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There are currently 28 member reviews
for All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
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Mary Lou F. (Naples, FL)
Choices
Each chapter is written by one of the characters which gives the reader how each make a choice in the years involved in the story. Very good read.
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Roe P. (Massapequa Park, NY)
INDEED UGLY AND WONDERFUL THINGS
Indeed, Wavy, the main character in this book does experience every ugly and wonderful thing...At the start of the book she is a young girl of 8, but her life is full of "adult" experiences. She is a troubled child and as she grows up some terrifying experiences are part of her life. This book is sometimes difficult to read because of the horrific things that happen around Wavy...but she is a survivor and beats the odds. A love story, a drama, even a little mystery surrounding her younger brother can be found in Ms. Greenwoods novel. I recommend it and found myself wanting to spend more time reading so I could discover Wavy's future....
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Kenan R. (Liberty, MO)
Wow - Just Wow
This is a finely crafted, beautifully written book about a very ugly world. The love story of Wavy and Kellen is definitely not the stuff of dreams. It is the stuff of life and the story of how two people can love each other enough to rise above all the pain and brutality of their surroundings and save each other in the process. At many times I was made uncomfortable by the burgeoning sexuality of Wavy, and the wildly inappropriate actions of Kellen and Wavy. Perhaps because their world was so devoid of a moral compass it was easier to deal with what in any other situation would be simply unacceptable. It was critical to have multiple voices narrating events to provide balance - sort of a "Greek Chorus" for the reader. I devoured this book - every ugly wonderful bit of it.
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Doris R. (Snellville, GA)
Ugly and wonderful, beautiful and heartbreaking
When I first started this book, I wasn't sure I would finish it. The ugliness this little child was enduring was hard to stomach, but I quickly was taken in by the beauty of her spirit. She is a survivor, and I was buying into her story. I had to know the ending.
Ms. Greenwood has created a story that questions everything you ever thought about relationships. What is appropriate? What is inappropriate? Mother/daughter, husband/wife, teacher/student? Underage girl/older guy? Sister/sister, brother/brother? Evil and good can show up anywhere.
She allows the story to be told through every character's first person experience. That's a style I really enjoy.
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Barbara G. (Lisle, IL)
What Is Love?
The characters and this well-written and haunting story will stay with you long after you reach the final paragraph. At the beginning, you may not want to continue reading because the situations are so off-putting. Wavy, the focal character, is nearly mute, speaking monosyllabically, so traumatized by her bi-polar, self-centered and indifferent mother and her physically abusive meth-dealing father with his own harem. The only bright point in her life is Kellen, a giant, tattooed motorcycle mechanic twelve years her senior from his own alcoholic, abusive family. Seeing how she's treated, he steps in to buy her clothes and shoes, pay her school fees and makes sure she gets there, and becomes her friend. There are definite questions of whether their relationship is pedophilia, but the reader will have to decide what constitutes love after getting to know them and the situations in which they find themselves.
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Carm D. (Omaha, NE)
All The Ugly And Wonderful Things
Oh my, I thought I was going to dislike this book. I was very wrong, it is very well written, the author knows her subjects very well.
The story line moved so fluidly, I found myself rooting for characters that I had no intention of liking.
The title UGLY and WONDERFUL says it all. I couldn't put it down. The moral..don't rush to judge what you do not know or understand. Can't wait for the movie!
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Amy W. (Annapolis, MD)
Just Beautiful
Have you ever read a book that was so beautifully perfectly written that you just had to put it down every once in a while to savor the words? That is this book. I don't want to say too much about the plot because part of the beauty of this book is learning how the story unfolds...
One of the unique aspects of this book that was perfectly done was the narration. It is very difficult to change narration's without breaking the flow in the story but somehow Bryn Greenwood is able to do it in a way that adds to the story.
I highly recommend this book.
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