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A review by woahshereads
Within Arm's Reach by Ann Napolitano
challenging
emotional
tense
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? Yes
3.0
In the early stages of this book I initially thought that I would enjoy this book more than Hello Beautiful and I was shocked to realize this was Ann's debut novel that had since gone out of print. After her success with HB, her publisher had decided to re-release the book with an updated cover.
Within Arms Reach follows three generations of an Irish American family with themes ranging from rebellion, sexuality, tradition & religion and, largely, loss of connectivity, especially within the familial structure, webbed between it all. This book was messy as real life is but I just wasn't engaged enough nor connected with the characters story developments.
The synopsis and description of the book states this family is "..jarred into crisis by an unexpected pregnancy" however; the majority of the family does not find out about the pregnancy until like 85% of the way through. AND because each character had such a dense sublot that wasn't touched on as much, I felt the reaction I was anticipating wasn't as strong either. The book just kind of ends with them accepting the pregnancy but never moves beyond that so we don't get to see any of the other characters grow or development beyond this "crisis".
Overall, I was left with too many questions left unanswered and found myself wanting more than the book gave me.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the advance reader copy of this book!
Within Arms Reach follows three generations of an Irish American family with themes ranging from rebellion, sexuality, tradition & religion and, largely, loss of connectivity, especially within the familial structure, webbed between it all. This book was messy as real life is but I just wasn't engaged enough nor connected with the characters story developments.
The synopsis and description of the book states this family is "..jarred into crisis by an unexpected pregnancy" however; the majority of the family does not find out about the pregnancy until like 85% of the way through. AND because each character had such a dense sublot that wasn't touched on as much, I felt the reaction I was anticipating wasn't as strong either. The book just kind of ends with them accepting the pregnancy but never moves beyond that so we don't get to see any of the other characters grow or development beyond this "crisis".
Overall, I was left with too many questions left unanswered and found myself wanting more than the book gave me.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the advance reader copy of this book!