Review: Hello Beautiful (by Ann Napolitano)

My Rating:  4 stars

Ann Napolitano's newest novel, Hello Beautiful, is an emotional family drama that's billed as an homage to Little Women (though it's not necessary to have read that classic in order to enjoy this one).   At the center of the story is William Waters, a quiet young man who grows up in a home where his parents can't stand the sight of him.  His life is shaped by this lack of love until he meets Julia Padavano, who is attracted to William's steadfastness and simplicity. William is lovingly accepted into the close-knit Padavano family — Julia's parents Charlie and Rose, her second sister Sylvia, twin sisters Cecilia and Emeline — and soon becomes an inextricable part of the fierce loyalty that bonds this family together.  But then things start to happen one after the other that slowly drive a rift into the family and threaten to destroy the long-held unity and loyalty between the 4 sisters.  

This was a slow-burn, character-driven story that really took its time to develop each of the characters in a way that made each one so real and true-to-life. I identified with Sylvie the most, though I couldn't help rooting for all the sisters at various points of the story. One of the unique things that Napolitano did in this story (which I don't often see in other stories) was to make all the male characters just as beloved as the female characters (pretty much the only "hated" characters in the story were William's parents). Charlie played an important role in the story, as did Kent as well as William's other basketball buddies.  I especially loved the friendship between William and Kent, which I found the most moving and heartfelt (so much so that several of their scenes together actually brought tears to my eyes).

I feel that this is one of those books you need to experience for yourself, as it's hard to do justice to the story and the characters in such a brief review. Granted, there were some heavy themes in this one and some parts weren't easy to get through, but ultimately, the story was both poignant and hopeful (though not really sure how I felt about the ending). Given how much I love character-driven stories, the well-drawn character portrayals alone made this one absolutely worth reading.

I've actually had Napolitano's previous novel Dear Edward on my shelf for a while, but have yet to get around to reading it.  Well, now with this exposure to Napolitano's work, I know I will need to make time to read that book as well as explore the rest of her backlist at some point.

Received ARC from Dial Press via NetGalley