L.A. Weather: A Novel
A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick. FORECAST: Storm clouds are on the horizon in L.A. Weather, a fun, fast-paced novel of a Mexican-American family from the author of the #1 Los Angeles Times bestseller Esperanza’s Box of Saints. 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.
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Community Reviews
It felt like it was a soap opera and while I'm trying to get vested in the characters, I just remember saying many times, "You've got to be kidding me?! Now this?!" Here are the cast of characters:
Oscar – the weather obsessed patriarch of the Alvarado family. He desperately wants to rain. He just literally checked out and after the best drowning incident, he drove away feeling nobody would even miss him. His wife however, is tracking his movements via GPS and credit card usage. He only disappeared from Tuesday through Sunday, then he came back home to Keila screaming at him exclaiming the girls were worried sick. He's Catholic and his wife is Jewish. They raised the girls in both religions. He is Mexican.
He feels going to a therapist is a waste of time. He feels this because he's worried about the drought in LA.
Keila -Wife of Oscars, desperate for a life with a little more intimacy and a little less weather channel. She feels she has no choice but to end their marriage. She gets upset so she takes CBD to cope with things such as when Oscar just decided to leave after the best drowning of the two grandkids and didn't say a word to her. He had promised to try and fix their marriage but that never came true. She is Jewish/Mexican heritage. She wants the therapy but Oscar doesn't.
Three daughters:
Claudia - a television chef with a hard hearted attitude. Husband is Gabriel.
Olivia – a successful architect who suffers from gentrification guilt. Mother of two twins. Both she and Felix decided to go in-vitro fertilization after many failed to achieve pregnancy. She had many miscarriages.
Patricia – a social media wizard who has an uncanny knack for connecting with audiences but not with her lovers. She’s often blindsided and left questioning everything.
Grandchildren:
Twins Diana and Andrea - they got into an accident with a pool and nearly drowned because Diana tried to be a mermaid and Andrea try to rescue his twin sister. They are Olivia‘s and Felix‘s children. Olivia was horrified her father was in the next room watching the blank TV screen and had no idea they're in trouble or missing dieing the frantic search. Leila had averted her attention when she was paying for the pizzas and then her mind slipped.
Dr. Feldman - recommended by Olivia and is a therapist for Oscar and Keila. Keila tells him something happened to Oscar as of last year. She didn't know what but now he's just a shell of who he used to be.
The ending was anti-climatic for me. Others may have found it satisfying but for me, I read it and my hubby heard me saying, "all this and this is the ending?" I felt robbed. I suppose it not the ending I was imagining so I'll just say it wasn't my favorite read. I normally love Reese Witherspoon's picks but for me, this was a pass.
Oscar – the weather obsessed patriarch of the Alvarado family. He desperately wants to rain. He just literally checked out and after the best drowning incident, he drove away feeling nobody would even miss him. His wife however, is tracking his movements via GPS and credit card usage. He only disappeared from Tuesday through Sunday, then he came back home to Keila screaming at him exclaiming the girls were worried sick. He's Catholic and his wife is Jewish. They raised the girls in both religions. He is Mexican.
He feels going to a therapist is a waste of time. He feels this because he's worried about the drought in LA.
Keila -Wife of Oscars, desperate for a life with a little more intimacy and a little less weather channel. She feels she has no choice but to end their marriage. She gets upset so she takes CBD to cope with things such as when Oscar just decided to leave after the best drowning of the two grandkids and didn't say a word to her. He had promised to try and fix their marriage but that never came true. She is Jewish/Mexican heritage. She wants the therapy but Oscar doesn't.
Three daughters:
Claudia - a television chef with a hard hearted attitude. Husband is Gabriel.
Olivia – a successful architect who suffers from gentrification guilt. Mother of two twins. Both she and Felix decided to go in-vitro fertilization after many failed to achieve pregnancy. She had many miscarriages.
Patricia – a social media wizard who has an uncanny knack for connecting with audiences but not with her lovers. She’s often blindsided and left questioning everything.
Grandchildren:
Twins Diana and Andrea - they got into an accident with a pool and nearly drowned because Diana tried to be a mermaid and Andrea try to rescue his twin sister. They are Olivia‘s and Felix‘s children. Olivia was horrified her father was in the next room watching the blank TV screen and had no idea they're in trouble or missing dieing the frantic search. Leila had averted her attention when she was paying for the pizzas and then her mind slipped.
Dr. Feldman - recommended by Olivia and is a therapist for Oscar and Keila. Keila tells him something happened to Oscar as of last year. She didn't know what but now he's just a shell of who he used to be.
The ending was anti-climatic for me. Others may have found it satisfying but for me, I read it and my hubby heard me saying, "all this and this is the ending?" I felt robbed. I suppose it not the ending I was imagining so I'll just say it wasn't my favorite read. I normally love Reese Witherspoon's picks but for me, this was a pass.
Did not care for this book. It was an easy read but the characters lacked depth. Their first world problems in modern day were all self inflicted and tumultuous. Felt like a mix of a modern day reality show and telenovela.
The sisters especially reminded me of the Culpo sisters TV show. Anyway, did appreciate the traditional, straight thinking, sweet nanny Lola.
A soap opera inspired story about wealthy Jewish Mexican Americans living in Los Angeles. Story started out slow, halfway thru picks up. The relationships and drama are a bit far fetched (think melodramatic soap opera like) - was a fun read. Didn’t make me feel attached to any of the characters in any deep way. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend.
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