, and Carmen Lowell, who are spending their first
summer apart. When a magical pair of jeans comes into their lives, their summer
turns upside down. The book was a best-seller. It was adapted into a film of
the same name in 2005.
plot summary
In the first novel in the series, it is established that four high school
students, Lena Kaligaris, Tibby Rollins, Bridget Vreeland, and Carmen Lowell,
are such close friends that they are virtually sisters. They find a pair of
thrift store jeans that fit all four girls beautifully, even though the girls
are all different sizes and shapes. To keep in touch with each other during
their summer vacation, they pass the pants along from one girl to another.
First the pants go with Lena who is spending the summer in Greece with her
grandparents. Lena sends the pants to Tibby, who is stuck at home. Then Tibby
sends them to Carmen, who has gone to visit her divorced father in South Carolina.
Carmen sends them to Bridget, who is at a soccer camp in Baja, Mexico. And
then the pants go back the other way: Bridget to Carmen to Tibby to Lena. When
each girl wears the Traveling Pants, she gains insight into her life and is
emboldened to change it.
characters
The Sisterhood
* Lena "Lenny" Kaligaris, is a beautiful and artistic girl of Greek
heritage. She has a younger sister, Effie. Brashares based Lena on the Greek
myth of Artemis, the proud, boy-hating goddess of the hunt who, when spotted
bathing by a suitor, turned the young man into a stag. She is very shy and
withdrawn, due to the fact that she is nearly always judged on her appearance.
When she goes to Santorini, Greece, to visit her grandparents for the first
time, she meets Kostos, a young family friend. At first she dislikes him, convinced
that he is only paying attention to her because of her beauty. Later on however,
she falls in love with him, and he with her.
* Tabitha Anastasia "Tibby" Tomko-Rollins is the rebellious daughter
of two former radicals. She is extremely interested in filmmaking. Tibby lives
with her parents and her much younger siblings, Nicky and Katherine. She feels
misplaced in her surroundings, and has developed a very cynical outlook on
life, feeling that she belongs in her parents' "old" life, while
they are busy creating a new life with their younger children. During the summer,
while her friends are away, she gets a job at a local supermarket and sets
out to make a film about losers (her own genre, which she calls the "suckumentary").
At her job she meets twelve-year-old Bailey Graffman, who is dying from leukemia.
Tibby initially wants nothing to do with Bailey, but soon finds that Bailey
turns her world upside down. Bailey teaches Tibby that everyone has a little "loser" in
them, and how to find the sun behind the clouds, an outlook that is totally
unfamiliar to sarcastic Tibby.
* Bridget "Bee" Vreeland is the willful, energetic, athletic soccer
star who is described as "single minded to the point of recklessness." Bridget
has a twin brother named Perry. She is the daughter of a Southern belle and
a former European history professor. When she and Perry were about twelve,
their mother committed suicide. Bridget still hasn't recovered from the trauma,
which triggers her sometimes self-destructive behavior. During the summer she
attends a soccer camp in Mexico. She becomes obsessed with a handsome young
soccer coach named Eric. Though flings between coaches and campers are forbidden,
throughout the summer she relentlessly keeps seeking him out despite his reluctance.
She learns however that thinking you want something and actually wanting it
when you get it aren't necessarily the same thing.
* Carmen Lucille "Carma" Lowell, whom her friends sometimes call
Carmabelle (her IM name), is the sensitive, caring and dramatic half-Puerto
Rican with the explosive temper. It was she who initially found the Traveling
Pants. Of the four Sisters, she is the most insistent on keeping them together.
Her parents are divorced, and she lives with her mother, Christina. She goes
to spend the summer with her father in South Carolina, looking forward on spending
quality time with him and doing father-daughter things. Her hopes are shattered
when she finds out that not only has her father moved in with a woman, but
they are planning to be married while she is there, and the fiancee is bringing
two teenaged children of her own into the marriage. Carmen doesn't seem to
fit in at all, which causes her to crumble and create havoc. She runs away
and flies back home to her mother, only to discover that running away from
problems isn't always the best decision, especially when it comes to family.
In Santorini, Greece
* Valia and Bapi Kaligaris are Lena and Effie's grandparents. Lena's grandmother
is talkative and spirited, like Effie, while Bapi is quiet and introspective
like Lena.
* Kostos Dounas lives with his grandparents in Santorini. Lena falls in love
with him eventually. He was played by Michael Rady in the movie version, in
which his relationship with Lena was changed from its depiction in the book.
They meet fishing in the movie but elsewhere in the book.
In Washington D.C.
* Bailey Graffman is a twelve-year-old girl who adores Tibby and assists
her on her documentary film. She has leukemia, and dies from it near the end
of the book. She was played by Jenna Boyd in the movie version.
* Brian McBrian is a video game aficionado who spends hours every day playing
Dragon Master at 7-Eleven. He is the first person interviewed for Tibby's documentary.
He later becomes a close friend to both Tibby and Bailey. He was played by
Leonardo Nam in the movie version.
* Duncan Howe is the assistant manager at Wallmans, where Tibby works. Duncan
is labelled by Tibby as a loser and was one of the stars of her 'suckumentary'.
* Margaret is a worker at the Pavilion Theater who has seen over 10,000 movies
and can recite whole scenes from them. She has worked at the same theater for
over thirty years and is very dedicated to her work. Although she looks young,
she is at least forty-five years old. She was one of the people interviewed
for Tibby's 'suckumentary'.
Family members of the Sisterhood
* Georgos "George" Kaligaris is Lena's strict Greek father. Although
his parents owned a restaurant in Greece, he is a lawyer. He doesn't approve
of Lena's interest in art, believing it to be an impractical career choice
and would prefer if she went to law school like him.
* Ariadne "Ari" Kaligaris is Lena's mother. She is a social worker.
She is often caught between her husband's and daughter's squabbles. Her favorite
clothing is usually beige and plain.
* Effie Kaligaris is Lena's fourteen-year-old sister. Although not as beautiful
as her sister, she is outgoing and spirited, and she has more experience with
boys than Lena. Effie's character did not appear in the movie version of the
book.
* Franz Vreeland is Bridget's Dutch father, a teacher at a private high school.
He isn't very close to Bridget.
* Marlene "Marly" Randolph Vreeland is Bridget's late mother. When
she died, she left a hole in the first group of "Septembers," the
mothers of the Sisterhood, so named because they were all due to give birth
in September. Marly's death made it hard for the remaining mothers to bridge
the gap since.
* Perry Vreeland is Bridget's twin brother who shared a childhood with the
Sisterhood but grew up to be a reclusive teenager. He was named for Marly's
brother, Pervis Randolph. He spends most of his time in his room on his computer.
He does not appear in the movie version of the book.
* Christina "Tina" Lowell is Carmen's mother. She is Puerto Rican
and works as a secretary for a law firm. She cares deeply for her daughter
but, in Carmen's opinion, tries a little too hard sometimes.
* Mr. Rollins is Tibby's dad. He is a lawyer who used to work as a public defender.
He is not a major character in the book or movie.
* Alice Tomko Rollins is Tibby's mother, who was a hippie and a sculptor while
Tibby was young. In the present, she is revealed to be in real estate.
* Nicky and Katherine Rollins are Tibby's younger siblings. In the first book,
Nicky is two and Katherine is one; however, in the movie, Katherine is already
a toddler while Nicky is still a baby.
In South Carolina
* Albert "Al" Lowell is Carmen's father. When Carmen arrives for
a visit, he surprises her with the news that he is engaged to Lydia.
* Lydia Rodman is Al's fiancée. Lydia is a perfectionist who wants everything
orderly, which does not appeal to Carmen. She has two children from her previous
marriage, Paul and Krista.
* Paul Rodman is two years older than Carmen and has an alcoholic father, whom
he drives to visit every month. He attends the University of Pennsylvania,
his father's alma mater. Carmen refers to him as being serious, mature, and
responsible. He was played by Kyle Schmid in the movie version.Paul does not
speak.
* Krista Rodman is Carmen's age. She and Carmen do not get along when they
first meet because Carmen perceives her as being unintelligent and perfect.
She was played by Emily Tennant in the movie version.
* Kelly Marquette is Paul's girlfriend, whom Carmen dubs "Skeletor." She
seems to regard Carmen with contempt. She and Paul break up near the end of
the book. She does not appear in the movie version of the book.
In Baja California
* Eric Richman is a college sophomore (at Columbia University) and coach
at Bridget's soccer camp. Bridget falls in love with him, and although he reciprocates
her feelings, he avoids her at first because he feels that it would be wrong
for him to be with her. He was played by Mike Vogel in the movie version. They
have sex and Bridget feels bad about it.
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