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Summary: Live the life of your choosing
Review: "Within Arm's Reach" is the story of four generations of the McLaughlin family. The novel explores the family's relationship by way of first person perspectives from various family members. Catherine is the family matriarch and the person whose expectations the others try to live up to. The daughter of Irish American immigrants, Catherine is raised with strict catholic beliefs and the notion that individual strength is paramount to her and her offspring's survival. The loss of three children steels Catherine's beliefs and results in a family that is strong but lacks bravery. The family's love for one another is generally expressed in terms of control and restricts the emotional and spiritual growth of the family. Kelly, the oldest of Catherine's children has become a successful business woman but lacks a close relationship with her daughters and husband. Jealously and envy are the primary emotions displayed among Kelly and her siblings rendering their relationship distant and emotionally void. Gracie, Kelly's oldest daughter becomes pregnant out of wedlock. As Catherine works to reconcile her relationship with her deceased parents and husband (through visits from the dead and visions), she hopes that the pregnancy will reunite her family and strengthen their bond.
Napolitano has written a well drawn story of a family whose love has parlayed its members. The language is clear, concise and imagistic. The characters are well flushed out and believable. Overall, the novel was enjoyable and worth the time spent reading it.
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Summary: A fascinating study of a family
Review: Ann Napolitano's examination of the McLoughlin family dynamics is highly scintillating and impressive. Each character is understood from both the first person and third person perspective, thus lending a true three dimensional view of each family member. The novel seamlessly weaves together the family's sorrow, disappointments and triumphs with empathy and accuracy. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: A visit with friends
Review: Ann Napolitano's first book is absolutely wonderful, and I look forward to further works. Every reader will see a little of themselves in one of the vibrant characters. Reading Within Arm's Reach was like a visit with family and friends. I absolutely recommend this book - I couldn't put it down!
Rating: 
Summary: Angst-ridden!
Review: Ann Napolitano's WITHIN ARM'S REACH is a hard book to get into, mainly because of the structure. It's written in first person with multiple viewpoints. Just when you get used to one, that character disappears for twenty pages and sometimes more.
The reason Napolitano chose to structure her novel this way is because the story is about a family rather than one single protagonist. These are the McLauglins and the Learys, an Irish-American family with more in common than they realize.
At the beginning Gracie Leary, a member of the third generation, discovers she's pregnant by a boyfriend she was just about ready to dump. Gracie has been promiscuous since she was fifteen, so no surprise there. Twenty-nine-year-old Gracie works for another ex-boyfriend as an advice columnist. As a result, it's hard to believe how bent out of shape her family gets when they discover she's in the family way.
Gracie's grandmother, Catharine McLauglin, is the center of the family, but she's failing. She has a car accident, then later falls and breaks her hip. She's thrilled that Gracie is pregnant; she feels children will revitalize the family. She's has nine children herself, three of whom died at birth or very young. She also has visions of her dead children and her Irish mother, whom she'd always considered crazy. Catharine's mother was about the most interesting character in the book. During lightening storms, she'd hide in the closet and say her rosary.
Lila, Gracie's younger sister, is a medical student with a photographic memory. She has whizzed through the first two years of med school but is having trouble with practical application since she has no bedside manner.
Kelly, Catharine's daughter, is having an affair with her husband's best friend. Napolitano's theme that family members are more alike than dissimilar is best illustrated when we compare Kelly and Lila. Kelly also has a photographic memory. She also prefers to be alone. She goes so far as to rent a motel room for the purpose.
Louis, Kelly's husband, is a real estate speculator and construction contractor who loses one of his men in a fall. He feels responsible and it's tearing his marriage apart.
The last major character is Noreen Ballen, the wife of the man who died in the construction accident. She is hired to nurse Catharine. She is also one of the little Irish kids that Catherine sees in one of her visions, all thirteen of them tied to a tree by their overstressed mother. Symbolic or what?
Most of this is pretty depressing. I couldn't find anyone to identify with. Most of these people are unrelenting sad sacks. It's a telling point when the most interesting character is already dead.
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Summary: First Lines
Review: I believe in the power and the promise of first lines. And the first sentence of Ann Napolitano's novel, "My grandmother gave birth often, which I suppose increased her odds for tragedy." drew me right in. Have your ever had a grandmother? Have you ever been a grandmother? How can you resist!
The promise of the first line is fulfilled in a thoughtful, delicate, and moving story told in the many vioces of three generations with memories of more.
I couldn't put the book down, but I was sad when it was finished. I await Ann Napolitano's second novel.
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Summary: Family Saga
Review: I enjoyed this book. I liked that the story was told from six different points of view as the reader was able to delve into the character's thoughts and reasons for their actions. The family itself is going through its own changes. The matriarch of the family, Catherine, is the glue that holds the family together. She has been a strict guardian for the family and is now failing healthwise. It is during this time that she discovers that maybe she could have done things differently; life is for the living, enjoy your family while you still can. We are able to see Catherine as a real person through the frequent flashbacks. She is a woman who has survived a great deal. Her own children and grandchildren, most notably Gracie and Lila are suffering their own setbacks on the road of life. Gracie is a bit of a lost soul, finding her worthiness only in the arms of men. When she discovers that she is pregnant, her life is turned upside down. Lila is the "smart" one, she is in medical school but feels that it is not her true calling in life. She is disappointed in herself in a number of ways and when she finds someone she can be herself with and possibly love, she attempts to turn away having felt isolated for so long. Each member of this family is undergoing their own transformation. Each is on their own path to find themselves and to discover what it is that really makes them happy. Unfortunately, since they are not a close knit family they cannot confide in each other. They are uncomfortable amongst their kin and have no idea how to communicate with one another. Fortunately, Catherine's presence and attention to this fact and Gracie's pregnancy may turn this family around. The baby, not yet even born, may be the link to uniting a family that has been so far divided.
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Summary: Every family has a McLaughlin member
Review: I was wrapped up in this book from the very first chapter. Every character was like seeing a same problem from a different view point, a different generation, a different perspective. I began to think like I was getting to know this family. Was Kelly finally loosening up? Would Louis get over his guilt and see beyond his grief? By the second half of the book I wanted to hear the story from Ryan's viewpoint, Angel's and even Maggie's. When it came to the last chapter I felt like the family was driving away and I wasn't going to see them again. I wanted to know what Gracie's decision about marriage would be. What would Lilly do with her future? A touching book that grips your heart and wants your to pay more attention to the dynamics in your family.
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Summary: Every family has a McLaughlin member
Review: I was wrapped up in this book from the very first chapter. Every character was like seeing a same problem from a different view point, a different generation, a different perspective. I began to think like I was getting to know this family. Was Kelly finally loosening up? Would Louis get over his guilt and see beyond his grief? By the second half of the book I wanted to hear the story from Ryan's viewpoint, Angel's and even Maggie's. When it came to the last chapter I felt like the family was driving away and I wasn't going to see them again. I wanted to know what Gracie's decision about marriage would be. What would Lilly do with her future? A touching book that grips your heart and wants your to pay more attention to the dynamics in your family.
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Summary: One of the best books of 2004.
Review: This is a beautiful book. It deserves to be read by anyone who loves great writing. It deftly and insightfully weaves the different stories of the McLaughlin family into a rich and deeply satisfying tapestry.
The novel is written from the subjective perspectives of six people, bound together by ties beyond their choosing. Like all great writers, Napolitano displays a manifest affection for her characters, and it becomes an affection we share. Notably our sympathies shift throughout the novel, as these are real human beings, drawn with the skill and attention they deserve.
I read Within Arm's Reach in one sitting. It is exquisitely written, with an ending that feels true and yet emotionally satisfying. With this remarkably accomplished debut, Napolitano can stand proud in the company of Ann Patchett, Alice McDermott and even John Irving.
This is Napolitano's first novel and her future looks extremely bright, not to understate the fact that she has clearly already arrived.
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Summary: A fascinating and memorable character study
Review: When three generations of the Irish-American McLaughlin clan come together for Easter dinner, everyone is on edge. "We are family, but we have very little in common except that we are all terrible at small talk," notes medical student Lila. Gracie, Lila's sister, is even more nervous about this family gathering than usual. Gracie is hiding a big secret --- she's pregnant and unmarried. In addition to Gracie's dramatic secret, other members of the McLaughlin factory harbor secrets no less transformative than the one Gracie holds.
In six distinct voices, Ann Napolitano skillfully brings these secrets to life. There's Kelly, Gracie and Lila's mother, who so desperately longs for her own identity that she rents out a motel room where she can feel utterly herself (and, later, where she can bring her lover). There's Lila herself, a brilliant young woman whose photographic memory served her well in medical school but can't provide the bedside manner she needs to be a successful physician.
Most memorable is Catharine, the matriarch of the family. Wise, instinctive and haunted by the deaths of her own babies years ago, Catharine hopes that Gracie's new baby will mean a new beginning for the family. As she remembers her past and looks toward the future, Catharine sees figures from the past. Are they visions, as Catharine claims, or a series of small strokes as her pragmatic family fears?
Lila fears that her generation has lost the drama, the vibrant stories of her parents' generation. "Our problems were normal and boring; we couldn't come up with one knee-slapping story among us. We had fewer brothers and sisters, fewer brawls, fewer secrets." The stories told by Lila and Gracie, though, as well as the impending arrival of the next generation, seem to indicate that the McLaughlin family saga is far from over.
WITHIN ARM'S REACH is a rich and multi-faceted character study. Each of its narrators has a unique voice and a memorable story to tell. As the McLaughlin family story unfolds, its tellers overlap (and sometimes contradict) viewpoints, giving their own accounts of events. Although there are few surprises or revelations in the plot, the real treasure of this rich first novel is the depth to which we come to know these characters. Much like families in real life, these characters are often imperfect, sometimes maddening, and always fascinating.
--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
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