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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Enjoyable stories written with an artful storytelling voice, loved the characters and their family relationships.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had high hopes for L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón, but unfortunately, I was left disappointed. The characters in the book were extremely one-dimensional and lacked depth, making it difficult to connect with any of them. The plot felt uninspired and lackluster, with events feeling forced and unnatural. It seemed like the author was trying to cram too much into the book without fully developing any of the storylines.
Overall, L.A. Weather felt like a missed opportunity. It had the potential to be a captivating read, but instead, it fell flat. I would not recommend this book to others looking for a compelling and well-developed story.
Overall, L.A. Weather felt like a missed opportunity. It had the potential to be a captivating read, but instead, it fell flat. I would not recommend this book to others looking for a compelling and well-developed story.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is probably the most dramatic year the family could have possibly had. I'm glad I picked audiobook for this one, I think that working through this year may have taken me longer in print format. I did have trouble differentiating two of the sisters without context, but that could have been because the narrator didn't use a terribly different voice for the two.
I did really like the narration.
I did really like the narration.
LA Weather was a brutal read. I hummed and hawed over my rating, but it was just that bad. The book was boring; the character development and writing were not for me. It felt more like a YA read with the author's simplicity in writing style. Nothing was all that redeeming about the story. I love a good family drama, but this was like a boring telenovela. Is that an oxymoron? The characters are unlikeable, and there is nothing for us to cling to. Each character is interchangeable, bland, and simultaneously going through the same personal drama, e.g., the breakdown of their respective marriages. How is that even possible?
The story takes place around one family, the Mexican-American Jewish-Christian Alvarado family. Oscar and Keila have been married for 39 years and have three adult daughters. We learn quickly that their marriage is on the rocks because Oscar has pulled away from Keila in the past year for some unknown reason. Early in the story, Keila sits her daughters down and tells them that she wants to divorce Oscar, but their daughters plead that the two take a year to work on their marriage before throwing in the towel. What the absolute fuck. The rest of the book takes place over one year as Oscar and Keila try to repair their relationship.
So then there is the random drama scattered throughout the book. Young twins, who are miracle babies, the product of IVF, nearly drowning in a pool. Then, the drama went on from there. We learned of a childhood rape resulting in a child. Then, one sister fights with her husband over the future of their frozen embryos. Another sister decides if they should steal the embryos and carry them for their sister so that they can be the sister's parents. Oh wait, let's throw in a life-threatening brain tumour. Just for shits and giggles, let's also throw in some gender dysmorphia. I'm here for queer stories, but to throw a random storyline in for no apparent reason is counterproductive to telling an excellent queer storyline. Let's also toss in concern over climate change and another daughter who is a kleptomaniac. It is all just too much, and yet nothing at all.
**SPOILER** I was leaning towards a two-star rating until late in the book when one of the sisters, who is pregnant with her other sisters' embryos, reminds her sister that she has a good uterus and not to worry about the pregnancy, unlike her sister's flawed body. Wow, did we need to go there in the story?
Activating material: miscarriages, infertility, domestic abuse, rape
The story takes place around one family, the Mexican-American Jewish-Christian Alvarado family. Oscar and Keila have been married for 39 years and have three adult daughters. We learn quickly that their marriage is on the rocks because Oscar has pulled away from Keila in the past year for some unknown reason. Early in the story, Keila sits her daughters down and tells them that she wants to divorce Oscar, but their daughters plead that the two take a year to work on their marriage before throwing in the towel. What the absolute fuck. The rest of the book takes place over one year as Oscar and Keila try to repair their relationship.
So then there is the random drama scattered throughout the book. Young twins, who are miracle babies, the product of IVF, nearly drowning in a pool. Then, the drama went on from there. We learned of a childhood rape resulting in a child. Then, one sister fights with her husband over the future of their frozen embryos. Another sister decides if they should steal the embryos and carry them for their sister so that they can be the sister's parents. Oh wait, let's throw in a life-threatening brain tumour. Just for shits and giggles, let's also throw in some gender dysmorphia. I'm here for queer stories, but to throw a random storyline in for no apparent reason is counterproductive to telling an excellent queer storyline. Let's also toss in concern over climate change and another daughter who is a kleptomaniac. It is all just too much, and yet nothing at all.
**SPOILER** I was leaning towards a two-star rating until late in the book when one of the sisters, who is pregnant with her other sisters' embryos, reminds her sister that she has a good uterus and not to worry about the pregnancy, unlike her sister's flawed body. Wow, did we need to go there in the story?
Activating material: miscarriages, infertility, domestic abuse, rape
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Deportation
Life is complicated for everyone... And, it's easy in a family to stick in our roles instead of growing up.