Get ready to check your assumptions (and your comfort) at the door if you choose to read this heart-wrenching and controversial new book by Bryn Greenwood.

First things first -- this book may not be for everyone. I get that. Readers whose opinions I respect have rated this book anywhere from 5 stars to 0 stars. Some couldn't even finish the book. I had to sit with it for a few days gathering my thoughts before writing this review.

Here's the setting: Eight year old Wavy is the daughter of a drug addicted mother and a father who not only does drugs, but who runs a meth lab, deals drugs and is involved with various and sundry criminal activities. As the most responsible person in the house, Wavy is the one who is primarily raising her younger brother, Donal. These children are witnesses to events no children (or adults) should ever see.

On a good day, when her parents are happy, here's what the house looks like: "They came back laughing and made a mess. Hamburger blood dripped off the counter onto the floor, and Mama and Liam snorted meth off the kitchen table, where it left dust under the metal edge that was so hard to keep clean. They made so much noise. A broken plate, Liam laughing, Donal squealing. Then Uncle Sean turned on the radio and danced Mama around while the potatoes burned."

And on a bad day: "Unlike everybody else, me and Wavy had already been into the farmhouse and seen what Val did before she wrecked. Broken dishes and food all over the kitchen floor. In the living room, the coffee table was split in two like somebody had jumped on it. One of the couch legs was busted off and the cushions were cut open. Lying in the middle of that mess was a used syringe and a pair of lacy panties. Val even went into Wavy and Donal’s rooms, ripped the sheets off the beds, broke toys and tore up library books."

In one of the many times the police get involved in this family situation, a detective tells Wavy to call if she needs anything. Wavy's thoughts stopped me in my tracks : "Deputy Vogel told me to call him if I ever needed something. It’s what they taught in school, too. They said the police were there to help you, but I don’t think they knew what happened when the police came to your house. Cops ruin everything. They kick in the front door, throw people on the floor and handcuff them. They break things and steal things. They lock you in a patrol car, make you spend all night in the police station wearing your nightgown, and then send you home with strangers. That’s why I would never call Deputy Vogel, no matter how much Mama and Liam fought. I’d thrown away the paper with his number as soon as he gave it to me, because I remembered what happened the last time the police came to our house."

Into this situation comes Kellen, a man in his early 20s who is peripherally involved with Wavy's father. Kellen, himself a product of a horrible upbringing, gradually develops a relationship with Wavy and her brother, but primarily with Wavy. He buys groceries for the kids when there is nothing in the house to eat; he helps them clean up after their parents' drug binges; he registers the kids for school when their parents are too stoned to care about them going.

Over time Wavy and Kellen develop a very close bond which moves from something akin to an uncle/niece relationship, to a platonic relationship, to a romantic and sexual relationship when Wavy is 13. And therein lies the controversy.

I would normally consider my beliefs and opinions to be pretty fixed when it comes to the subject of sexual consent and the over sexualization of young girls. Where Greenwood's book succeeds, beyond her superb writing, and depiction of characters and setting, is that it is an excellent discussion book -- one that causes the reader see all sorts of shades of gray and not just black and white.

Like many people here on GoodReads, I read a lot of books each year. Too often books can be predictable or undemanding. Within the first chapter one can say exactly how the book is going to pan out. I was glad to read a book that broke the mold, from an author with great talent.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Dunne Books for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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This was a tough book but I’m glad that I finished it. As I could see where it was heading I just kept saying “No, no, no” and hoping something would change. My heart broke for Wavy and the fact that the relationship with the one person who truly loved her just got so twisted around. It’s so sad that there are just so many children that are in loveless families with absentee or messed up parents. The title pretty much sums up the book. ( )

This review was initially published on my blog. Click here to follow me on beckyrenner.com.

Review of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

I’ve been waiting all year for a book to break my heart, and this is it. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood lives up to its title, showing life in all its light and darkness, all the pain and relief. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is a love story, but I wouldn’t call it a romance novel. It revolves around a girl named Wavonna Quinn, Wavy for short, and her love for Jesse Joe Kellen. This coming-of-age story spans thirteen years, through which Wavy deals with abuse from her parents and psychological trauma as well as the usual trappings of growing up, like school. Throughout these years, Kellen is her rock, her one constant. Sounds pretty standard, right?

The wrench in the works here is that Jesse Joe Kellen is more than ten years Wavy's senior. Jessie Joe fell in love with Wavy when she was eight years old. But don’t worry (I certainly did). It doesn’t get lewd. Greenwood uses her powerful gift with words to give nuance to the narrative, making All the Ugly and Wonderful Things neither a tragedy nor a romance, but a portrayal of life’s hardness and softness that broke my heart and then tried to gather up the pieces.

The most wonderful part of All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is how the characters shine through the prose. The narrative shifts deftly between perspectives, using one perspective per chapter. In one chapter, a teenage Wavy describes the suffering and happiness she sees in others:

“During my junior year, a boy in Amy’s class killed himself. He had terrible acne, purple welts like bee stings all over his face, and he went home from school and hung himself. I could have told him there was no sense in rushing toward being dead. It would find you soon enough, and before it did there were pleasures to make your heart hurt less. If I lay very still in bed at night, I remembered how Grandma’s house smelled. The taste of mint ice cream on Kellen’s tongue. Donal jumping on the bed to wake me up.”

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is not a simple novel with a pat ending. There are no easy fixes. Even after the plot wraps up, none of the characters are unbroken, but it does show us that there are stars in even the darkest sky, tiny pinpoints of light to ease the heartache. In that way, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things shows us what life is like, both painful and extraordinary, full of ugly things certainly, but wonderful things, too.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my unbiased review. ( )

I think the first thing one needs to remember when reading this book is that it is first and foremost a fictional representation of how the cycle of abuse and neglect emotionally, physically and mentally handicaps a person. Put aside for a moment the uncomfortable presentation of pedophilia (no one is denying that is what it becomes), and instead let us examine what these characters encountered before each other.

Wavy has never had anyone show he kindness. Her mother’s mental illness has stunted her both in stature and emotional maturity. She believes that she is dirty, so dirty that she cannot even eat in front of people. She doesn’t speak, not because she lacks the ability or vocabulary, but because she has been taught that silence is her only safety. She recoils and sometimes reacts in violence when she is touched, because touching is dirty, she is dirty. She is completely and totally alone, shuffled between foster homes and family members (who are often times less than enthusiastic to take her on).

Kellen comes from abuse. His father broke his jaw when he was a child, he has known no kind hand. He is not especially attractive nor intelligent, the circumstances of his life preventing him from finishing school and instead pushing him into a sort of lawlessness. He has a vicious and violent temper when he is threatened or seeing someone helpless threatened. He is the exact picture that comes to mind when you think “outlaw biker”.

When Wavy and Kellen first meet, he is laying on the ground after crashing his motorcycle and he describes Wavy as fairylike. She finds help for him. There is nothing sexual or perverse about this first encounter. Later Kellen realizes no one is providing care for Wavy and her brother. No one takes her to school. No one buys groceries. He steps in to help because he feels obligated to Wavy for the kindness she showed him. They develop a friendship...or as much of a friendship as one can when one party barely speaks. Of course, Wavy develops feelings for Kellen that she confuses as romantic. Kellen, knowing these feeling are inappropriate tries not to reciprocate. However neither of these very damaged people have a proper example of what a loving, appropriate romantic relationship is. The only sirens going off in their very confused brains is “this feels good. If it feels good how could it be wrong.”

Of course it is wrong. Of course Wavy’s aunt did the right thing by keeping her from Kellen as long as she could. I don’t think this book is at all trying to debate that fact. However, at the end of the day the true tragedy here is that no one realized the extent of Wavy or Kellen’s mental incapacity to understand love, safety, or appropriate boundaries. The only good thing either one of them ever had was each other - in their eyes they kept each other safe and saved each other time and time again.

This isn’t a love story. It isn’t to be idolized. It’s a damn tragedy. ( )

I am in the minority with this book, but I found it awful.
Maybe if this had been nonfiction it might have been alright, but instead it is fiction. And the reader has to pretend to care about what happens to anyone in this book even though it isn’t true.
If you have been around people with addiction issues you will likely find this book, at best tedious.
The story is told from multiple viewpoints sort of, some are first person some seem more narrative.
For some bizarre reason it takes place in the 70’s and early 80’s, which had no baring on the story except meth wasn’t a major issue then.
And then there is the relationship/love affair the blurb on the book references.
It wasn’t what I was expecting and it is at best very inappropriate, and then gets ridiculous.
But then again being a pedophile is ok in the 21st century since we need to be tolerant of others.
Books that get widespread accolades and attention
Seem to have the following in common.
Not written by a white male
Must be edgy/provocative/ridiculous
Must be told in the past and present
Must be told from various viewpoints
Another thing they seem to have in common is they usually are terrible.
This book meets all of these criteria, and
Terrible is a good word to describe this book.
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