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A review by amyvl93
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Coming out of A Little Life, Hello Beautiful was a bit of a breath of fresh air to begin with, before it took a bit of a turn which had me scratching my head a little.
Hello Beautiful follows the Padavano sisters, with a story loosely inspired by the story of Little Women. We follows Julia, the driven older sister; Sylvia, the romantic second sister and twins Cecilia an artist and Emmeline a natural caregiver. They grow up in a chaotic home with their parents, into which comes Julia's university boyfriend William Waters and the plot moves from there.
I really enjoyed the first section of this novel. I enjoyed getting to know the Padavano sisters and their chaotic but - what appeared to be - love infused home, and the early days of Julia's relationship with William. After a tragedy happens which draws Sylvia and William closer together, I got a little less enamoured with the book.
I felt that after this plot movement the core relationships between the sisters got pushed to the side. I felt that Napolitano did an interesting job at exploring womanhood in the 1970s and 1980s, and how the sisters responded to this changing environment. However, we are told a lot that the sisters love each other deeply, but this love is apparently easy to turn their backs on - and made me find the comparison to Little Women, where the sisters do at times hurt each other they deeply love each other (and their parents) to be a bit of a stretch. I do think Napolitano did a great job of portraying grief and making some of the more questionable decisions that characters chose make a little more sense.
My biggest issue with the book was the character of William. For someone so pivotal to the plot he is a bit of a non-entity; I felt the portrayal of his depression was good but before and after this he just didn't seem to have much to him, aside from A LOT of basketball exposition and chat about his height. I would have liked to understand a bit more about what made him tick and what drew the sisters to him.
I can understand why people might love this, and it was a great cleanser from the bleakness of my previous read!
Hello Beautiful follows the Padavano sisters, with a story loosely inspired by the story of Little Women. We follows Julia, the driven older sister; Sylvia, the romantic second sister and twins Cecilia an artist and Emmeline a natural caregiver. They grow up in a chaotic home with their parents, into which comes Julia's university boyfriend William Waters and the plot moves from there.
I really enjoyed the first section of this novel. I enjoyed getting to know the Padavano sisters and their chaotic but - what appeared to be - love infused home, and the early days of Julia's relationship with William. After a tragedy happens which draws Sylvia and William closer together, I got a little less enamoured with the book.
I felt that after this plot movement the core relationships between the sisters got pushed to the side. I felt that Napolitano did an interesting job at exploring womanhood in the 1970s and 1980s, and how the sisters responded to this changing environment. However, we are told a lot that the sisters love each other deeply, but this love is apparently easy to turn their backs on - and made me find the comparison to Little Women, where the sisters do at times hurt each other they deeply love each other (and their parents) to be a bit of a stretch. I do think Napolitano did a great job of portraying grief and making some of the more questionable decisions that characters chose make a little more sense.
My biggest issue with the book was the character of William. For someone so pivotal to the plot he is a bit of a non-entity; I felt the portrayal of his depression was good but before and after this he just didn't seem to have much to him, aside from A LOT of basketball exposition and chat about his height. I would have liked to understand a bit more about what made him tick and what drew the sisters to him.
I can understand why people might love this, and it was a great cleanser from the bleakness of my previous read!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent