Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

95 reviews

oproy's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

This book is definitely about character study and how one small choice can lead to a chain reaction. I’ve known a family in the past like the Padavanos, and being able to feel that kind of palpable love…it’s addicting. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Child death, and Pregnancy

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! 

---

Content Warnings

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

emma_sky's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Cancer, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Child death and Suicidal thoughts

kcarney86's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

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

bookmarkedbybritt's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abandonment and Mental illness

Minor: Child death

vidotson's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Child death, and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide attempt, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

idk_indigo's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

cat_is_turning_pages's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

0.25

Truly Awful

Within my first couple hours of listening to this book, I began to question why the author had written it. Given the high accolades this book has received, I kept an open mind and gave the novel the benefit of the doubt until the very last word of the very last chapter.

This book is slow, depressing, and morally chaotic. The main characters tend to be unlikeable and make stupid decisions that ruin their lives. But instead of teaching these characters any lessons, the author chooses to have one of these characters “meaningfully” declare how proud she is of herself for making her stupidest decision decades after it was made.

The only conclusion I have been able to come to is that this book was written as an apologetic piece for cruel behavior and/or bad decisions. The moral of the story is a combination of “love conquers all” and “you should forgive your family members no matter what they do.” 

Forgiveness can be a wonderful path to freedom. However, it can also be used by selfish people to justify mistreating others. This story contained both types of forgiveness, but tried to pass all of it off as the former. 

The cover and title seem to promise a glimpse into the beauty of the human condition, but Hello Beautiful is one of the ugliest books I have ever read. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness

Minor: Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Incest

Plot Synopsis / Spoilers:

Newly married father attempts suicide while his wife's sister falls in love with him and begins spending every day with him in the mental hospital. The young father divorces his wife and gives up legal parenthood of his infant daughter. The divorced wife, who has just been betrayed three times by being abandoned as a wife, coparent, and sister, moves away and heroically builds a new life for her and her new daughter. Her ex-husband and sister, who never offer a true apology, get married and enjoy life with the sisters' extended family while the ex-wife/sister is made to feel guilty by her extended family for leaving them. Eventually the sister who married her sister's ex-husband dies of cancer and is made to seem like some kind of saint. In the end, the father reluctantly meets his adult daughter only because she tracks him down.

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

---

Content Warnings

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

lostwithoutaplan's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Lots of twists and turns in this tale of grief and how it affects you in so many ways..  time and space can either help or harm, but there's always a full circle moment that ties it together again.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, and Cancer