Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano

 

Characters

Waters family: William Caroline – sister, deceased Mother and father   William’s career: 1978 undergrad student at Northwestern and on basketball team 1982 teaching assistant and doctoral student 1983 suicide attempt 1983 assistant coach at Northwestern 1989 with Chicago Bulls in player development and a physio   Padavano family: Rose and Charlie – Charlie quoted Walt Whitman Julia – married William, organizer in family Sylvie – reader, became librarian Cecilia – twin, artist, became pregnant in high school Emeline – twin, nurturer, opened day care center with Josie   Josie – Emeline’s partner   Alice – William and Julia’s daughter   Isabelle Rose Padavano “Izzy” – Cecelia’s daughter Mrs. Ceccione – took in Cecelia when pregnant   Kent – basketball player with William, became a doctor Nicole – wife, divorced   Gus and Washington – two friends from team   Arash – basketball team physical trainer   Ernie – electrician, romance with Sylvie   Dr. Dembia – William’s therapist

 

 

 

 

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from paperback edition.

1.       Discuss Charlie and Rose’s treatment of their daughters.  Charlie always greeted them with “Hello, Beautiful (page 74).  “Sylvie and her sisters had known themselves under their father’s gaze” (page 74).  On the other hand, Sylvie felt that from Rose’s view, her “second daughter wasn’t enough, and would never be enough” (page 75).  How did their attitudes shape the girls’ personalities?

2.       When Cecelie got pregnant, Ruth told her to carry around a picture of St. Clare of Assisi for at least a week telling her it was her “scarlet letter” (page 58).  What did you think of this?

3.       What did you think of Charlie’s philosophy of life: “We’re all interconnected, and when you see that you see how beautiful life is” (page 73).  How was this evidenced throughout the novel?

4.       Discuss Julia and William’s relationship.  He felt that reading his book “had permanently damaged Julia’s opinion of him” (page 96). 

5.       Should Julia have known how unhappy William was?   Was there any way she could have prevented what he did?

6.       After his suicide attempt when William was an assistant coach at Northwestern, he found that the “impact of helping seemed to be cumulative; the more kids he helped, the more solid he felt in how own chest” (page 246).  Did you understand his feelings? 

7.       Discuss Kent.  Throughout the story he was very important to William.  While William was in the hospital after his suicide attempt, he thought of Kent that “No one had ever loved him unconditionally like this” (page 162).  Where else in the novel did you see that type of unconditional love?

8.       Arash, while not a major character, was very important to William’s development.  Through him, William’s “understanding of the physiology of the athletes was better informed now, and he was able to diagnose injuries and vulnerabilities with accuracy” (page 253).  Also, Arash wanted “to build more infrastructures of kindness” (page 253).

9.       Did William treat Alice the same way his parents treated him after his sister died?

10.   Did you understand William’s thought process when he gave up Alice?  What were the positive aspects of what he did, if any?

11.   When Cecelia became pregnant, Julia advised her to give the baby up for adoption.  She said to Cecelia, “Why should you ruin your life because of a mistake?” (page 59).   How does this fit into her feelings about William giving up Alice?

12.   What did you think about the various characters.  Did the author do a good job of describing them?  Could you understand their various personalities and motivations?   Which one would you likely be friends with?

13.   How important was the connection with the novel Little Women?  On page 41 the author described how the sisters tried to decide who was each character and on page 302 Alice was copyediting a modern adaptation of the novel.

14.   Books were an important part of the novel: William’s book about basketball, Sylvie’s book about her memories growing up, comparison to Little Women, Sylvie was a librarian and sometimes using a book as a “handy shield for when the wanted to deflect the attention of other people” (page 308).  Did this add to the story for you?

15.   When Sylvie was writing her memories, she realized two important coincidences.  “Only in writing about them did Sylvie truly comprehend that the same day her beloved Izzy had entered the world, Charlie left.  And the day Alice was born, Rose had departed Chicago” (page 304).  Have you ever experienced such a revelation when writing in a journal or diary?  Why hadn’t anyone made the connections before?

16.   Discuss your reading experience.  Did you like the overlapping time frames?  Would you recommend the book to a friend?