A Literary Classic Revisited

As we navigate the world of books, there are inevitably books that will resonate with us. They will leave an indelible impact that we will keep with us as we go on with life. For most of us, these books belong to a highly revered group we refer to as classics. Without a doubt, the influences of literary classics are ubiquitous. The works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Leo Tolstoy, and Mary Shelley, among others, have transcended time. Their works remain an integral part of literary discourses, may it be in formal academic setups or casual setups. Their individual bodies of work have also sparked literary movements that shaped the landscape of literature as we know it today.

These writers and their works have also inspired many contemporary writers. Their names are ubiquitous in contemporary writers’ acknowledgment pages. They are also credited for being the stepping stones to a career in writing for these contemporary writers. Details of these literary classics can be noted in the fine prints of many of today’s literary works. The works of Jane Austen, for instance, are integrated into several modern works, with her six novels being the framework for a literary project called The Austen Project. Her works were also parodied, such as in the case of Sense and Sensibility which was used in a mashup novel by Ben H. Winters, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

One of the more recent literary works inspired by a literary classic was Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful. Napolitano’s fourth novel, published in 2023, commenced in 1960s New England with the birth of a boy named William, the only son and youngest child to the Waters family; he had an older sister. Everything was going well for the family until a tragic event drastically altered the course of William’s life. His older sister’s untimely demise shortly after his birth created a rift between the surviving members of the family: “For the first six days of William Waters’s life, he was not an only child.” The death of their three-year-old daughter shattered William’s parents. They grew distant from each other. His accountant father became remote while his mother barely paid any attention to him. It was a home bereft of affection.

“The stories and the people in them did sound remarkable, Sylvie thought, when spoken aloud. She and the twins had rarely talked about what happened. They’d lived through it, after all, and the loss of Julia had made them quiet. But Josie’s wonder at the stories, and Izzy’s clear enjoyment of what she saw as a soap opera in which she played a small role, took the sting out of the grief woven through those times. When Sylvie spoke their family history into the air, all she heard was love.”

~ Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

To escape from the ominous and cold atmosphere that permeated his home, William found solace in the game of basketball. He was first spotted by a gym teacher in fifth grade. He had an untapped potential, and also the requisite height. The basketball court slowly became his safe haven, a place where he could expel all the negative energy that suffocated him. He became a member of his school’s varsity team and was even part of the starting five. It seems that his skills and talents will take him places. It sure did as it earned him a scholarship to Northwestern University. Little did William know that moving to Chicago was an opportunity to escape his cold and distant parents. When it was time to leave, his parents merely waved goodbye. They were stoic as always, seemingly not caring if William returned or not. It came as no surprise when William reestablished himself in Chicago.

However, Hello Beautiful does not reduce itself to a mere sporting novel that charts the main character’s injuries, trials, and tribulations. As the story moved forward, it became palpable that William was just one-fifth of the novel’s main characters. Settling down in Chicago would also be pivotal in William’s life. It was there that he met Julia in a college history class. Julia was the eldest of the four Padavano sisters. The Padavano family, a middle-class family of Italian immigrants living in Pilsen, the working-class quarters of Chicago, immediately warmed up to William’s presence. The family’s dynamics – full of verve and warmth and brimming with love – were antitheses to the cold and distant family he grew up in. It was a new world to William, one that he was willing to embrace. As he finds himself amid the Padavano sisters’ circle, William’s fortune, it seems, is starting to look up.

What alters the complexion of the story is the contrasting personalities of the four sisters. Julia was the complete replica of their mother. They were both ambitious and authoritarian. They like to be in control. Julia, with her go-getter attitude, was single-minded in her resolve for a better life, thus, a 10-year plan she adheres to. This aptly earned her the nickname “Rocket” from their father. Sylvie, the second born, was the opposite of Julia although she was the eldest Padavano sister’s confidant. While Julia was a carbon copy of their mother, Sylvie was bequeathed with their father’s general demeanor. She was a hopeless romantic whose imagination swirled in the pages of books; she worked at the local library to put herself through college. At school, she did not attend all her classes, choosing to attend those that interested her. Her father Charlie knew but he let his daughter do as she wished.

Completing the Padavano quartet were the twins Emeline and Cecilia. Cecelia was a budding artist and mural painter. At the age of 17, she became a mother but she refused to name the identity of her daughter’s father. Emeline, on the other hand, was the nurturer of the four. She was selfless and kind: “kept her hands free in order to be helpful or to pick up and soothe a neighborhood child.” Their two older sisters formed a unit while the two youngest existed in a world of their own. The twins communicated in manners beyond the imagination of their two eldest siblings. But despite their differences, the Padavano sisters were each other’s greatest protectors and supporters. For better or worse, they were a tightly knit unit.

“It’s because you know that more is possible that you’ll always see the pointlessness in following a stupid rule or clocking in and out of a boring class. Most people can’t see that distinction, so they just do as they’re told. Of course, this makes them bored and irritated, but they think that’s the human condition. You and I are lucky enough to see that it doesn’t have to be that way.”

~ Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

But as we all know it, life has its little surprises that throw us off course. The warmth that characterized the Padavano family belied the tensions that were simmering underneath the surface. For instance, Cecilia’s unexpected pregnancy ended in her being kicked out of the family home. Their mother Rose was raising daughters with Catholic values. Cecilia broke it and this will only elicit unwanted gossip. Julia and William’s supposedly picture-perfect marriage was also not what it purported to be. They had contrasting ideas. Julia, ever competitive and refusing to be outdone by Cecilia, wanted to have her own child as soon as possible. William, owing to the trauma of his childhood, did not share his wife’s dream. As the story’s different layers unpeel, the bond of the sisters is put to the test. It did not help that Julia treated William as her project.

Hello Beautiful is, first and foremost, a story about families. It captured the concept of nature and nurture through the two contrasting families. This also highlights the important role that our families play in molding our personalities. William, for his part, did not let the ominous atmosphere in his home defeat his resolve. However, his childhood trauma manifested in other forms later in his life. Family does not always mean about peace and harmony. Discords and misunderstandings are always present as contrasting personalities, by nature, go against each other. But as the adage goes, blood is thicker than water. Forgiveness prevails at the end of the day. However, it is not always the case, as in the case of William. However, he found acceptance in other families: the family he married and the basketball community he was part of.

The different definitions of families – both conventional and unconventional – make Hello Beautiful a compelling read. However, it is just one of the many layers that comprise the novel. It is also a sports novel but it digressed from the typical trials and tribulations arc the typical sports novel is about. William’s career was cut short by injury. He wallowed in a sea of mediocrity, insecurity, and failure. He was descending into depression – mental health was subtly underscored in the story – but he managed to rise above his circumstances through the help of the people who really cared for him. In his basketball teammates, he found a camaraderie that lasted a lifetime. The novel is also about being ambitious and chasing the stars. It is about tenacity and not being shackled by one’s circumstances.

Everything is not always sunny in the Windy City. Over three decades that charted the characters’ individual fortune. They grow and mature. The main characters find themselves in impasses and challenging situations. There are several points where they had to contemplate what family and love mean. These gave the story heartwarming and also heartbreaking moments. A light-bulb moment for a character made her realize and understand her sexuality although she, at first, was reluctant to admit it to everyone because of the prejudices surrounding them. The characters were also not shy about admitting their flaws. They find ways to address their failures and it is what makes them endearing. Elsewhere, the novel explored

“I’d never seen that kind of love in person. My parents loved each other, but badly, and they were miserable. So were all the other couples in my neighborhood. Have you ever actually seen that kind of love?” William shook his head. He had married out of fear, because he didn’t think he was capable of steering himself into adulthood.“

~ Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

The synopsis alone is enough to surmise which literary classic influenced Napolitano’s fourth novel. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is a beloved classic and was the canvas on which the novel was painted. In her acknowledgment, Napolitano extended her gratitude to the literary classic. This trickled into the story as even the Padavano sisters found parallels between them and the fortunes of the March sisters. In one scene, we read how the Padavano sisters compare to each of the March sisters; the similarities and contrasts were highlighted as the story moved forward. Despite these parallels, Hello Beautiful holds its own candle. It stands out on its own. It shares elements with Little Women but the story and voices are distinct.

In her fourth novel, Napolitano puts her personal touches on a beloved literary classic and makes it her own. Hello Beautiful is a heartwarming and achingly heartbreaking story. In her modern take, Napolitano wrote about the complexities of families while emphasizing the connections we establish with other people who we eventually include as part of our familial circle. The story of the Padavano sisters and William explored forgiveness, grief, redemption, tenacity, and even finding one’s self. Their bonds were repeatedly challenged but the four sisters’ individual perspectives changed over time, and so did William’s. Changing perspective is a key element in appreciating the characters’ plights. Filled with poignant and affectionate moments, Hello Beautiful is a wonderful homage to Little Women but it is a book that can stand on its own.

Book Specs

Author: Ann Napolitano
Publisher: The Dial Press
Publishing Date: 2023
Number of Pages: 383
Genre: Literary, Historical

Synopsis

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 in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment; every moment in their house is filled with loving chaos.

But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future but the sisters’ unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations.

An exquisite homage to Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic Little Women, Hello Beautiful is a profoundly moving portrait of what is possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.

About the Author

Ann Napolitano was born on October 21, 1971. Napolitano received an MFA from New York University after graduating from Connecticut College. She has taught fiction writing for Brooklyn College’s MFA program, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and for Gotham Writers’ Workshop. 

Napolitano made her literary debut in 2004 with the publication of Within Arm’s Reach. The novel was adapted and staged as a theatrical production in New York City in 2014. Her sophomore novel, A Good Hard Look, was published in 2011 to critical success. From 2014 to 2020, Napolitano was an associate editor of One Story, a literary magazine. Napolitano’s third novel, Dear Edward, was published in 2020 and was warmly received by both readers and critics alike. It was named by several literary publications as one of the best books of the year. Riding on this wave of momentum, Napolitano published Hello Beautiful in 2023.

Napolitano is currently residing in Brooklyn with her husband and their two children.