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Hello Beautiful: A Novel

Description

Price: $0.00
(as of Jul 24, 2024 00:53:17 UTC – Details)

By: Ann Napolitano (Author)

Reviews

  1. diana jaycox (my friends call me DJ) –

    It improves as you read further…
    Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, an Oprah’s Book Club selection was read by this reviewer as part of a challenge. It would not have been my choice otherwise. As a rule I read to escape and find that many of contemporary bestsellers require me to be too much in the now and too much in my head. So it was no surprise that I struggled to get into this novel. It was too achingly real! The characters, their lives, their dreams and their struggles collided with my own and made me want to withdraw into my own darkness. I so wanted to send this book to the trash bin. Though, as a writer I challenged myself to read other writers ,especially those that are bestsellers. I needed to discover what makes other authors so appealing. How do other writers set-up their stories, build their settings, develop their characters. After a break, I came back to Hello Beautiful and read this as a writer as well as a reader. By applying a critiquing approach, I was able to achieve a degree of separation from the story. It was just enough to allow me to focus on the cadence of Ann Napolitano’s words, to savor the style of her storytelling and to not get caught in my own angst and issues.I began to see how Hello Beautiful shared so many elements with one of my all time favorite books , Little Women. I was intrigued by the depth of personality of each of the sisters Ann Napolitano created. Ann was able to show how each sister was a part of the others yet completely individuals. How they became who they were was beautifully and intricately choreographed by Ann Napolitano throughout the novel. And, adding William a lost soul, an outsider to the mix, was a brilliant catalyst for the sisters growth and development!This was NOT an easy book to read. I took several breaks but always came back. This poignant story about family love and relationships, did end up stirring my heart and soul in ways, I admit, prefer to avoid. At times, I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster. By the time I reached the climax of the story I was fully invested in the characters and their lives, the many highs and lows they experienced and yet were able to weather because they had each other. I don’t know how many other of Ann Napolitano’s my tortured soul will be able to tolerate. I can say that the beauty of Ann Napolitano carefully crafted words, the images she brought to my mind’s eye and the powerful feelings of love that seemed to leap from the pages of Hello Beautiful, eventually brought me to place of peace. I read the last page with a sigh. Then I closed my eyes and reflected on all my best memories of life in a large, obnoxiously in your face , flawed, loving family! All the highs and lows, the good times, the bad and the big loving mess of it all!SIGH.

  2. Vicki –

    Brilliant story
    Incredible story about love and family and the ties that bind us, whether we want this connections or not. Great, relatable realistic characters.

  3. BusyMomReader –

    Book needed a better Editor!
    While this book was a decent read, I am perplexed by the number of overwhelmingly positive reviews for this book. I felt that the author was hitting me over the head repeatedly with the same themes. Most of the characters, but especially the sisters, were depicted as caricatures (the artist, the ambitious career woman, the book-worm, the sensitive one) rather than more nuanced development (like Rose). Based on the glowing reviews, I had “saved” this book to read when I could fully immerse myself in it on a recent vacation but was disappointed with both the story and the writing style. It was OK; not a complete waste of time, but definitely not a best book of the year.

  4. Mark B. –

    Hello Brautiful
    Riveting reading, heartfelt and relatable. I’ll read Edward nowLooking forward to another journey with Ann Napolitano. Thank you sincerely

  5. jb –

    This is a captivating story of the lives of four sisters and their intertwining relationships, told from their different perspectives, including those of their parents and the husband of the eldest sister. Short chapters, so easy to pick up and put down if reading time is interrupted. A very enjoyable read.

  6. Regino I. –

    Sin queja alguna, todo en orden.

  7. Sudhakar kadiyala –

    The Padvanos family, Charlie & his wife Rosie stayed in a small town called Pilsen in Chicago along with their four daughters viz Julia,Sylvie,Cecelia & Emeline.Julia is ten months older to Sylvie & that they strongly bond together.They share every bit of information that happens in their life while holding no secrets between them.Similarly the bonding between Emeline and Cecelia who are twins is also remarkable.The four daughters always hold a common perspective reflecting an unbiased love for one another.As both Rosie & Charlie couldn’t do their college, Rosie desired that her daughters do their college and lead a much happier life.Though Rosie’s expectations of her daughters are unspoken but she did held a view of high stakes of them.She inculcated positive ideas in her daughters like telling tales of Saints to them & hanging photographs of the Saints on the walls in the house etc.She wished that Charlie could do something more to make the family financially stable & many a times she talked her way to bring the change in her husband’s thinking but her efforts remained elusive.Charlie, who loved poetry, prefferd to live a simpler and non pretentious life.He believed that a person is more important than the job he holds.Julia, who understood her mother closely, always wished that she could do something for the family. She was able to secure a scholarship in Northwestern University and joined the college to complete her graduation. Sylvie, on the other hand, worked in a library & as being romantic at heart and interested in reading,read hundreds of books like Wuthering Heights,Anna Karenina etc.and fancied her soulmate similar to one of those characters. (someone like *Heathcliff *),She also read poetry and sometimes used to recite a line or two of Walt Whitman’s poems to Charlie to impress him as Charlie adored Walt Whitman & often mentions him & his poetry.The twins Cecelia & Emmeline are into painting and caregiving respectively. On the contrary to Padvano’s siblings, we find another character, William Waters,who is raised by a grief-stricken parents.Their daughter Caroline, who was three years older to William, dies too young & the parents could not quite get out of that gloom.As a child William grew up feeling unwanted & neglected & enters into adulthood with a fractured past.He had an intrest in basketball that kept him away from his melancholy thoughts of being unwanted and most of the time he used to play alone.It’s his basketball skills that secures him a scholarship at Northwestern University, where he joins for his graduation. Julia meets William at the university & that they both fall in love and later gets married.But Williams past & his love for basketball, couldn’t quite fit into Julia’s expectations of him and William’s subsequent sucidal attempt, soon after the birth of their daughter,Alice forced her to think differently.Sylvie, who reads William’s manuscripts earlier before,at the instance of Julia,understands him more deeply and emphasizes with his past.She gets drawn towards William & eventually gets married to him, when Julia shifts to New York with Alice.Sylvie’s marriage to William distances Julia & the other three sisters. Earlier,Cecelia’s getting pregnant without marriage, disappoints Rosie and her beliefs.Frustrated,she asks Cecelia to leave the house.When Charlie learns about the birth of his granddaughter,he visits the hospital where Cecelia delivers her baby, Isabella Rose Padvanoo.But unfortunately Charlie dies in the hallway at the hospital.After Charlie’s death the good deeds he has done and the way he helped,people around Pilsen town came to the fore.Such small acts of kindness that the family never knew of Charlie, made them miss him even more. Equally intriguing is that the charectar of William.After his marriage to Sylvie,he improved bit by bit.His friends Kent and Arsh too did their best to help William come out of his depression.He started enjoying his work & derived the pleasure of helping others. When he learned about Sylvie’s disease and the limited time she had shocked William and made him come out of his cell.He, now wanted to do the best that he could for Sylvie.He understood how much Sylvie missed her sister Julia & with out a second thought he calls and informs her of Sylvie’s critical condition.His sole intention was to see the joy at Padvanos home by bringing all the sisters together for which he felt that he was responsible. It’s the title of the book ” Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano, which drew me to read the review and then my intrest followed with the mention of the poet Walt Whitman that made me purchase & read.The book begins with the beautiful lines of the poet from the “Song Of Myself” to stimulate the interest and made me eager to complete reading the book.Besides,we also experience the idea of Universal Brotherhood & a few traces of Whimanism and his idealogy, coming out through a few charecters in the book. At the hospital,Charlie’s whispering of the lines from,”Song of Myself” into the ears of his newly born granddaughter — “For every atom belonging to me as good belonging to you ” ,is quite impressive.The book also highlights the influence of parents behavior on children & the psychological effects the children carry when they growup into adults.Overall the book is an extraordinary entertainment to read and enjoy while learning the importance of family,relationships, and friendships.

  8. Margit –

    Makes you think about the meaning of life and the importance of love ❤️

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