LA Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon
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Book Overview:
LA Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon tells the story of the Alvarado family as they undergo a tumultuous year of adversity that threatens to tear them apart. We meet Oscar the family’s patriarch as he begins to grow distant and aloof from his wife Keila focusing instead on his obsession with the weather. Keila feeling lonely and emotionally abandoned by her partner threatens divorce.
Their three daughters Claudia, Olivia, and Patricia are devasted by this news and convince their parents to focus on spending the next year working to rebuild and heal their marriage and avoid divorce. Throughout this year we witness each member of the Alvarado clan face difficult challenges in their romantic relationships, health struggles, and secret lives. Will these circumstances tear this family apart or will they be able to lean on each other and survive?
My Review:
I love family drama. Hidden secrets, resentments, jealousy I just love the tension of it all and what these types of situations reveal about the characters involved. So, when I read the synopsis for this book I just knew this was going to be a wild ride. And, while yes it was a wild ride it didn’t pan out for me the way that I expected it to.
When it came to the characters I found them all to be unlikeable lacking complexity and dimension. And while I don’t believe it’s necessary to like the characters in a story to enjoy it or glean a greater meaning from it. I do believe that the author’s intention for this story was to have you at least empathize and feel for the characters which honestly I couldn’t. They were very hypocritical and self-absorbed and I struggled to understand or make sense of their motivations for their actions and behaviors. I never understood what made them tick.
Additionally, there was no growth or progression for many of the characters. While I feel Keila and Oscar have meaningful character arcs in the end I couldn’t say the same for the daughters. We saw glimpses of them making attempts to improve but it was so superficial and Escandon didn’t follow through on the particulars of what happened in each story. So, I didn’t get a satisfactory resolution for many of the storylines in the novel.
Furthermore, I felt that everything but the kitchen sink was thrown into this story. There wasn’t any circumstance or situation that the Alvarados didn’t encounter. From accidental drowning, a surprise medical emergency, infidelity, divorce, kleptomania, a sexual assault survivor, gender identity and sexuality, and infertility. I mean I’m sure there are things that I missed because everything was happening at once. They barely had time to breathe and recover before something else was happening.
From interviews with the author, I’ve gathered that she was inspired by telenovelas when writing this novel, and while I can respect that I feel that the inclusion of so many challenging life events makes the story convoluted. It’s like you don’t have a focal point guiding you on what to focus on and what matters most. Since she’s covering so many different characters with a multitude of complex situations it’s nearly impossible to adequately follow each storyline and provide the proper amount of depth and attention they deserve. Thus, making them feel hollow and half-done.
I found the ending satisfactory but still felt meh about my experience. It didn’t hit the mark for me and I didn’t get to fully understand and connect to the characters the way that I wanted to which is such a disappointment.
Have you read this book before? What were your thoughts let me know in the comments below until next time happy reading!
