Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano | book review
Stunning book infused with love, family, and the beauty and pain both entail
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is easily my favourite book in a long time, and I have been raving about it endlessly to friends.
It is infused with love from start to finish, and is, to borrow a cliche from the title, beautiful. It focusses on one family, the Padavanos—more specifically, its four sisters—but is expansive and welcoming, as we see when William is so warmly folded into the family as oldest sister Julia’s intended husband.
When a colleague asked for books about love, this was the first I thought of. It has all sorts of love, including romantic and erotic, but what prevails is familial love—the bond between the sisters, the parent-child relationships, the romances that become familial, the resulting children, with all the beauty and pain that comes with deep love. Love is so pervasive in this book that even in the most heartbreaking moments, it trumps grief. The family buoys each other up, and the love they have woven is so strong a net that no one is allowed to fall through.
That said, I was struck by the family’s need for perfection. Or rather, the high demands of Rose (the mother), Julia (the oldest daughter), and the grandmother. These women love strongly and fiercely, but my impression is that they strive for perfection and would rather leave the picture altogether than have the illusion shatter. Three generations follow this pattern.
A friend, E, viscerally dislikes Julia, whose first offence is failing to even attempt to uncover her husband’s emotional state and true desires. Rather than desiring to support her spouse, she is confused, wants to fix him but does not know how to, and ploughs on with her plans. A possible defence is that that is exactly what both Julia and William signed on for in choosing each other: Julia had a clear vision and plan, and needed someone to help her execute it; William was directionless and wanted someone to steer him. Is Julia wrong to be confused by the breakdown of this dynamic? But I agree with E: when one signs up to marriage, it is with the whole person, for better or worse, and Julia does not even attempt to understand his humanity. When she realises he doesn’t fit her plan, he likewise serves no further purpose in her life.
E’s second discomfort with Julia is that she does not forgive William and Silvie, given (i) she does not love William herself, and (ii) Silvie does. Why begrudge your sister, the one you love as dearly as yourself, the blessing of being known and loved? I understand this, but also empathise with the pain of betrayal. As much as we wish Julia could embrace her sister and William, why do we not also expect Silvie not to betray her sister? But this is also inevitable: Silvie does not have a choice in loving William, and he does not have a choice in loving her. It is then a necessary consequence that Julia simply cannot exist in this world—one where her sister and husband have both betrayed her in fundamental ways, and there is no way to create any illusions of perfection. Silvie has to cut off one limb to save another.
My one gripe with this book is how Charlie’s alcoholism is treated. It is acknowledged, yes, but it is never presented as a true problem, though we know of Rose’s marital unhappiness. Charlie is immortalised through William’s eyes and while yes, imperfect humans should be loved and celebrated, even when they make mistakes, I fear William’s undulating adoration does not make space for Charlie’s shortcomings.
Months after finishing Hello Beautiful, I learned it’s a modern retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. I shouldn’t have been surprised, as the Padavano sisters bicker about which Little Women sister is which, but I’m also glad I didn’t know this beforehand and read it without the comparison.
This book will stay in my mind for a long time, and will for my friends who have read it too. J said, when reading it, ‘if you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of my heart shattering’, and locked himself in a utility closet to read the end. E pulled an all-nighter in Paris.
Book information
Title: Hello Beautiful
Author: Ann Napolitano
Published: 2023
Length: 416 pages
Book description
Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighbourhood. William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So, when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano, it's as if the world has lit up around him.
With Julia comes her family: Sylvie, the family's dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. But when darkness from William's past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family inhabiting two sides of a fault line.
Can they find their way back to each other? Can love make a broken family whole?
I read the book earlier this year and enjoyed it for its emotional authenticity. What I appreciated most was the multi-generational impact of family trauma and how William, at the end, attempts to repair the mistakes of his past by reconnecting with his daughter. I wrote a review for my substack which you can find here if interested: https://dl831.substack.com/p/mighty-works-of-art-hello-beautiful.
Loved this book. The sibling dynamics were spot on. I also loved Dear Edward, so I guess I'm just a fan of her writing.