before you criticize someone else, walk a mile in their shoes first. that way, you are a mile away from them, and you have thier shoes.

such a lousy critic. i think i have to take back some of the things i said about the sisterhood of the travelling pants. somehow it amuses me that even though it's basically lacking the plot, most of the character encounters are not boring. if i were to rank the excitement of the friends' summer experiences according to my preference, it would be:

*uhh, major spoilers.
1. carmen - the big butted phat-y. i can almost feel the pain of spending summer with your dad and your step-family.
2. tibby - working at wallmans (somewhat wallmart) and wearing their oversized smocks won't be despisable enough if you get to be friends with a very rational 12-yr-old leukemia inflicted kid, who is just as sharp as you are.
3. bridget - entering a sports camp. lusting over your coach who is 3yrs older than you are. taking risks. it's all worth the excitement.
4. lena - the book has told me of her incomparable beauty but her story is just really boring. alright, she goes to greece. had a major mishap with this kostos guy (with a tragic background) and gets over it. boring.

if you happen to think like me you would notice that the magic pants is actually useless. it's something you'll soon forget as you delve deeper into the pages of the book. the story could go on without the pants being sent by airmail and they could go on without all those junk rules they made about it. without the pants the title could be as simple as, "A Summer Apart" (or something better) and i'm sure it will still be a NYT bestseller.

only, there'd be no plot at all if you exclude the pants.

one of the things i like about it are the quotes per chapter. some are really funny.