Family

Throughout L.A. Weather, the author uses the Alvarado family members' complex connection in order to explore the importance and power of family. At the start of the novel, Keila's decision to divorce her husband, Oscar, acts as the narrative's inciting event. Her decision threatens to break apart the family's historical closeness. In "January," after Keila announces her plan to her daughters, Claudia, Olivia, and Patricia, Claudia makes her parents promise they will "find a couples therapist" and give themselves "one year before making a decision" (28). Claudia's directive, and her sisters' support illustrate how much the three sisters rely upon their close family structure for a sense of stability and support. What the sisters do not expect over the course of the months that follow, is that each of their marriages will soon end, too. Claudia's discovery that Gabriel is cheating, Olivia's fight with Felix over...