Lisa of Troy's Reviews > Hello Beautiful

Little Women was the very fabric of my childhood, gently molding me into the graceful, dignified, articulate, ambitious advocate I was to become.

Just outside of the bustling city of Boston lies Concord, home to Louisa May Alcott. Little Women isn’t just a charming heart-warming story—it was based on Louisa May Alcott and her real-life family.

When Louisa May Alcott was asked if her mother was really as good as she was portrayed in the book, she responded with a smile, “No. She was even better!”

Little Women gave me the courage to say, “I am different, but that’s ok. I don’t judge myself according to my worldly goods but my ethics and good deeds.” Little Women is the most accessible text of Transcendentalism, a philosophy of “high thinking and simple living.”

So if a book is going to invoke Little Women, be prepared to bring it!

And Hello Beautiful did not.

Hello Beautiful is awkwardly set in 1960 to 2008 and focuses on the Padavano family: Julia (the oldest sister), Sylvie (the kissing librarian), and twin sisters (Cecelia and Emeline). Rose, the mother, is very cold, judgmental, and distant (completely unlike Marmee).

The story reads like a badly written soap opera and rolls through 4 different points of view.

Unlike the March sisters who collectively work together to overcome adversity, this family is disjointed and broken. Apparently, single parents can instantly get jobs and can easily raise a child while working without any financial or social support. Kids never get sick. A parent would never need to give an important presentation at work, only to turn to wake up her child and find green slime running from the child’s eye. Right?

BTW, you can’t not cash a check for 16 months, and it still be good.

Hello Beautiful lacked the warmth of Little Women and instead got lost in the mud slinging of familial dysfunction.

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – $36.96, a signed copy from The Oxford Exchange
Audiobook – Free through Libby

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