I loved the story of the sisters, primarily because they each were well drawn as individual, very different characters. The writing was really evocative and full of imagery. The title is poignant because their father used to say "Hello, Beautiful" to his daughters, and after he dies, there is no one who treats them with such nurturing.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes a poignant and engrossing family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?
“Hello Beautiful is exactly that: beautiful, perceptive, wistful. It’s a story of family and friendship, of how the people we are bound to can also set us free. I loved it.”—Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace
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…
This is a really emotional book. The story of a Chinese American boy whose mother is deported so that he is adopted by an American couple with a very different lifestyle than he is used to. It kept me very interested and I felt a great deal of sympathy for both Daniel and his mother, who is an equal character in the story. The structure is skillfully rendered to keep the reader wondering exactly what happened and what is GOING to happen, with a satisfactory resolution that reflects the growing maturity and acceptance of both mother and now adult son by the end.
One morning, Deming Guo's mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. No one can find any trace of her. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually adopted by two white college professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. They rename him Daniel Wilkinson in their efforts to make him over into their version of an "all-American boy." But far away from all he's ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his new life…
I just adored this book. It was lovely how it drew out each of the characters over time and we got to know them. The end result was both sad and gratifying - the best sort of book! The topic of how to honor our friends before they die rather than waiting till they are gone is an interesting one and it brought out thoughts about death and dying and what makes a life meaningful.
New York Times Bestseller A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick
A Big Chill for our times, celebrating decades-long friendships and promises—especially to ourselves—by the bestselling and beloved author of The Guncle.
It’s been a minute—or five years—since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation when their adult lives officially began. Now Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle find themselves at the brink of a new decade, with all the responsibilities of adulthood, yet no closer to having their lives figured out. Though not for a lack of trying. Over the years they’ve reunited…
My book is a frank, humorous, and poignant exploration of aging in an aging expert's family. I was the only daughter of colorful and talented parents: my mother, an English scholar and poet, and my father, a pianist music professor. Their dramatic emotional lives, marital instability, and eventual divorce provided the backdrop for my 1960s and ‘70s youth.
Nearly thirty years after they divorced, my newly single father and my mother, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, reconciled and decided to live together again. Now a gerontological social worker and professor, I step in to become their care manager, but find it's not easy. Old family dynamics and disappointing limitations to available services for older adults make for heavy burdens as I try to help my parents maintain their unique talents and humanity.
