Read. Write. Listen. Create.

Well book club had a wide range of stars for Hello Beautiful. While some loved it, others gave it lower ratings. I was around the middle with 3.5 stars out of 5. Set in Chicago in the 1980s, this book is a modern retelling of Little Women. It “is the story of four sisters contending with life and loss, love, death and forgiveness, and finding different ways to cope with hardship.” There’s self-assured Julia, literary Sylvie, and twins, artistic Cecelia and nurturing Emeline. I thought Julia was a very hard character to like. It felt as though she married William just because it was expected of her to get married. They didn’t seem to really connect.

I thought the writing was okay, it was so hard to really connect with the book for me because it was so sad. There is so much loss and I thought the characters didn’t deal with mental health in a very good way. William’s mental health is dealt with in an interesting way. Maybe it was because it was set in the 80s that people didn’t want to talk about it or understand that people go through depression.

But my friend made a point that even today we still have a long way to go with how we act towards others surrounding this topic. Julia didn’t act in a way I’d expect a wife to act when her husband is dealing with mental health issues. Her sister Sylvie was more understanding and it was easy to see why she and William were a better match. In some ways it is very realistic when it comes to how families don’t talk to each for years because they disagree with what another family member said or did.

Sylvie’s character made it easier for me to get through because I have more of her views on life. When Emeline tells her family she is gay this only divides the family more. I couldn’t understand why her mom didn’t want her to be happy, but of course Sylvie comforts Emeline and once again Sylvie’s character counteracts Julia’s stuck in her ways thinking. I’d only recommend it if you’re looking for something sad. I think I got through it easier because I listened to the audiobook!