Line #17 Literature/TheSisterhoodOfTheTravelingPants


1	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tf_org-Sisterhood-Traveling-Pants-The-free_709.jpg]]
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3	''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'' is a series of books by Ann Brashares. The series chronicles the lives of four girls who have been best friends since they were babies. One summer before they had to split for the season, they find a pair of jeans that magically fit all four of them. So they decide to rotate the pants around through the mail to keep in touch while they're apart. Each book in the series takes place over one summer.
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5	In 2005, a movie was made based on the first book. It starred Creator/AmberTamblyn, Creator/AmericaFerrera, Creator/BlakeLively, and Creator/AlexisBledel. The original series consisted of four books, but a sequel has been released since then, as well as a spin-off taking place in the same universe and focusing on new characters.
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7	[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Not to be confused with the]] Literature/SisterhoodSeries.
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9	!!Books in the series:
10	* ''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'' (2001)
11	* ''The Second Summer of the Sisterhood'' (2003)
12	* ''Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood'' (2006)
13	* ''Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood'' (2007)
14	* ''Sisterhood Everlasting'' (2011)
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16	----
17	!!This book series and film adaptation provide examples of:
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19	* AbortedArc:
20	** Part of Lena's arc in the third book is her realizing that she can't just keep waiting around for Kostos and has to move on, and also features her briefly connecting with Carmen's stepbrother Paul. In the fourth book, Lena is right back to pining for Kostos despite having a new love interest named Leo, [[spoiler: and ends up with Kostos by the end of the story; things trail off with Leo, and Paul and Lena are never mentioned in reference to each other again.]]
21	** Actually invoked by Carmen with Win Sawyer, her love interest in the third book. By the time the fourth book takes place, the pair have lost touch, and Carmen admits to herself that she let her relationship with Win fizzle out on purpose because she didn't feel like she deserved him.
22	* AdaptationalCurves: Tibby in the books is said to be petite and flat-chested like a younger child, the movies has her portrayed by the slightly shapelier Amber Tamblyn.
23	* AdaptedOut:
24	** Perry, Bridget's introverted twin brother, is adapted out of the movies.
25	** Zig-zagged with Effie, Lena's effervescent younger sister. There's no indication that she exists in the first movie and doesn't join her sister in Greece. In the second movie, she plays a larger role and is played by Lucy Hale, and it's as though she's been there the whole time.
26	* AesopAmnesia:
27	** Averted. At first, Carmen getting mad at her mother for [[spoiler: getting pregnant]] might seem like she's forgetting her experiences in the first and second book, but her inner narrative states that she can figure out what happens when she gets angry and the fallout, but she still does it.
28	** [[spoiler:Played straight for almost everyone]] in Sisterhood Everlasting. [[spoiler:Carmen lets someone she has no real connection with absorb her life, Lena watches life drift by by waiting for Kostos again, and the girls make the same mistake their mothers did by letting each other slip away.]]
29	* AffectionateNickname: They all have these for each other: Carma, Lenny, Tibs, and Bee.
30	%%* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Lena gives two of these to Kostos.
31	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: In the film, during Carmen's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to her father, every single one of these questions, and particularly the final one:
32	-->'''Carmen:''' It's like you traded me and Mom in for something that you thought was better, and I wanna know why. Are you ashamed of me? Are you embarrassed? Just tell me, Dad, what did I do wrong? Why did you leave? Why did you have to go? And then tell me that we were gonna be closer? But that never happened! Dad, why does Paul visit his alcoholic dad every month… but you only visit me twice a year?
33	* AsiansEatPets: In the first tome, one of the narrators quip that one of the reason to abandon a dog would be moving to a country where dog meat is eaten, like Korea.
34	%%* AttractivenessIsolation: Lena.
35	* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: At the end of series, Bridget has decided to keep the baby she's pregnant with, and the Septembers are going to band together to raise Tibby's toddler daughter.]]
36	* TheBabyTrap: In the second book, [[spoiler:a girl that Kostos sleeps with after Lena breaks up with him fakes a pregnancy in order to guilt Kostos into marriage]].
37	* BookEnds: Carmen narrates the prologue of the first book and the epilogue of ''Sisterhood Everlasting''.
38	%%* BreakTheCutie:
39	%%** Lena in the second book.
40	%%** Carmen when she's without her friends at college.
41	%%* CallingTheOldManOut: Carmen does this to her father in the first book.
42	* ChangingYourselfForLove: Albert, the father of Carmen, who divorced her mother Christina and then remarried with Lydia, was a lot more religiously praticant than with his former wife, being observed praying by Carmen.
43	%%* CharacterDevelopment: A lot over the books, Bridget possibly receiving the most.
44	%%* ChickLit
45	%%* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Bridget and Billy Kline in the second book.
46	* ComedicUnderwearExposure: Bridget is [[{{Pun}} briefly]] shown in her panties when she is changing her pants.
47	%%* DeadGuyJunior: In the sequel, there's [[spoiler:Tibby's daughter, Bailey.]]
48	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Tibby.
49	* DidTheyOrDidntThey: It's purposely left ambiguous if [[spoiler:Bridget and Eric]] did in the first book, though in the fourth book [[spoiler:Bridget finally says it actually happened]].
50	%%* DisappearedDad: Carmen's father was one before the start of the series.
51	%%* DisposableFiance:
52	%%** Kostos has one in the original series and Carmen has one in the sequel. Both [[spoiler:Evil All Along]].
53	%%** Kostos may have two – it's unclear if the woman he lives with in London is his girlfriend or fiancée. What is clear is that she's a [[TheExsNewJerkass a total snob]].
54	%%* DrivenToSuicide:
55	%%** Implied with Bridget's mother.
56	%%** [[spoiler:Subverted with Tibby]] in Sisterhood Everlasting.
57	%%* DysfunctionalFamily: Bridget's family.
58	%%* {{Epigraph}}: Each chapter begins with one.
59	* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Wild and unstoppable Bridget. Her hair is her most striking feature, so when [[spoiler:she dyes it]] in the second book, it's clear [[HeroicBSOD something's up]].
60	%%* FalseFriend: Julia to Carmen in the fourth book.
61	* FamilyBusiness: Lena's grandparents run a Greek restaurant together.
62	* FirstGirlWins: [[spoiler:A gender-flipped version. All the girls end up with their romantic partner from the ''first book'' in the final installment: Lena is with Kostos, Bridget is with Eric, and Tibby had a child with Brian. The exception is the perpetually single Carmen who didn't have a boyfriend at the end of the first book.]]
63	* FourGirlEnsemble: There is Lena, who is a shy, introspective aspiring artist, Bridget, who is daring and courageous with gorgeous blond hair, Carmen, who is the organized one and the "glue" keeping the Sisterhood together, and Tibby, who is known as the rebel and disdainful one.
64	* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Tibby (the Cynic) is a bitter drama queen. Carmen (the Optimist) has enthusiasm for life. Lena (the Realist) overthinks everything. Bridget (the Apathetic) acts on impulse rather than reason.
65	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena spend their first summer apart. Carmen snaps and gets mad (choleric) so she comes home expecting Tibby to understand because Tibby walks around screaming, "Screw the world" because that's easier than feeling something (melancholic). Carmen and Tibby visit Bridget who talks about her mother and she tells her friends that she just wants to feel good and happy and alive (sanguine). The last one to join them is Lena who feels so sad that people like Kostas and Bridget who have lost everything can still be open to love while she, who has lost nothing, is not (phlegmatic).
66	%%* FriendshipMoment: Especially the endings of the books are full of them.
67	%%* GrayRainOfDepression: When Carmen's dad moves out.
68	%%* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: [[spoiler:Played straight with Bridget]] in the sequel.
69	* GorgeousGreek: Kostos ist described as being extremely attraktive. Lena herself counts as well.
70	%%* HeIsAllGrownUp: Brian by the third book.
71	%%* HeroicBSOD: The ''entire year'' between the first and second book serves as one for Bridget.
72	%%* HippieParents: How Tibby's parents were before they settled down and had more kids.
73	%%* HormoneAddledTeenager: All of the girls at some point.
74	* IvyLeagueForEveryone:
75	** Subverted in the third and fourth books. Bridget went to Brown, but the rest of the girls went to some prestigious schools outside of the ivy league.
76	** Played straighter in the film adaptation, in which Carmen goes to Yale instead of Williams College.
77	%%* SugarAndIcePersonality: Tibby (following the [[DeadpanSnarker cynic route]]) and Lena (following the [[DefrostingIceQueen stoic and distant variety]]), both balancing {{Tsundere}} Carmen and GenkiGirl Bridget.
78	%%* LittlestCancerPatient: [[spoiler:Bailey]] in the first book.
79	* LamazeClass: In the third book, Carmen goes with her mom to Lamaze class, but it's [[spoiler:Tibby]] who's there when she gives birth.
80	* MissingMom: Bridget's mom died sometime before the series begins. It's implied to have been suicide.
81	%%* MoodSwinger: Bridget, who is said to be a lot like her mom in this regard.
82	* NakedFirstImpression: Lena and Kostos.
83	* OldMaid: [[spoiler: After Carmen dumps him, Jones lobs this at Carmen, claiming she won't find a husband as a 30-something woman in New York.]]
84	* PregnancyScare: To Tibby, in the fourth book, after a condom accident. Though it wouldn't have been quite so bad if she hadn't been juggling multiple {{Idiot Ball}}s during the whole thing. Without waiting for any indication that she was actually pregnant, she freaked out over the exact timing of when her period is due (is it one month after the last one began or after the last one ended?), and broke up with her boyfriend out of fear of the pregnancy.
85	%%* RaisedByGrandparents: Kostos.
86	%%* SatelliteLoveInterest: There were a couple in the first series, namely Win and Leo. Eric fell into this trope in the sequel.
87	%%* SexChangesEverything:
88	%%** Tibby and Brian in the fourth book.
89	%%** Bridget with Eric in the first.
90	%%* SceneryPorn: Almost every shot in Greece is gorgeous.
91	* SiblingYinYang:
92	** Lena is quiet and withdrawn, while her sister Effie is confident and outgoing.
93	** Goes for Bee and her twin brother Perry, too. Bee is outgoing, passionate, impulsive and a jock, while Perry is very quiet, withdrawn, and lives at his computer.
94	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Lena, though in a more realistic case than usual. Her striking good looks contrast with her antisocial personality, and most people are too intimidated to even approach her.
95	%%* SpicyLatina: Carmen's hurt feelings and temper lead her to throw a rock through her father's dining room window and then run away. (incomplete context: how is Carmen an attractive Latina besides her temper?)
96	* SwornBrothers: On the eve of their separation, magic has come to them in a pair of pants that they will share. They are the "sisters of the pants" that link them in hearts and spirits.
97	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Not played completely straight, as it's indicated that Bridget ''has'' been to a therapist before. But considering all the things that Bridget (and the others) go through throughout the books, it's odd that seemingly all of her problems are solved more through projects and a good talk with a loved one. Particularly extreme in ''Sisterhood Everlasting,'' where she states that "even the sky felt like a prison" and she is in such distress that she ''runs away from her current life'' and can't bear her emotions, but it's all resolved by [[spoiler:getting pregnant and connecting with Brian and little Bailey.]]
98	* TrueCompanions: Carmen narrates saying, "Together, it was as if we formed one single, complete person." The trope is frequently deconstructed throughout the series. The first novel's overarching plot is about the girls spending an extended time apart for the first time in their lives. When Carmen goes to college in the fourth book, she realizes that she finds it nearly impossible to make new friends because she's grown so accustomed to always having her childhood friends with her. ''Sisterhood Everlasting'' begins with the girls having been separated for a long time and regretting not having kept in touch better, and [[spoiler: Tibby dies right before they're all able to meet up again.]]
99	%%* {{Tsundere}}: Carmen, although she rarely is ''Tsun'' to any of her romantic interests, instead towards her family and occasionally her friends.
100	%%* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Bailey.
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Context Literature / TheSisterhoodOfTheTravelingPants