Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Hello Beautiful

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

214 reviews

alicetragedy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book made me so, so angry and incredibly disappointed. While I loved the premise of the book (gotta love a family saga!) and I also wanted to deeply love all the characters and engage with them,... I just couldn't, they just did nothing for me. They felt two-dimensional and flat, with no real development throughout the 20+ years the novel spans.

One main problem I saw with the novel was that somehow, most of the challenges the characters overcome are dealt with over a couple of pages: challenge, quick problem solving, no harm done, let's move on. This was disappointing, because “Hello Beautiful” definitely tries to cover a lot of ground when it comes to certain important topics and themes: mental illness, parenthood, grief.
But: A large chunk of the story didn't feel real or credible, because it seemed to ignore a lot of societal stigma around the various topics it explored.

A lesbian couple encountering no pushback when opening a childcare and fostering children in the late 20th century? A divorced single mother being extremely successful in NYC in the 80s, no sign of sexism or misogyny anywhere to be seen? A man struggling with his mental health in the 80s, the people around him somewhat understanding of his struggles and wanting to help him?

Overall, the problem wasn't that Napolitano's characters overcame their challenges easily, it's that they didn't feel like challenges at all in the first place.
The plot then just sort of scurries along and things fall into place.

In spite of all that the novel was still hard to put down and I still enjoyed the prose, with a lot of the general “vibe” and little plot bits reminding me of “The World According to Garp” and “Rabbit, Run”. I still hoped, to the last few chapters, that *something* would happen, something out of character or some sort of unexpected denouement. Maybe if it hadn't been on every single bestseller list accompanied by rave reviews, I would have been less disappointed and wouldn't have wanted to re-read “Little Women” instead.

Content Warnings

emminkirjakasa's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Odotukset oli korkealla, mutta tämä ei loppujen lopuksi ollut ihan minun kirjani. Olisin kovasti halunnut rakastaa tätä kirjaa!

Henkilöhahmot tuntui kuitenkin jäävän liian kaukaisiksi, vaikka monen elämää seurataan aivan alkutaipaileesta asti. Silti jokainen tapahtuma tuntui liian yhdentekevältä, eikä oikeen mistään saanut kiinni.

Jos kerrontatyyli olisi ollut hiukan erilainen, olisin voinut rakastua kirjaan. Ymmärrän ehdottomasti miksi tämä on osalle parempi lukukokemus kuin itselle.

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nialiversuch's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Over the last few days, while reading this book, I found myself in a daze any time I was alone. (The fact that I listened to the entire story over a few hours-long sittings likely has no bearing on this.) Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano had a striking way of showing me myself and my beloveds within its pages. In this way, the story fit like a lens over my frontal lobe: I saw its words walking down the street and trailing through my journal. The range of years and human emotions was exhausting in its beauty. The span of decades and personalities felt both breakneck in its pace and loving in its attention to detail. Hearing the story from multiple distinct POVs was not only enjoyable but also immensely clever. While the timeline remained more or less linear, Napolitano bends the arrow to allow for multiple perspectives on the same events, and to station the reader in different minds in the same instant.

The most breathtaking example of this was the day of Sylvie's death, where we first watch Alice waiting uncomfortably at her father's work before learning in the next chapter that he has just fallen headlong into grief.

With emotions swirling inside of me, I have only so many intelligible thoughts on this book. I will end this review off with a lasting lesson: Love, like the people with whom we share it, is imperfect and essential.

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