L.A. Weather - María Amparo Escandón - A Review

L.A. Weather
María Amparo Escandón


Author Maria Amparo Escandon writes a seemingly dramatic tale of the Alvarados - a Mexican American family living in Los Angeles. Oscar Alvarado and wife Keila have three adult daughters - Claudia, Olivia, and Patricia.



Claudia is a celebrity chef with a successful cooking show under her belt. Olivia is an architect and has twin daughters. Patricia is a millennial-type social media manager. The Alvarado family comes from money, allowing themselves the luxury and lifestyle that one can imagine but they are miserable in their ways.


The patriarch, Oscar, is suddenly showing signs of retreat and moodiness, a seemingly indifferent attitude which prompts Keila to question their marriage. All Oscar seems interested in is to watch the weather channel, much to his family's annoyance (and also to the reader ). Exasperated, Keila announces to the daughters that she plans to divorce him.

So we assume this book is about marriage and its complications? Not just yet.


The bomb drops at a time when an earlier catastrophe has just taken its toll on the family. The twins of Olivia had nearly drowned in the family pool much to the chagrin and anger of Olivia who blames her parents for lack of proper care. She too soon is at odds with her husband. So is this book about family dysfunctionality? Not really.


Slowly, the individual lives of the daughters come affront. Claudia suffers from a tumour and soon her husband’s reality is revealed. The third and youngest, Patricia begins to question the men in her life.

Supporting characters include their old nanny Lola who is currently taking up a self-proclaimed role of saving their neighbourhood from the greedy upmarket real estate companies - one of which is Olivia's. So is this book about ethnic neighbourhoods losing their houses? Umm,no.


This is a supposedly funny novel seeped in Latin American culture, that looks at a year in the life of one affluent Mexican-American family. But there is hardly time to connect with any one character. And nothing seems humorous here. Did the author mean to have a flavour of black comedy? Well the writing is just too poor and pointless for that. There is a sprinkling of many things at once. Children drowning, impending divorce, too much sex, a secret, memories, some more sex, real estate problems and a successful chef with a tendency to steal things. I mean why?




Weather as a character

The weather does figure significantly in the novel. Escandon made the weather the main character, so much so that Oscar seems to have some worry about the irregular weather patterns, keeping the reader on the edge ( for like 10 pages). But the girls and their problems envelope and cloud (yes pun intended) any climatic notions.


Problems with the book


Hard time finishing
There is nothing to keep going. Every issue is described badly and even the characters seem to be drafted lazily.


TV more than literature
Contemporary authors need to stop writing for TV and Netflix. Family issues, separation and divorce, affairs, secrets, insemination, crazy weather - all the makings for a TV show and hence no literary quality to the book at all.


Character shaping
I didn't connect with the characters (which is my biggest pet peeve with contemporary books) and too many of them.


Too polarized
All men are wrong, all husbands are cheating or useless or ‘ not the type.’
Enough said.

Morally lacking
What exactly is the author justifying here? Its ok to have sex with multiple partners to get clarity in your notion of a partner? Or to check which guy is good in bed? Or that it's fine to drop the plan of separation after thirty plus years of marriage on one fine unsuspecting day?



The storylines keep jumping and one cannot keep track of what or where the direction of the novel is.


Injustice to Latin American culture
Truly, because I have read amazing books over the years.

One good and only good takeway?  Picturesque description of the lovely city of L.A. Thats about it.