Point of View

Throughout the novel, Napolitano relies on the perspectives of William, Sylvie, Julia, and Alice to emphasize themes of interconnection and familial love. Instead of narrating the events of Hello Beautiful from a single perspective, Napolitano choses to intermingle the points of view of several characters. She weaves together their stories and viewpoints, thereby creating a sense of formal and emotional unity. While each of the characters is a distinct individual, their respective stories become constituent parts of a larger whole. Napolitano binds the characters together by using structural closeness to mirror their emotional and thematic closeness. In this way, she continually emphasizes several of the main themes in the novel. Much of Hello Beautiful focuses on the overwhelming love and connection that suffuses the Padavano family; by utilizing various perspectives over the course of the narrative, Napolitano further foregrounds her thematic preoccupation with familial interconnection...