Ugly to start with (edition 2011)

John Michael Cummings' Ugly to Start With offers a series of glimpses of Jason's life, scenes which can be sharp or poignant, or both.

The contrasting emotions that these tales provoke are appropriate; what's messier, what's more contradictory, than adolescence. With the world both too-small and too-big at the same time.

This is captured perfectly in the first tale, "The World Around Us".

In this story, Jason is still young enough to measure time in TV shows.

He is arguing with his mother about the length of time that it takes to drive from one town to another, but it's clear that he is not old enough to have made any of the drives himself (only as a passenger).

But he is old enough to want to be able to offer Ernesto a ride home when he spots him walking along the shoulder of the road as his mother drives past.

While his mother debates whether this is a wise move, Jason tells her to back up the car, along the shoulder, so that the man does not need to walk so far in the wind to catch up.

He is old enough to make demands, but he is not old enough to command that they be respected; his mother refuses to concede to this second demand, and only turns to look at Ernesto once he has climbed into the back seat.

Ernesto is "the new artist in Harper's Ferry". The dynamic in the car reveals that many of the people who call Harper's Ferry home are not accustomed to looking far beyond its borders, either literally or figuratively.

They are used to people (i.e. tourists, mostly) visiting them, but most of them seem more comfortable looking inward rather than outward.

Jason's dad -- one of the most significant characters in the collection -- has a distinct set of rules about his house, some spoken openly, some quietly negotiated.

"Dad might have been the orneriest man on earth, but I had to wonder why he didn’t let people in the house all the time." (from "Two Tunes")

Most of the boundaries in the stories are understood rather than declared; much of the tension surrounds those boundaries being crossed.

(For more on these boundaries, and a longer response to the work as a whole, you can read on here.)

Jason tries to find ways to make his life better than it is now. Ugly to start with means his young life with his family and area he lives in has always been a little ugly. Each stories captures pieces Jason’s will to climb out of a dark hole or him getting pushed back in.

These short stories were very different from what I have read in the past. Although they are dark I was still wrapped up into Jason’s life that I could not stop reading. Even after I finished I was hoping for more. Probably the story that sticks with me the most with, Shanice, a black girl he gets a school project to draw her for art class. I felt I was really there with them just listening to their conversation. I was sorry when the book ended especially since it seemed it was on a cliff hanger. Eager to see what comes next. ( )

Brilliant, pure and true.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for the mature reader.

The reader is "there," feeling and living the pages of the stories. It is raw in its honesty of Jason, a teenage boy experiencing life in a unique setting, but, for many, not in so unique circumstances as it covers many experiences young people face and often leave unspoken. It is a story written in a series of short stories that pulls together a common theme of a teenager's dreams struggling against the realities of his life ending with an uneasy hope and a softly whispered, "wow." ( )

Check out my review here: http://thepaige-turner.blogspot.com/2012/08/ugly-to-start-with-by-john-michael.h...
Ugly To Start With is, by far, unlike any other book I have ever read. The book doesn't have a definitive plot and is, rather, a collection of short stories that are told through the point of view of Jason Stevens. Jason is a teenager growing up in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia in the 70's and throughout the short stories we see how he explores many different aspects not only of himself, but of his town, and the social pressures surrounding him and his family.
I really liked this book! I don't really read short stories, and I've certainly never read a book that had short stories that were all strung together, but it worked! It felt like the story was moving faster and since it was a looser style of writing, more adventures were told. I think if this book had had a singular plot then we wouldn't have discovered as much as we did about Jason, his family, his town, and most importantly, his own thoughts surrounding all the events that he encountered.
Jason has such a fresh way of telling things like they are, but he still has a boyish innocence that leads him to making mistakes (isn't that how all teenage years are though?). Was I able to relate to Jason? Not too much, mainly because he grew up in a different time period, but he was still easy to root for and I wanted to see where his follies would take him.
The end was a little bit of a cliff-hanger for me! I was disappointed that I couldn't learn what was going to happen next, but that left room for me to fill in my own fantasies about what Jason would go on to see and experience. Maybe it wasn't a cliff-hanger then, but more of an open-to-interpretation sort of ending.
Of course Jason could be a snob at times, but he always had his reasons for his actions. As a struggling artist, who has to put up with his ornery father, and neighborhood of gossiping women and no-nonsense men, Jason lives a very confused life it seems. For this reason he is often confused about which action to take in certain situations, but this leads to a more exciting stories of ups and downs.
This was such a quick and easy read and I flew through the book because I always was curious as to what crazy situation Jason would get himself into next. I would definitely read more books like this if they're out there because this really made me appreciate short stories more. This was also a great historical fiction read! ( )

The story is set in the 1970s. His father was a tipical man of history - you know, like only the man has a say in everything. The wife was closed in the kitchen when someone arrives at their home. He was kind of mean to their children. Uh, I didn't like him. But at least his mother stood up at one point and I was glad about it.

The writing of this book is really good. The author made a good job with it ;) The story on the other hand, well, it's a story I've never came across. It's different. And the point of view of the main character was.. disturbing. To him, everyone is a fool. His friends. Other people. I think the only person he has a good relationship is his mother. As an almost psychologist I had a hard time connecting with him.

The main character, Jason, is well, in my opinion kind of weird. There was a chapter with a cat. You all know what a kitty person I am, and when I saw how he didn't like his cat anymore because she became ugly - meaning - she fought a lot and and her fur wasn't perfect anymore. I was shocked. I was petting my cat and reading and then I just stared at my cat and thought, my dear Muri, you will never ever be ugly to me. And also, in one chapter the father of two sons, which were kind of friends with Jason, had been accused of sexual harassment. And Jason shown no empathy at all. He was laughing at them. And I was like "What? You can't laugh at people who are suffering". Really, I didn't get him.

I've read only half of the book, because I couldn't connect with the story or the main character. BUT, I must say, that this book isn't my genre or any kind of genre I've ever read. I usually read different kind of stories. So people interested in reading about history, small town life and the difficulties about growing up would love it! This book, interlaced with 13 short stories also won an award after all :) So, I guess it was me, because I've found it really difficult to connect with the main character and reading about history really isn't my thing :P