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A review by richardbakare
Within Arm's Reach by Ann Napolitano
4.0
“Within Arm’s Reach” is the surprising re-release of Ann Napolitano's first book. It follows the huge success of Napolitano's last hit “Hello Beautiful.” The combination of these works demonstrate Napolitano genius for telling deep and compelling stories about families. This one is particularly fascinating and entertaining. She uses an Irish-American family's complex web of relationships to give us a story about generational drama and the patterns that repeat or skip lines.
Napolitano's brilliance really shines in how she is able to write from different perspectives and create unique voices. That tapestry of personas hammer home the themes of family, relationships, and loss. In this one Napolitano also delves into mysticism and the spiritual. The differences in how the cast of characters approach these topics and others works particularly well in this novel. Specifically, in how key characters are diametrically opposite to one another's views. All of them painfully messy in their own way. Most of their issues rooted in trauma that they never directly deal with.
The title itself is poignant. At many moments Napolitano's style and the plot underscore how the things we want are always within arms reach, if we can be brave enough to reach for them. This imagery is wonderfully represented by the scenes of being tied physically to a tree versus being tied together by unspoken emotional drama. In both cases, love and freedom are within arm’s reach but remain unattainable.
All of Napolitano's novels I have read thus far are great at telling stories where we see how changing socio-economic times can change families as well. Napolitano's prose and pacing really grab me. Her deeply flawed characters irk me but I can’t look away. I am becoming a big fan of her books and look forward to catching up on her complete works. I definitely recommend this one and “Hello Beautiful.”
Napolitano's brilliance really shines in how she is able to write from different perspectives and create unique voices. That tapestry of personas hammer home the themes of family, relationships, and loss. In this one Napolitano also delves into mysticism and the spiritual. The differences in how the cast of characters approach these topics and others works particularly well in this novel. Specifically, in how key characters are diametrically opposite to one another's views. All of them painfully messy in their own way. Most of their issues rooted in trauma that they never directly deal with.
The title itself is poignant. At many moments Napolitano's style and the plot underscore how the things we want are always within arms reach, if we can be brave enough to reach for them. This imagery is wonderfully represented by the scenes of being tied physically to a tree versus being tied together by unspoken emotional drama. In both cases, love and freedom are within arm’s reach but remain unattainable.
All of Napolitano's novels I have read thus far are great at telling stories where we see how changing socio-economic times can change families as well. Napolitano's prose and pacing really grab me. Her deeply flawed characters irk me but I can’t look away. I am becoming a big fan of her books and look forward to catching up on her complete works. I definitely recommend this one and “Hello Beautiful.”