I honestly didn't connect, or even like, any of the characters. Family drama, divorce, affairs, secrets, stealing embryos, crazy weather - all the makings for a homerun book, but this one struck out for me. this was a book I had a hard time finishing. And I just knew from there this was going to be a book I couldn't put down. There was one - the opening of this book really grabs you. I tried so hard to find some redeeming qualities in this book to push my rating up. I really, really hate rating a book 2 stars. I definitely didn’t-hate it - it had a few redeeming qualities. It was a little over-stacked with over-flowing cornucopia arrangements and stereotyping prose. This book was (yet another) readable novel…interesting ‘enough’ listening -but ‘not ‘wow-great’. His obsession with watching the weather channel was a distraction from the personal rising surges…with all the extended family members. Oscar was worried that he and his wife might not succeed and being able to repair their marriage of 39 years. “What you’re doing to our family, to our marriage, is cruel and uncalled for”, he said to his wife. He was a man who had to get away to gather up his thoughts: Was the type of man who was not good at disappearing, when he disappeared. Oscar, Granddad, Father, Husband….’Patriarch’…. Their family wrestled with ‘impending’ evacuations, a scary accident involving three year old twins, deceptions, marriage strife, betrayal, fears, grief, loss, divorce, births, family standards and expectations, immigration issues, hardships, and love. The Alvarado family-an integrated catholic, Jewish, Mexican American, family (sounding a little gimmicky to me), > proved to be as religiously insignificant as it sounds. Weather”….is much more ‘family’ stormy-, than devastating natural disaster stormy. The monthly weather-was accurate-following our California weather history-at least -but the weather was still more of a background distraction to the family saga at large. Given that I didn’t think Taylor Jenkins Reed addressed the Los Angeles fires, earthquakes, natural disasters with any sincerity in her book - ‘Malibu’ - I was hoping this book would. My daughter, sister, cousins, nephews, nieces, and many friends live in Los Angeles so the title alone peaked my interest. I chose to listen to this book hours before learning that Reece Witherspoon announced “L. “You don’t need to come here and share with us your Jewish guilt” > ouch!!! I recommend this for those who are fans of the telenovela sort of stories. To me, they all sounded sleezy, even the patriarch Escandon who is a good guy. I wasn’t a fan of her narrations of male voices. Corzo is great with the female voices and even one with a French accent. I listened to the audio narrated by Frankie Corzo. I didn’t need to read that interview to see exactly what she did. Times that she channeled the telenovela theme while writing this story. Escandon proves differently.Įscandon also admits in an interview with the L.A. Escandon made the weather the main character, as almost each chapter includes the climate, even though most East Coast people think that there is no weather there it’s a constant temp with little rain. My family is incredibly boring relatively speaking.Īs the title suggests, the weather does figure prominently. In one year, the family endured: a brain tumor, infidelity, a gender-fluid teen, kleptomania, artificial insemination, divorce, subterfuge, hidden businesses, raw sex, near drowning, rape, climate change, and gender politics as examples. This is one crazy soap opera story! Author Maria Amparo Escandon writes an ambitious tale of the Alvarado family. With quick wit and humor, Maria Amparo Escandón follows the Alvarado family as they wrestle with impending evacuations, secrets, deception, and betrayal, and their toughest decision yet: whether to stick together or burn it all down. Each will have to take a critical look at her own relationships and make some tough decisions along the way. Their three daughters-Claudia, a television chef with a hard-hearted attitude Olivia, a successful architect who suffers from gentrification guilt and Patricia, a social media wizard who has an uncanny knack for connecting with audiences but not with her lovers-are blindsided and left questioning everything they know. His wife, Keila, desperate for a life with a little more intimacy and a little less Weather Channel, feels she has no choice but to end their marriage. He’s harboring a costly secret that distracts him from everything else. is parched, dry as a bone, and all Oscar, the weather-obsessed patriarch of the Alvarado family, desperately wants is a little rain. FORECAST: Storm clouds are on the horizon in this fun, fast-paced novel of an affluent Mexican-American family from the author of the #1 Los Angeles Times bestseller Esperanza’s Box of Saints.
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