Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - L.A. Weather

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón

10 reviews

laurensilva's review

hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

2.25

The jacket summary makes it seem like L.A. Weather is going to be much deeper than it actually is. Unfortunately, what we get instead is a bunch of of half-baked characters and half scenes that bounce us through the year without giving us enough time with any one character. Escandón doesn't provide readers with a strong enough foothold to feel anything deeper than surface level angst or annoyance with her characters. For example, we get only two mentions of

Lola working with Legal Aid and nothing more. Escandón touches on the 2016 election and Oscar's feelings about it regarding his workers and other immigrants in LA, but that's it. We get a minuscule look at Lola's life outside the Alvarados, including paragraphs about her friend and daughter. Why? What does that serve the book?

L.A. Weather and its readers would have been better off it the book had been written and marketed as a broad peek into the lives of a handful of Angelenos instead of portraying it as one family’s internal struggles. As it is, it seems Escandón wanted to do both, but succeeded at neither.

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micaelamariem's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

This book had a somewhat interesting premise: a family drama inspired by telenovelas. But it failed to deliver. The majority of it was, well, boring. The characters were unlikable. I personally didn’t like the way “chapters” were divided, making it impossible to find good places to pause. Weather is supposed to be an extended metaphor about the health of the family but, by the middle of the book, I was ready to throw it down every time they were talking of the weather and the drought because it was SO boring. I also hated the way the point of view skipped around, making it hard to find who was talking, which was quite annoying. I don’t know if I’m too young to appreciate this, or family dramas aren’t my thing, or this truly was not a great book.

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ashleysbookthoughts's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Loveable characters? No

2.25

I really wanted to love this book. I love a family drama, and I was excited to dive into the Alvarados’ journey juxtaposed against droughts and fires in LA. But unfortunately, this one didn’t work for me.

I read that Escandon wanted this story to feel like a telenovela. While she definitely brought the drama and some ridiculous plot points, I’m not sure that she succeeded in tone. Telenovelas are inherently outrageous and are in on the joke. They know how outlandish the storylines are. There wasn’t anything in the writing here that made me think we weren’t supposed to take this seriously. Perhaps I missed the humor, but the book didn’t seem to be aware of how silly it was.

I also think that the structure of the book, written almost as a log of the year, hurt it. The book is divided by month, and within each month, by various dates. Each date entry is anywhere from one paragraph to three pages, but never follows more than one character or incident, resulting in a very choppy read. We read about things happening, but we never get to really know the characters (the three daughters are basically all the same person) and there never seem to be any consequences.

In the end, that was my biggest issue with LA Weather: none of the plot developments ultimately matter, because half of them are dropped with no follow-up, and the others never really have any major consequences for our characters. This lack of consequence or deep examination of plot points makes the inclusion of some sensitive topics clunky, poorly handled, and downright offensive.

I read it quickly and wanted to know what happened, but in the end, nothing really mattered. The best thing abou this book was that I buddy read it with @whatkissreads and we exchanged some very yelly voice notes about certain plot points.

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mollywill's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

3.75

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bookdragon217's review

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emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective 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

"A house is all about the love you put into it."

L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandón is the escape read that I greatly needed. It had a telenovela feel without all the cheesiness. It centered a Latinx family, love and the ways they survive and live their daily lives. It featured a lot of social issues and commentary but never felt heavy. I loved that the issues weren't the characters whole identitiy but instead every day things that came up to be dealt with or not. I previously read Escandón's Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co. and fell in love with her storytelling. She did not disappoint with this one either. I was totally immersed in the story and in the character's lives. I loved the slow pace of this one because it allowed me to get to know each character individually.

I've seen some reviews where people said this one tackled too much but I think that was part of the beauty of the story for me. Latinx families are complicated, issues come up all the time, disasters happen repeatedly and they're expected to tackle all of these things while still being pressured to assimilate to American ideals. One of the things I appreciated about this book was its' ability to show each character's struggles in the greater context of what is happening in the world and while navigating Latinx identity. Latinx people, historically don't just get to "be". They're constantly being brought to the brink and have to figure things out for their families. This was the main strength of the story in showing the ways that families have to sacrifice and solve problems on their own and sustain themselves on love alone.

Family love is the backbone of this story. Love is what motivates them to tackle the next thing that comes along to try to break them. The Alvarados show that with each other, they can take on anything that comes their way. They also show that life is a process of constant change and transformation and how important a support system is through it all. The ending left me hopeful and felt realistic because things don't just stop happening just because you've overcome some problems.

Final Thoughts on this one:
1. Climate change is real and affects marginalized communities the most, especially undocumented farm workers.
2. Divorce is sometimes the only option.
3. Being a child of immigrants comes with a lot of pressure and responsibilities.
4. Queer kids thrive and flourish with family support.
5. Pursuing the American Dream because our ancestors couldn't can create situations where one is perpetrating on harm on their own people.
6. Secrets in families can tear them apart.
7. Chronic illness and near death experiences can shift the trajectory of your life and bring new focus.
8. Marraige is hard, takes work and isn't for everybody.
9. Communication is key for all types of relationships.
10. Leaning on others is hard but the rewards are everything.
11. Normalize mental health and trauma and the ways it shows up later in life.

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melf's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

LA Weather recounts a year in the life of the Alvarados, a wealthy Jewish/Catholic Mexican American family living in - you guessed it - Los Angeles. It’s a year full of family drama beginning with the near drowning of three year old twins. There’s also marital challenges, divorces, infertility, health battles, secrets, pregnancy, a figuring out of gender identity, money woes, and so much more. All this takes place against a backdrop of climate change which was challenging the family in ways most of them did not even realise.

The characters were all deeply flawed and I struggled to find anything redeemable about many of them. They way they ignored worrying behaviour changes in a couple of family members had me me screaming at them through the pages. However, at their core they were a family that loved each other and when they chips were down they had each other’s backs.

We could see climate change impacting the family in several ways and I loved when they all became aware of its impact and started brainstorming and working on things that they could do to make a positive difference and less their impact on the earth. This was done in a fairly understated way that felt true to the story and the characters rather than in an over-the-top preachy fashion.

The melodrama of this book kept me entertained and it did touch on several other issues besides climate change. However, I doubt it will leave a lasting impression on me. It hit me more as short term entertainment.

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