Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

20 reviews

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

This book grew on me slowly until it became one of my favorites in recent memory. Ann Napolitano immediately takes us into the chaotic, loving, all-encompassing world of the Padavano siblings, and getting William's perspective right away allows us to understand how different William's upbringing is and sets the stage for his struggles and growth throughout the book. Although the book spans decades, it feels grounded, and it takes its time building out the emotions and key relationships and moments. I felt very moved by the sisters' bond and how they tried to stay together despite huge changes and obstacles. This book is loosely based on Little Women, and it gave me a lot of emotions as when I saw Greta Gerwig's rendition: filled to the brim with affection for the characters and their relationships, buoyed by the narrative's revelations about independence and love and family and mental health, and all together profoundly touched.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

sparklefarm's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia and Grief

applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death

taural41's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This book really worked for me because I love slower-paced, multi-perspective stories that span multiple years. I was surprised that I loved it as much as I did because while the writing was definitely well-done, it was not as lyrical as I typically prefer and there were a number of recurring plot points that  I frankly wasn’t very interested in (basketball, Julia’s life in New York, basically any scene involving Rose), but somehow the characters got under my skin and I found my thoughts being constantly drawn back to them throughout my day. In fact, I originally planned not to finish the book after sampling the first 30 or so pages because I thought it lacked the depth and beauty of language that I was in the mood for - but when I put it down, after a week or so, I realized that the characters had gotten into my head and I was still thinking about them. Thanks to reviews, I knew the basics of the ending and I thought I could just let the story rest there, but it wouldn’t leave my mind so I finally picked it up and continued reading. 

There were aspects of the book that I didn’t love - mostly the treatment of sex, which was basically always reduced to “being fun” when, given the nature of the story, it could have been used in a much deeper way, the unnecessarily negative and frankly inaccurate depictions of religion (if Rose really was “Catholic to the bone”, she would have know that Julia and William’s marriage was textbook grounds for annulment - and the story of St. Clare is literally one of a young girl throwing her life away to hide in a cloister for the rest of her life). Finally, the descriptions of Chicago (especially the geography) were very confusing and distracting. As someone who has lived in Chicago for about 15 years, hearing about characters casually walking the FIVE HOUR walk between Pilsen and Northwestern’s campus made no sense. Perhaps Pilsen was more Italian in the 80s and 90s, but today it is much more associated with Latinx communities (especially the church that is mentioned over and over again), and it took me an embarrassing number of pages to realize that the Padavano girls were Italian and not Latina. 

This is definitely a book that “tells” more than “shows” when it comes to plot - it will drive some readers crazy, but I enjoyed it. I also really ended up loving the weird dynamics happening between truth and memory and story. For example, a main premise of the book is that the Padavano family is extremely close - then we learn how Charlie and Rose are essentially checked out of their marriage and don’t understand each other at all, how Rose has completely cut them off from any extended family, who are portrayed briefly as “enemies” and then never re-appear. Similarly, the living Charlie we meet in the first few chapters is shown to be a disconnected dreamer who has turned to alcoholism out of the shame of not providing for his family, and yet after his death we hear story after story that essentially treats him as a saint and the one person who truly saw, loved, and understood each one of his daughters. Finally, the sisters who are so close that they are described throughout as sharing one body go decades without ever communicating. 

Many other reviews mention frustration with the repeated poor choices of the characters and especially William’s actions towards Alice. I actually loved the Alice story-line and appreciated how the author demonstrated the truth that the ways we seal up and harden are hearts in an attempt to protect ourselves from pain always backfire and bring about the very thing we were trying to avoid. For William, he was trying to avoid the pain of losing another little girl, and he ended up losing his daughter. He was also trying to protect her from the “damage” he felt he was bound to do to her, but absence ended up shaping and hurting her just as much. For Julia, her commitment to protecting Alice and making sure Julia was the only one she ever needed left Alice in a weird relational void and ultimately was the set up for Alice’s realization that she was raised to “not need anyone” and that included Julia. For Alice, her attempts to protect her heart from further pain after she learns of the death of her father as a little girl ends up bringing her the pain of isolation and withholding herself from the loving, messy experiences and relationships that we are meant for.  I LOVED mulling all of these thoughts over and thinking deeply about the characters’ motivations and choices. Again, many painful and frankly poor choices were made, but I feel like I can understand why they all did what they did, and I love when a book can do that for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Alcohol

lexcellent's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Car accident, and Lesbophobia

vanessatombolini's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

theshanana's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Infertility, and Sexual content

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Oh lord. How do I describe this book? When I read it was like a Little Women retelling I was a tad scared because I didn't know what to expect. Let me tell you to expect to laugh, cry, and smile at this beautiful book. I was skeptical about the first few chapters but then Napolitano throws you a curve ball and ramps the pace right up! The characters are complex and beautifully developed, the story manages to be funny, sad, and reflective of family and love all at the same time. The end is beautiful and unexpected (I cried for like 80 pages no joke!) but perfectly closes out the book and all loose ends. I wish I could read this again for the first time because i'd appreciate it more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

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