Play Book Tag discussion

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano - 3* - My Review

This is the story of four sisters: Julia, Sylvie, Cecilia, and Emeline. It begins with William, a college basketball player with a traumatic childhood. William and Julia fall in love and marry. The storyline follows William’s struggles with mental health, Julia’s controlling personality, and the falling out between Julia and Sylvie. The twins, Cecilia and Emeline, are auxiliary characters. Their mother and father start out as part of the narrative but disappear quickly.

It is a loose retelling of Little Women. My primary issue with it is that the characters are not developed enough to understand why they choose to act the way they do, except that the plot requires it. Basically, the author’s puppet strings are way too obvious. It contains a “bingo card” of expected character types. The primary conflict between the eldest two sisters could have easily been resolved with a tiny bit of communication. I notice that the ratings are very high for this book, so I am obviously not in the majority here. My personal preference is for more artistry in the writing and less melodrama in the story.

I can see by your rating and your review, that the book disappointed you. I liked it a lot more than you did, while having my own misgivings about some of it (view spoiler)[(ie. the mother's abandonment of her children, Julia's cutting herself off from her sisters and William's disconnect from his child). (hide spoiler)] Still, the characters interested me and I enjoyed reading it, although I can see why you felt it was melodramatic.

Yes, I guess I expected more based on some early reviews. Besides your spoiler, it also bothered me that (view spoiler)[ Julia did not seem to care if William died. Even if you have a falling out with an important person, do you really wish them dead? (hide spoiler)]

I just read your spoiler and I agree with you, Joy. There were some jarring inconsistencies with the characters, which seemed unnatural.

This was included in some "best of" lists but I think I'll skip it.

In spite of these glaring inconsistencies, I did enjoy the novel. However, last night while reviewing the comments of readers reacting to the New York Times' 2023 Notable Books list, I saw that many readers panned the book. "Hello Beautiful" did make the NYT list.

I gave it 3 stars, which means overall I liked it. My review may be a little harsh. I could not give it more due to my impression that the characters did not act like real people.

I’m sorry you didn’t like it as much as I did. The characters felt quite real to me, except that I think 4 sisters would bicker more. (view spoiler)[ I felt everything they did was consistent with their own needs, and what they saw growing up. It’s also consistent with the times. In the late 70’s housewives were being encouraged to figure out what they wanted from life other than being a wife and mother. A lot of people in the mother’s generation were starting over in some way (my mom left my dad when I was away at college).

The mother was unhappy and disappointed by her life. She did everything for the family when her husband couldn’t be relied upon. Then he was suddenly viewed as the hero when he died. Her daughter did the one thing that she couldn’t accept (making her feel like a failure in her job as a mother and angry that her rules were disrespected). She grew up in a family that didn’t forgive easily, and neither would she. She was grieving, angry, and depressed, and needed to be on her own for the first time in her life. The girls felt abandoned because they thought their mother lived only for them, but they were old enough to be independent. In little women, I think Mrs March left her daughters for a time too.

As to the oldest girl… her situation felt impossible to me. I think most women would have a hard time getting over their sister going off with their ex. It’s worse than a best friend. I would have left too. She was more ambitious than any of them, and NY really was the best place for her career. Jo put her work first in Little Women too and didn’t go home.

(hide spoiler)]

Glad you enjoyed it, Nancy! From the high average rating, most people agree with you. It just didn't work very well for me. Regarding your spoiler, (view spoiler)[ I don't blame her for leaving. What I did not get was why she would have wanted her husband to die. She would not have anything to do with William when he was in the hospital - just did not ring true to me (I certainly would have sucked it up and helped out). The other thing that did not come across to me is the time frame. It seemed very contemporary to me - not something that happened in the 1970s to 1990s. (hide spoiler)]

Joy D wrote: "Glad you enjoyed it, Nancy! From the high average rating, most people agree with you. It just didn't work very well for me. Regarding your spoiler, [spoilers removed]"

I forgot about the hospital scene. You or I would have gone to him, but some people get vindictive when rejected. Hell hath no fury…

I might be mistaken about the time frame, but I thought I figured out that they were in college the same time I was.

I loved Hello Beautiful, but I get why people didn't.

I think that sometimes it is just a little thing which I can't let go of that determines the rating.

Sometimes what bothers me like a stone in the shoe can be very irritating and effects my whole feeling about the book. Other time the stone is placed in such a way that it does not effect the feeling and I'm just willing to walk along and enjoy the path even with a stone in my shoe.

This one I was willing to ignore my little quibbles.

I read Weyward with Amy and the quibble/stones were just to irritating, but Amy loved it.