All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

Product Information

Bryn Greenwood: I typically write while sitting on my couch with my dogs. It’s not my favorite place to write, but the dogs seem to like it. I will write almost anywhere, and in fact, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things was written while I was camped out in a friend’s spare bedroom.

Do you sympathize with Amy's point of view? Did you ever do something you considered risky because you were afraid of missing out? Then she discovered the curtains in the guest bedroom, which were what Wavy took to unraveling when she stopped doing it to her clothes. Leslie’s face fell when she saw our cousin, but I wasn’t disappointed. As soon as my mother opened the door, Wavy stepped in and surveyed her new home with a bottomless look I would grow to love, but that would eventually drive my mother to despair. Her eyes were dark, but not brown. Grey? Green? Blue? You couldn’t really tell. Just dark and full of a long view of the world. Her eyelashes and eyebrows were translucent, to match her hair. Silver-blond, it clung to her head and ran trails of water off her shoulders onto the entryway tile. Bryn Greenwood: I’ve tried to focus on talking about the issues that I think are at the heart of the book, most especially consent. People frequently look only at Wavy and Kellen’s relationship, but there are so many other places in the book where the question of Wavy’s ability and right to consent or to refuse consent comes into play. So many adults want to “do what’s right” by forcing her to do or be something other than what she is. As much as we may not approve of the choices Kellen makes, he’s one of the only adults in the book who doesn’t violate Wavy’s consent. It’s important to me to get people talking about that.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and physical ARC to follow provided by the publisher. Endless thanks to both for giving me the opportunity to read something different from ANYTHING I have ever read before.

Call me narrow-minded, conservative, judgmental or stupid if you want to. I’ve read books about killers, mobsters, monsters, outlaws, kidnappers and I enjoyed most of them. But when children are involved, I’m NOT okay with that. and part of me considered calling the authorities and getting him onto some kind of watchlist, but another part of me was naturally intrigued by an author with these kinda balls. with me, balls always win, so greg remains a free man. for now. Feeling dead was better than when my heart hurt. Sometimes I thought it might burn through my ribs while I was asleep, and smolder in the sheets until the whole house caught fire.” Wavy’s story is not a pretty one. We first meet her when she ends up at her Aunt Brenda’s door. Her mom is in prison, no one can take her, she doesn’t really talk, and she hates to be touched. It’s enough to drive anyone crazy. Brenda can’t deal with Wavy. She sneaks out at night and wanders and Brenda is scared that she will drag her daughters down the wrong road with her. She ends up with Grandma but even that doesn’t last. After Wavy was born, Mom didn’t hear from Aunt Val for almost five years. The first news she had was that Uncle Liam had been arrested for dealing drugs, and Aunt Val needed money. Then Aunt Val got arrested for something Mom wouldn’t say, leaving no one to take care of Wavy.

Beyond the Book

Wavy had a chance at a college education and a normal life. The missing piece is she didn’t receive the psychological therapy she so desperately needed. The real tragedy is that children such as Wavy are not rescued from such toxic childhoods filled with abuse and neglect. Not by other family members, not by teachers, not by those in authority. Are there children growing up this way? Sadly, yes.

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. Kellen may not be innocent, but he is the fixed point in Wavy and Donal's chaotic universe. Instead of playing it safe, Wavy has to learn to fight for Kellen, for her brother, and for herself. I will give the author props for writing a controversial book that will stir up dialogues about abuse, consent, and sex. I'm sure it will draw inevitable comparisons to LOLITA, too. But I actually think I liked LOLITA better than this because Humbert was so unambiguously the bad guy, and that wasn't quite as clear in this book. Maybe that makes it a more compelling read for some, but that was what turned me off of it, and it disturbs me a little how many people are shelving this as "romance." The title says it all. You will hold your little heart in your hands and keep blowing on it to make sure it's alive." —The Top Ten Hottest Reads of 2016, New York Daily NewsAll the Ugly and Wonderful Things is the ultimate noir fairy tale, with Wavy as the wounded beauty, small and blonde, abused in body and spirit, and Kellen as the beast, big and hulking but just as broken. The evil father, wasted mother, and other family members, all have their roles to play - and they all impart truths that move the book along at a fast and mesmerizing pace. I was so invested in this book, nothing could pull me away (except when my Kindle died and I couldn't find the charger). I couldn't possibly guess how it was going to end. I didn't care that it was four in the morning. I HAD to know what was going to happen next.