Book Review: "Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano

The real reason I wanted to read this book is because someone had told me it was a modern take on Little Women. And to be honest, it is. There is something strange that happens in the book concerning this later on, but honestly I simply found this book to be really well-written and the pastiche, very clear. I spent a while trying to squeeze out my thoughts on the book but I think I've come to the conclusion that it was more good than bad. However, I would not call it the best book I have read this year - I am still thrilled by it.

This book is about a boy called William Waters who grows up to be a very, very tall human being and thus, signs up to be a basketball player at school. He is aware that his parents are not present and available for him as they are still, years later, seemingly grieving over the death of another child named Caroline. We see William grow up fairly quickly and then, he meets Julia Padavano.

Julia comes from a very closely knit family, which is a huge contrast to the fact that William left home for college and then never saw his parents again. She comes from a family of sisters, and their parents are Rose and Charlie. A strictly Catholic family, we start to find out that each of these girls has a secret and each of them carry it with them out of fear of disappointing their parents. Julia is the eldest of the sisters and therefore, feels that she has some sort of responsibility over them. Once she and William start dating, it becomes apparent that her family is beginning to shift apart.

This seems to start with the marriage between William and Julia. Julia believes that because she is the older of the sisters, she should be the first one to have a child. This is why is comes as a huge shock for her when one of her sisters is going to give birth before her. I honestly thought that this part was probably one of the best parts of the whole book because for once it does actually represent that idea of whether the family is close-knit like the Padavano family or whether they are absent from each other like William's family - the trust amongst them dissapates when they hide things and lie to each other.

Another shock comes in the breakdown in the marriage of William and Julia because it is not for reasons anyone would expect and you as the reader honestly can't blame either of them. When it comes to their child, William makes himself perfectly clear. Once the breakup is final, there is a fast moment of silence in which several things take place including a suicide attempt. Julia and William's relationship might not be quite there anymore, but there are other ways in which they will stay connected.

Apart from that one part about the pregnancy order of the sisters, I thought that this book definitely got better in its latter half. The first half felt really rushed and I wasn't able to lose myself in it. It was very emotional yes, but I feel like William's life was mostly scanned over for the first half and then, the rediscovery of the second half of the book made everything a little bit more interesting. There are definitely much more interesting things to learn about the family in the second half of the book and there is far more tragedy which is why I think people believe the book is a 'tear-jerker'. However, it was simply not as moving as I suspected.

All in all, this was a very well-written book in which we see a wide variety of characters - my favourite being Sylvie, the bookworm, who comes to have more to do with the story and its intricacies than even Julia or William. I did think this book was brilliant but there were times that I felt the pacing was off and not letting me feel the book properly. The biggest advantage for this author is her ability to write compelling characters, each with their own distinct voice.