Scan barcode
davidalantodd's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
Beautifully written! Gorgeous storytelling of an emotional family saga that I can’t stop thinking about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Death
Moderate: Terminal illness
s_salako's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
4.25
I, unfortunately or fortunately, haven’t been given the patience or desire to read classics. Imagine my surprise realizing over halfway through that this is a Little Women retelling lolollllll! I will take a well-crafted retelling over frufru, confusing language any day, and this didn’t disappoint. It was super deep and makes the reader ponder their own relationships, their family, and the choices we do or don’t make. It was also so refreshing to have the mental health piece be so front and center and passed around for multiple characters to work through. As I would say with any classic as well, this book was unnecessarily TOO LONG 🥱 - could’ve been cut by at least 100 pages. Over all, wonderful novel of family, friendship, and paving our own paths in life and finding ourselves in the process. Recommend!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Cancer
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Pregnancy
Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, and Sexual content
jegan4'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Abandonment, and Death
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Child death, and Alcoholism
shae_reads's review against another edition
emotional
sad
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
4.0
Julia sucks a lot. I love Charlie and I see myself in William.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, Grief, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Death
Minor: Homophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Cancer, and Terminal illness
yipt's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death of parent, and Death
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Cancer, Child death, Death, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Car accident, Racism, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
annuhnuh's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Mental illness, Suicide, and Terminal illness
morgan_leopold's review against another edition
emotional
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Cancer and Mental illness
Minor: Death of parent and Death
susan_and_shep_13's review against another edition
emotional
medium-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
I originally gave this book 5 stars but thinking back this is probably more of a 4 star for me. At the time of reading, though, it is exactly what I wanted...a good old fashioned family saga. The publisher has likened it to a "Little Women" "retelling" or influenced by Little Women. That is not accurate at all. It is a story of 4 sisters but beyond that the similarities end. Some of the characters are infuriating and others are more in the background but still quietly having an influence. There is part of the story that revolves around one character that has made her choices and her stubbornness to rethink some of them for the sake of her daughter is tiresome. Overall a good book...but not great. I read this for my IRL book club, The Page Turners.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Cancer, and Death
Minor: Death of parent