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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Community Reviews
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
Wow.
I have so many conflicting emotions but what I can say with one hundred percent conviction is that the writing is brilliant.
A lot of the subject matter is uncomfortable, taboo, and off-putting and throughout the book I felt my mind constantly at war with my heart.
But when it's all said and done, these characters have been brought to life in such a way that they burrow deep into your soul. You want for nothing more than their happiness and success. To see them mended and made whole.
As beautiful as it is disturbing, this book is not for everyone. It's a love story woven within a tapestry of drugs, neglect, and abuse. It pushes boundaries and makes one question their own moral limits.
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