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bookmarkedbybritt's review against another edition
- 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
― 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.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Abandonment and Mental illness
Minor: Child death
vidotson's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Abandonment
cat_is_turning_pages's review against another edition
- 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
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:mrsjburgin's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Child death, Grief, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
bia_penas's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Abandonment
lostwithoutaplan's review against another edition
4.0
Minor: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, and Cancer
seventhswan's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
For some reason, despite being technically excellent and enjoying reading it while it was in front of me, the story took me a long time to wade through. I appreciated that the plot moved quite quickly, as otherwise I feel it could have fallen into bleak and melancholic territory. I was also irritated by the death at the end of the story, but I can't work out if it was actually just thrown in as a plot device or if I just liked the character who dies a lot. There were also some subplots that were introduced and then never seemed to go anywhere or get mentioned again.
Overall I would recommend this book as a compelling and moving set of character studies, but I wouldn't say it bears much resemblance to what the blurb and marketing suggests. This is not really a story about romantic love, but about the choices we make when there are no good choices in all kinds of relationships.
I'm excited to read Little Women next and see how many parallels there are between the two books, as other people have said!
Graphic: Cancer, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Abandonment
Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Child death, and Religious bigotry
sanduraamoura's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Mental illness
kiwichill's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Child death
Moderate: Biphobia, Alcohol, Homophobia, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Body shaming, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Pregnancy, Cancer, and Cursing