Author: María Amparo Escandón
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: September 7, 2021
Book Description:
L.A. is parched, dry as a bone, and all Oscar, the weather-obsessed patriarch of the Alvarado family, desperately wants is a little rain. He’s harboring a costly secret that distracts him from everything else. 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. 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. Each will have to take a critical look at her own relationships and make some tough decisions along the way.
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.
Rating: 4 Stars
Review: This a cross between a family drama with climate fiction. Oscar is the patriarch of the family. He has become despondent and forgetful in recent months. when a near drowning accident occurs with one of his grand child on his watch, it causes his wife Keila to ask for a divorce.
This news takes their three daughters by surprise, and they will do anything to stop this from happening. As each of them revels in this information, they begin to look at their own marriages and whether they want to remain in those commitments.
The book is titled L.A. Weather, so yes the weather is a major part of this story. The cause of so much of Oscar’s problems has to do with the lack of rain. As the book progresses, the author slowly unravels what caused Oscar to act the way he does.
I was going to pass on reading this, but I am so glad I did not. This was a wonderful rich complicated family story. There were a few elements that had me shaking my head but overall, this was a completely enjoyable reading experience for me.
Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Obsessed Bookaholic 