All the Ugly and Wonderful Things - Bryn Greenwood

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

By Bryn Greenwood

  • Release Date: 2016-08-09
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 1,349 Ratings

Description

- 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

Reviews

  • It’s captivating

    5
    By lisasdevotion
    I read this book back when I was in sixth grade myself and I decided to buy and reread the book at sixteen since I think I can understand it more than I did at 12 years old. It has a certain something that makes you want to just keep reading it. Now, I’m aware of the controversial relationship in the book and I don’t think the book at all is trying to romanticize pedophilia. It’s more complex than that if anything. There are lives out there that are just awful and tragic. I don’t think the author at all is trying to say that the relationship between Wavy and Kellen is okay. What happened between them is obviously not okay when she was a minor but neither was the rest of her childhood. Wavy was emotionally stunted and affected. Wavy’s messed up background and the way she acts gears toward the fact that her life was never going to be normal. Including her love life, the love she could have would never be what any of us consider normal. Do I agree with pedophilia and the grooming of minors? No. This book just completely gives you a new perspective on young, vulnerable women who have lived harsh, tragic lives and how they’re forced to grow up too fast. They don’t see what’s wrong or right because they didn’t have guidance or stability since day one. The title of the book says it all. Things are ugly and it is a book that really shows how the world can be. The book is very beautiful and well written yet haunting. You really do need an open mind to read this book.
  • My whole heart!

    5
    By MontMarHam
    This book was amazing. I can understand the controversy over the age difference but when you go through a hard life you mature much faster than others, I speak from experience. This was phenomenal, from the way the author jumped between narrators to give thoughts and sides of all characters… I have nothing but great things to say. I finished this book in two days!
  • Way to romanticize pedophilia.

    1
    By _SimplyHeaven_
    The author captures you with this troubled little 8 year old GIRL. Your heart goes out to her & you’re dying to see if she’s going to thrive despite everything she’s been through. & then you are introduced to the 24 year old MAN who allows himself to catch feelings for a CHILD. I don’t care how innocent it starts out or how the relationship progresses. This book is trying to make pedophilia relatable & it’s absolutely disgusting.
  • Devastatingly Beautiful

    5
    By mamajo2019
    This book was recommended to me and I didn’t quite know what I was getting into. It was heartbreaking and there were many tragic characters, however I couldn’t put it down. There were times it was uncomfortable, but knowing that this life could be someone’s reality had me rooting for them in the end.
  • Breathtakingly heartbreaking

    5
    By DJwafflee rockd
    This book is not for everyone, I think we can all agree on that. The story is controversial, disturbing, and uncomfortable. But all the good stories should make us a little uncomfortable. If we aren’t feeling anything why engage at all? Wavy is one of the most well written characters I have ever encountered. She’s heartbreaking, endearing, and confused. This might be one of my all time favorite books. And again, I understand if it isn’t you’re shot of whiskey. But no one can deny the amazing characters, the descriptive and perfectly written story, and a book that makes you feel.
  • Enthralled.

    5
    By Samantha.91
    I read this book in 24hrs. A lot of reviews have been directed towards the relationship between Wavy and Kellen. Let me say this, for those of us who’s childhood was about survival, this book is for you. You will feel and see so much. For those of you who only read and see the story of a young girl and her relationship with an adult, I’m proud for you. Proud that you had a childhood in which was ignorance from Wavy’s, and many others, struggle. This book touched my soul and challenged me. I hope those that read this book will start with a clear mind. A different perspective to allow it to move you. The events in this book, happen every single day. Let that challenge you. This book is written seamlessly, and I could not put it down. Worth every single star.
  • Sick

    1
    By BuyingNow
    Books basically idealizes a grown Man having sex with a child. I would not recommend this book to anyone. I read books aloud to my wife. We couldn’t make it half threw this one and had to stop reading.
  • So stupid.

    1
    By mer-mom
    I can see that the author was trying to spin a love story that existed past things like age-gaps but it didn’t hit the mark. You just can’t make an 11 yr old getting fingered by a mid-20’s guy romantic. This book is meant to be enjoyed by pesos, and people with no critical thinking.
  • Great book

    5
    By Zoeblu
    I couldn’t put this one down! Loved it!
  • Harrowing read about abuse/neglect&coming of age

    5
    By kaykaybean13
    A story set in poverty based around drugs about a child named Wavy who was deeply neglected, abused and exposed to sexual drugs and adult violence far too young. She falls in love with a man several years her senior while underage and begins to see him as her only good thing in life, her grandmother was deplorable she was used by her father and was often assaulted and attempted to use as a sex worker for money by the several addicts and dealers living on or around her property.