Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano: A review

Hello Beautiful is essentially a retelling of the plot of Little Women. We have the four Padavano sisters instead of the March sisters. Instead of Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth, we have Julia, Sylvie, Cecilia, and Emiline. They are part of a Catholic household with a devout mother who taught them to respect the saints and a loving father who was a dreamer unable to provide an adequate financial base for his family. The book's title is the greeting that their father always used for his daughters.

Julia is the ambitious high-achiever in the family. She is like a second mother to the other girls. Sylvie is the romantic who is waiting for a man to come along and sweep her off her feet. Cecilia and Emeline are twins who tend to live in their own world but they have quite different personalities. Cecilia is forthright and plain-speaking. Emeline is the peacemaker in the family who tries to make everyone feel better.

Then along comes William, an introvert from a family that neglected him. He had a sister who died as a child and his parents were stuck with her memory and unable to move on.

William's salvation comes when he starts playing basketball with his peers. He finds a community and support with his teammates. He goes to Northwestern University on a basketball scholarship and meets Julia Padavano and the ambitious high-achiever chooses him to be her husband. But marrying Julia really means he is marrying the whole Padavono clan.

William's basketball career ends in injury. Julia, the fixer, sets out to make William into her ideal husband. That includes making him a college professor. They have a daughter, Alice. But then Julia's plans go a bit awry.

William is overcome by depression and tries to end it all but fortunately, he is unsuccessful in the attempt. Sylvie becomes his salvation who pulls him back into life.

This is a family drama that draws the reader in and makes her care about all of these characters. Each character is multi-layered and three-dimensional in their make-up. Moreover, each of the sisters felt like a personal friend and I wanted the best for each of them. It isn't often that I feel so emotionally invested in characters and it is very rare indeed that I feel that a novel is worthy of a five-star rating. This is that book.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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