Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

74 reviews

bookmarkedbybritt's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.5

“When your love for a person is so profound that it’s part of who you are, then the absence of the person becomes part of your DNA, your bones, and your skin.”⁣
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful⁣
⁣
What a fitting book to be reviewing on Family Day (very out of order, but I had to). Paying homage to one of the most beautiful tales of sisterhood, Little Women, Hello Beautiful tells the story of the four Padavano sisters. ⁣
⁣
The emotional, generational story sweeps us away into the complex and multi-faceted dynamics of family. I loved this story because it was messy; because not everyone liked each other and because each individual was deeply flawed. In short I loved the brutality in its honesty, and how each characters’ struggles gave a chance for the reader to find a spot to empathize. Whether you felt the depth of William’s loneliness, the relentless ambition of Julia, or even the deep scars and regrets of Rose there is some of us in each of these brilliantly built characters.⁣
⁣
Just like in the world we live in, we carry the effect of everyone we’ve met to get the imperfect sum of all of our parts. And each person we love carries their own imperfections to press into the mold of you. Their love is grief, it is joy, it is anger, it is fear, it is forgiveness and boundaries, it is hurt and it is so dang real. ⁣
⁣
The real lesson of this book? Whether it be the length of a breath or a lifetime, who we love changes everything.⁣
⁣
CW: Emotional abuse, child neglect, teen pregnancy, family hostility, suicide, depression.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Mental illness and Abandonment

Minor: Child death

mrsjburgin's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

mad_books_'s review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

seventhswan's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

With the possible exception of The Color Purple, this book has the best opening line I've ever read. The crafting of this story is excellent throughout. I loved William's character and story arc, even when the choices he made were infuriating, and found each of the Padavano sisters to be compelling, three-dimensional characters.  There were characters I wanted more of at the beginning and the end of the story, particularly Charlie and Alice, although I recognise this would have made for a very long book. I don't think this is a story with main characters, and trying to shoehorn Julia/Sylvie/William into this role at various times meant the world as a whole lost something for me.

For some reason, despite being technically excellent and enjoying reading it while it was in front of me, the story took me a long time to wade through. I appreciated that the plot moved quite quickly, as otherwise I feel it could have fallen into bleak and melancholic territory. I was also irritated by the death at the end of the story, but I can't work out if it was actually just thrown in as a plot device or if I just liked the character who dies a lot. There were also some subplots that were introduced and then never seemed to go anywhere or get mentioned again. 

Overall I would recommend this book as a compelling and moving set of character studies, but I wouldn't say it bears much resemblance to what the blurb and marketing suggests. This is not really a story about romantic love, but about the choices we make when there are no good choices in all kinds of relationships.

I'm excited to read Little Women next and see how many parallels there are between the two books, as other people have said!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

cnannery19's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

kiwichill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I can relate so much to the sisters in this book for deeply personal reasons.  My mum passed away from a brain tumour in 1991.  This book reverberates in my heart for so many reasons,  and will stay with me for the rest of my life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, and Pregnancy

ariana3's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I just don't think I was really in the mood for this book. And it felt soooooo long for no reason. About a family and the complicated dynamics within.

4 sisters, who practically are attached at the hip, sort of drift apart in adulthood, after their father dies and their brother-in-law tries to commit suicide (who then divorces one sister then another sister falls in love with him and they get married).

What love, loss, guilt, and grudges can do to an entire family and their community. Good, just not my vibe right now. And just felt so so so long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

rachel101's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

fallonrhea's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Car accident, and Alcohol

kalaser's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment