Not a bad book. The separate stories behind each of the women walkers and the stories of the lives effected by their walk are very enjoyable and interesting. But, when you gather the women together, they tend to lose their personalities and become indistinguishable from each other. Their language as a group also seems overly simplistic, as if it were dialogue from a high school play. It's during these scenes that I started to lose interest in the characters and considered putting the book down and moving on to something else.
I also felt that the public's reaction to the women was unrealistic. No one -- not even their husbands or partners -- tried to stop them or to find out what was going on. No one bothered them at all!! They also treated the group with a bit too much reverence, seeming to place them on pedastal. I also found it difficult to make the connections between what the walkers were doing and the actions of the public. One woman reads a newspaper article about the walkers and decides to leave her husband and move to California, all thanks to the walkers. (Huh? What?)
On the plus side, this novel does a great job at touting the necessity for the bonds of friendship and of womanhood. Everyone needs support of some form or another to make it through hard times. These 8 women are there for one another through thick and thin, and will stay that way for as long as possible.
Overall, not a bad book about friendship. A very quick and easy read.