All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel
- A New York Times and USA Today bestseller
- Book of the Month Club 2016 Book of the Year
- Second Place Goodreads Best Fiction of 2016
A beautiful and provocative love story between two unlikely people and the hard-won relationship that elevates them above the Midwestern meth lab backdrop of their lives.
As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It's safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight. Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house, until one night her star gazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold.
By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery. When tragedy rips Wavy's family apart, a well-meaning aunt steps in, and what is beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world. A powerful novel you won’t soon forget, Bryn Greenwood's All the Ugly and Wonderful Things challenges all we know and believe about love.
31 Books Bringing the Heat this Summer —Bustle
Top Ten Hottest Reads of 2016 —New York Daily News
Best Books of 2016 —St. Louis Post Dispatch
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Readers say *All the Ugly and Wonderful Things* by Bryn Greenwood is a dark, emotionally raw novel with complex, vividly drawn characters and immersiv...
This for me was a modern Lolita-esque story set against a trailer park and meth lab backdrop - I will not forget this love story of Wavy and Kellen anytime soon and while it may have disturbed some readers and/or filled them with dread and/or relief for the legal system/protection of minors - I found this to be a very real, raw and utterly immersive love story - exploring the idea of the comforting familiarity between two souls and the physical restrictions (or lack thereof) that jeopardizes what is pure and misunderstood by society's standards and expectations
I couldn't fault this because I didn't read it or understand it as 'wrong' or 'abusive' or 'exploitative' - this will definitely divide readers and makes for great booktalk
thenextgoodbook.com
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
344 pages
What’s it about?
Wavy is the daughter of drug dealers. When the story opens she is an 8-years-old master of staying out of the way. Wavy does her best to look after her little brother Donal, and spends her time gazing at the constellations in the sky. Over time she forms a strong bond with one of her father's henchmen- a bear of a man named Kellen. Over the next few years Kellen will become the only adult she trusts and loves. When Wavy's aunt is called into the situation- she sees this relationship in a totally different way. What Wavy sees as the most beautiful thing in her life, the world views a different way.
What did it make me think about?
This is a most unusual love story. Something about this book reminded me of The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. I read that book years ago so I am not sure what triggers the comparison, but I liked them both. Two very unusual love stories.
Should I read it?
OK- so I really did like this one. It was so different than anything else I have read lately. The beginning and end were really strong for me- but I must admit to getting slightly bogged down in the middle of the book. I gather that Bryn Greenwood's mom is a recovering addict and the details in the book ring true. I would recommend this book, especially to anyone who likes a good romance. Be warned though- this is a different romance than most of us are comfortable with...
Quote-
" 'Everything's going to be different this time,' she said.
The first two weeks at The Program, it was different. She was Good Mama and followed the rules. She washed our clothes and put them away in drawers in the new apartment. She cooked dinner. She didn't hide in her bedroom and smoke her pipe like she did before she got arrested.
Then she woke up Scary Mama instead of Good Mama, and I knew things weren't going to be different. I never knew which Mama she would be when she woke up."
If you liked this try-
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
344 pages
What’s it about?
Wavy is the daughter of drug dealers. When the story opens she is an 8-years-old master of staying out of the way. Wavy does her best to look after her little brother Donal, and spends her time gazing at the constellations in the sky. Over time she forms a strong bond with one of her father's henchmen- a bear of a man named Kellen. Over the next few years Kellen will become the only adult she trusts and loves. When Wavy's aunt is called into the situation- she sees this relationship in a totally different way. What Wavy sees as the most beautiful thing in her life, the world views a different way.
What did it make me think about?
This is a most unusual love story. Something about this book reminded me of The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. I read that book years ago so I am not sure what triggers the comparison, but I liked them both. Two very unusual love stories.
Should I read it?
OK- so I really did like this one. It was so different than anything else I have read lately. The beginning and end were really strong for me- but I must admit to getting slightly bogged down in the middle of the book. I gather that Bryn Greenwood's mom is a recovering addict and the details in the book ring true. I would recommend this book, especially to anyone who likes a good romance. Be warned though- this is a different romance than most of us are comfortable with...
Quote-
" 'Everything's going to be different this time,' she said.
The first two weeks at The Program, it was different. She was Good Mama and followed the rules. She washed our clothes and put them away in drawers in the new apartment. She cooked dinner. She didn't hide in her bedroom and smoke her pipe like she did before she got arrested.
Then she woke up Scary Mama instead of Good Mama, and I knew things weren't going to be different. I never knew which Mama she would be when she woke up."
If you liked this try-
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
We are introduced to Wavy as a five-year-old who has landed in her Aunt Brenda's house after both of her parents have been arrested. (Wavy's mother Val is a drug addict who cares about little in life, and her father Liam is a neglectful meth manufacturer and drug runner.)
At first glance, Wavy is an odd duck, rarely speaking a word, refusing to eat in front of anyone, and shunning any physical contact. She appears to "have a screw loose", but given time and patience a person will find that there is a method to her madness, and brilliance behind her baffling behavior. She's mature beyond her years, and possibly even a genius, and there is deep emotion bottled up under that still surface.
Things don't go well at Aunt Brenda's, whose rigid personality doesn't mesh with this odd duck who does nothing normally. With Brenda at her wit's end, it is Wavy's grandmother who steps up and takes in Wavy. She is everything Brenda is not, accepting Wavy for who she is, reasoning out what will work with her wacky behavior. Things are good, but they can't last. Wavy's mother gets released from jail, and it is back to an invisible life with a mentally unstable mother.
Once her father is released from prison, it isn't long before Wavy finds herself in the position of big sister to new baby Donal, and before long she is more of a mother to Donal than their own mother.
Wavy meets 24-year-old Kellen (her father's co-worker) on a day she thinks is her 8th birthday, but doesn't know for sure as she doesn't have a current calendar. Kellen wrecks his motorcycle after being startled by the beautiful little girl walking out of a field in the night, looking like an angel. A relationship quickly builds between them, as he becomes her protector and friend, and she becomes something of a caretaker of him, like a wife or mother.
Through the years, Wavy and Kellen are constants in one another's life-- two lost ships gravitating toward one another, one finding stability in the other.
Wavy teaches Kellen about astronomy, pointing out and reciting the names of the constellations in the sky, and Kellen becomes her home. They become family.
When Wavy is in high school, we learn where the title for the book comes from, but uncertainty and loss continues throughout Wavy's childhood, and she eventually finds herself lost without Kellen.
This is a unique novel that you hesitate to even pick up, as the subject matter seems so distasteful, with what seems to be a predatory man and an impressionable young girl. Interestingly enough, the tables are sort of flipped and Wavy is the predator and Kellen the impressionable one. She is an old soul, and while Kellen grounds her, I think that Wavy expands him and his world with her big intellect and powerful love.
As I began the story, I was intrigued to see whether the author could accomplish making the male character likable, and their relationship acceptable. I thought she did a great job of walking a line, taking you to the edge of "unacceptable" and only making you "uncomfortable".
I must agree that I think that is one of the things that made me uncomfortable with this story-- it was how natural their relationship felt, how "right" it seemed, and then the mental reminder of how young this girl was and how inappropriate their relationship would be under any other circumstance. But in this circumstance, in the desolation of her heart and the emotional abandonment and abuse, it felt "right". I became grateful that Kellen was there for her, that he took care of her when no one else did.
My final word: I loved this story! I loved the author's writing style which was easy-to-read, but lyrical at moments. She took on the daunting task of how to make a man that could (or even should) be viewed as a pedophile and make him likable, and how to take an uncomfortable relationship and make it feel not only comfortable, but even fated and necessary. It makes you (or I think at least most) see that Kellen is not really a pedophile-- he is not a predator of children, not a threat to children, and in fact Wavy was more the predator, and Kellen her savior. And yet it still feels uncomfortable to say that, because my mind says "this is wrong" while my heart says "this is right". Kellen and Wavy were as fated as the stars they liked to watch and call by name. And in the end, their love feels not inappropriate or dirty or ugly, but instead it is one of the wonderful things.
At first glance, Wavy is an odd duck, rarely speaking a word, refusing to eat in front of anyone, and shunning any physical contact. She appears to "have a screw loose", but given time and patience a person will find that there is a method to her madness, and brilliance behind her baffling behavior. She's mature beyond her years, and possibly even a genius, and there is deep emotion bottled up under that still surface.
Things don't go well at Aunt Brenda's, whose rigid personality doesn't mesh with this odd duck who does nothing normally. With Brenda at her wit's end, it is Wavy's grandmother who steps up and takes in Wavy. She is everything Brenda is not, accepting Wavy for who she is, reasoning out what will work with her wacky behavior. Things are good, but they can't last. Wavy's mother gets released from jail, and it is back to an invisible life with a mentally unstable mother.
Once her father is released from prison, it isn't long before Wavy finds herself in the position of big sister to new baby Donal, and before long she is more of a mother to Donal than their own mother.
Wavy meets 24-year-old Kellen (her father's co-worker) on a day she thinks is her 8th birthday, but doesn't know for sure as she doesn't have a current calendar. Kellen wrecks his motorcycle after being startled by the beautiful little girl walking out of a field in the night, looking like an angel. A relationship quickly builds between them, as he becomes her protector and friend, and she becomes something of a caretaker of him, like a wife or mother.
Through the years, Wavy and Kellen are constants in one another's life-- two lost ships gravitating toward one another, one finding stability in the other.
Wavy teaches Kellen about astronomy, pointing out and reciting the names of the constellations in the sky, and Kellen becomes her home. They become family.
When Wavy is in high school, we learn where the title for the book comes from, but uncertainty and loss continues throughout Wavy's childhood, and she eventually finds herself lost without Kellen.
This is a unique novel that you hesitate to even pick up, as the subject matter seems so distasteful, with what seems to be a predatory man and an impressionable young girl. Interestingly enough, the tables are sort of flipped and Wavy is the predator and Kellen the impressionable one. She is an old soul, and while Kellen grounds her, I think that Wavy expands him and his world with her big intellect and powerful love.
As I began the story, I was intrigued to see whether the author could accomplish making the male character likable, and their relationship acceptable. I thought she did a great job of walking a line, taking you to the edge of "unacceptable" and only making you "uncomfortable".
I must agree that I think that is one of the things that made me uncomfortable with this story-- it was how natural their relationship felt, how "right" it seemed, and then the mental reminder of how young this girl was and how inappropriate their relationship would be under any other circumstance. But in this circumstance, in the desolation of her heart and the emotional abandonment and abuse, it felt "right". I became grateful that Kellen was there for her, that he took care of her when no one else did.
My final word: I loved this story! I loved the author's writing style which was easy-to-read, but lyrical at moments. She took on the daunting task of how to make a man that could (or even should) be viewed as a pedophile and make him likable, and how to take an uncomfortable relationship and make it feel not only comfortable, but even fated and necessary. It makes you (or I think at least most) see that Kellen is not really a pedophile-- he is not a predator of children, not a threat to children, and in fact Wavy was more the predator, and Kellen her savior. And yet it still feels uncomfortable to say that, because my mind says "this is wrong" while my heart says "this is right". Kellen and Wavy were as fated as the stars they liked to watch and call by name. And in the end, their love feels not inappropriate or dirty or ugly, but instead it is one of the wonderful things.
It was good the background of the story well - written. but some grooming going on so be aware of that.
Wow! I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. Stayed up late to finish it last night and I am still thinking about it. It is dark and sad and completely different from anything I've read before. It is the most dysfunctional family times 10. Wavy grows up as the daughter of a drug dealer and parents who can't care for her because they are constantly using. Grandma and an aunt try to help out but ultimately Wavy and her younger brother, Donal, are left to raise themselves at the farmhouse with their mom while their dad is cooking up meth down the road. One day, a bike accident causes an unlikely run-in with Kellen, one of her dad's runners. He is a huge ex-con covered in tattoos but somehow makes a connection with Wavy. Their relationship starts out as a sweet older brother looking out for her, but it doesn't take long to realize more is going on. She is desperate for love, and he is so lonely (has his own miserable childhood). I really don't believe that Kellen preyed on Wavy. If anything, I have such mixed feelings about her. She has such a pitiful childhood that it is easy to see how she can have a germ phobia, eating phobia, won't talk, is rebellious...but at times it was hard for me to like her.
This book is uncomfortable, graphic and disturbing. It will provoke many feelings. Are Wavy and Kellen both victims of unfortunate circumstances? It is heartbreaking and heartwarming too. I will not forget these characters anytime soon.
This book is uncomfortable, graphic and disturbing. It will provoke many feelings. Are Wavy and Kellen both victims of unfortunate circumstances? It is heartbreaking and heartwarming too. I will not forget these characters anytime soon.
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