Hello Beautiful Review

Review for Hello Beautiful

By: Ann Napolitano

            “Hello Beautiful” is a fictional drama of the relationship between William, a young man with basketball dreams and his wife, Julia. After tragedy strikes, the relationship between William and Julia, along with the rest of the family, starts to fall apart as truths and secrets are revealed. Side-note—I listened to the audio book and was pleasantly surprised at hearing the narration by Maura Tierney, an actress I’m familiar with.  Her soothing voice also delivers the emotions of these characters. 

            I found myself drawing similarities between “Hello Beautiful” and the classic novel “Little Women”, which Napolitano includes in the story.  Julia Padavano, and her three sisters each love and identify with the four March girls in “Little Women”, claiming the one they identify with the most. The reader will see the similarities and the differences. The obvious difference being that the Padavano’s have a privileged and independent middle class upbringing, while the March sisters struggle to maintain a meager lifestyle while their father is at war. Though, each Padavano sister has her own struggles such as one sister getting pregnant out of wedlock and deciding to raise her child without the father’s involvement.  I loved the bond and devotion the Padavano sisters have to each other, but that bond is tested when William unintentionally finds himself between Julia, the responsible oldest sister, and Sylvie the younger, free-spirited one.  When Julia and William start dating, he is her project to mold into the perfect husband. William accepts her caretaker role, having been ignored by his parents all his life, and still grieving the death of his own sister, whom he hasn’t talked about since he was a child.  Their matriarchal arrangement plays itself out and eventually is replaced with apathy, misunderstanding, and each wanting different things out of a relationship and life. Enter free spirit Sylvie with no plans, and a fondness for William that involves into a connection he lacks with Julia. The resulting love triangle, along with family tragedies, have a domino effect on the entire family, sending them in different directions, and even affecting the next generation. Napolitano’s characters’ behaviors are gritty and realistic to the point of inciting my frustration.  In several plotlines, I found myself thinking, just shove your pride and see what is truly important! But, as often the case involving human emotions, regretted decisions are made. This story is an emotional journey about family, messy love drama, tragedy, and the lasting impact those events have on fallible human beings.