Did I finally read this book because former President Obama read it? Potentially. I don’t regret it though, a book that stood out amidst a non-fiction reading list in 2025 so far. Hello Beautiful is at it’s core, a story about family drama told through different character viewpoints over several decades.
Table of Contents
Discovery
Despite knowing about “Hello Beautiful” for some time now, I have to admit that I only started reading it because I learned that former President Barack Obama read it. I couldn’t tell you where I heard this fact, but that was enough for me. The book is also a Oprah’s Book Club book, if that’s a factor for you.
I passed by the book one too many times at Target last year, but I couldn’t be trusted to actually finish a fiction book, so as one does, I flew to Libby.
The Premise (big time spoiler alert)
Hello Beautiful is essentially a story about four sisters. The Padavano family comprises of the four sisters, Charlie (the dad), and Rose (the mom). The sisters have a very close bond, though Julia and Sylvie have a special bond similar to the twins, Cecelia and Emeline. While in college, Julia meets William, a basketball player. Julia has big dreams for both Julia and William from the start. She has always been an individual fueled by her goals, though she could get a little one-track minded once started.
The relationship between Julia and Sylvie, once a bond that couldn’t be broken, was abruptly severed. William became overwhelmed by Julia’s plans, and the anxiety escalated as Julia became pregnant and even more so when she gave birth. When Alice was born, William’s life got redefined, as he was unable to cope with the overwhelming possibility of disappointing both his wife and daughter.
William attempted to commit suicide, but at the last second got saved by his best friend, Kent and Julia’s sister Sylvie. Sylvie fought her feelings but eventually knew that she had to give in. She loved William, he was her great love. Julia, unhappy with the news despite not wanting to be with William anymore cut all ties with Sylvie.
Hello Beautiful ends with Julia and Sylvie reconnecting decades later as the family finds out about Sylvie’s terminal diagnosis.
The Thing About Charlie
Charlie was their father. He isn’t the typical father figure type. He drank entirely too much, wasn’t the most successful. He frustrated his wife on a daily basis. But he was loved. I felt like they loved him more than they loved their mother Rose.
Charlie was a dreamer. He quoted poems from Walt Whitman. He didn’t feel the weight of the world on his shoulders despite being the “acting provider”. When he passed away, the girls got a better idea of who he really was. He was a good person, a good neighbor, a good friend. Certain circumstances in his life led him to be where he was. He got Rose pregnant when they were younger. Rose was never able to get over living an unfulfilled life.
On the other hand, their father seemed to be larger than life. Though he wasn’t as present as Rose was when he was alive, the moments that he and the girls shared meant more, a continuing pattern through their own lifespan.
Their adoration for their father was even more evident as the simple words of “Hello Beautiful” lit up rooms and hearts for years.
Thoughts
Hello Beautiful is a family’s life story. The ebbs, flows, and obstacles that got in the way helped tell their complicated relationships. I had a feeling from the beginning that William and Syvie would end up together. William loved the idea of Julia. He was always unsure about life, the decisions that he needed to make, and what to do after basketball.
William could have followed Julia’s extensive life plan. But I feel like it was doomed from the beginning. Julia couldn’t understand William beyond the facade of who he tried to show the world. When Julia got a glimpse of his broken insides, she felt quite unsure, unable to process his writing, his inability to make big life plans and his disconnect with his daughter.
William wasn’t able to hide behind the facade once his daughter became a part of his reality. He felt like he was incapable of raising her in the way that she actually deserved. William didn’t really know what it meant to love or receive love even up to that point. He just knew who he was supposed to be.
In the end, the truth always comes out one way or another. The broken pieces we try to stick back in without actually mending it. My heart hurt for him, I have been in that position before. Love and affection continue to be foreign entities to me, though I try to show that more for my kids. It’s not something that comes natural when you weren’t raised in a household that made it normalized.
At least I could say that achievement equated something in my own family growing up. William felt like nothing more than just another piece of furniture in his parents’ story.
Understanding that William’s parents lost a daughter doesn’t excuse the way that he was treated. He didn’t deserve to suffer due to things that were so clearly out of his control. Unfortunately, anxiety and depression cannot be described in a streamlined way. He was also raised in a time when mental health wasn’t quite as normalized and accepted.
Yes, the story was about the relationship between the sisters. But I felt so attached to William’s character. His flaws, his decisions. Maybe because it could have been me in another life. Maybe because I could have just as easily let my depression get the best of me too.
Hello Beautiful Quotes
- “And the kind of love you’re looking for is made up, anyway. The idea of love in those books—Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina—is that it’s a force that obliterates you. They’re all tragedies, Sylvie. Think about it; those novels all end with despair, or death.”
- Sylvie watched her mother try to change her father every day, and now she could see Julia lovingly nudging William into the shape of her ideal future husband. Sylvie would love differently.
- She knew it was a strange contradiction, but despite her interest in love, weddings made her uncomfortable. They were too showy, too public. Deep love between two people was a private, wordless endeavor, and to place the lovers in fancy clothes in front of a crowd seemed antithetical to the nature of the thing.
- This is my life, and my choice. I’ll never be a burden on anyone.” Five foot two, shoulders back, she growled the last sentence.
- Not because Rose cared about Walt Whitman, but because she blamed the poetry inside Charlie for his lack of success in life.
- William nodded and then put the notebook to the side. For as long as he could remember, he’d tried to push away from anything uncomfortable, to not allow it close.
- But he had pushed away so much that there was nothing left.
Before I Forget
I will say that I am thankful for the former president for keeping this book stuck in my subconscious for weeks. Hello Beautiful isn’t a book that I would typically pick up. It stands out against my non-fiction reads. Families are complicated, not so much a subject that I typically like to investigate aside from getting advice about how not to ruin my own.
When I think about books, I think that you are going to have to decide for yourself. Hello Beautiful was a novel that stood out to me because I understood William, I was able to process feelings that I would rather not discuss. In his own self-doubt, I was able to reaffirm my own childhood. But you may not have seen it in the same light.
When I read book reviews, especially on sites like Goodnotes, my heart breaks. Not just because some random person didn’t view art in the same way that I did, but for the author. I think the whole star system is antiquated, especially when it comes to art and literature that can be perceived a certain way based on someone’s background, someone’s upbringing.
For example, a user said that this book hurt her as an eldest sister, and that it was “anti-eldest propaganda.” As someone belonging to the same hierarchy, I didn’t feel attacked at all. Which brings it back to how books are judged based largely on the reader.
Or I could just be feeling entirely too much and reading too much into things as per usual. But seriously, I wish stars weren’t a thing.
Hello Beautiful is available on Amazon.
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