⭐⭐⭐✨
Ann Napolitano’s Within Arm’s Reach is a tender, multigenerational portrait of an Irish-American family in New Jersey, told through the alternating perspectives of three generations of women.
Catharine McLaughlin, the strong-willed maternal grandmother, carries the family’s history and grief; her daughter, Grace, juggles a shaky marriage and the demands of motherhood; and Grace’s daughters, Lila and Meghan, navigate adolescence, first loves, and the slow pull toward independence.
Napolitano’s prose is intimate and perceptive, revealing the small moments and unspoken tensions that shape family life. The shifting viewpoints show how the same events can be interpreted in vastly different ways, depending on where you stand. It’s a quiet novel, more about character than plot, and its emotional truth comes through in those layered, everyday interactions.
That said, the pacing can feel slow, and while I appreciated the depth, I didn’t find it as moving or tightly woven as Napolitano’s later novels Dear Edward and Hello Beautiful. Those works hit harder for me, with more narrative momentum and emotional punch. Still, Within Arm’s Reach is a thoughtful early novel that offers a heartfelt—if gentler—look at the bonds that both comfort and confine us.
** Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for a comp of the book. Opinions are my own.