All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel by Bryn Greenwood (Epub)

Description

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

User’s Reviews

Review “If you’re looking for a dangerous, shocking, and unexpectedly touching story, this is it…This is a book that will shake you to the core.” ―Bustle “31 Books Bringing the Heat this Summer””Captivating and smartly written from the first page, Greenwood’s work is instantly absorbing. Pithy characters saunter, charge or stumble into each scene via raw, gripping narrative. Greenwood slow-drips descriptions, never giving away everything at once.” ―Christina Ledbetter, The Associated Press”This book destroyed me. I have never read anything like it. I came to the end of the novel with my mind-reeling, my emotions scattered, and completely unsure exactly what I did feel about it…but one thing is certain: I felt. Oh hell, I felt. I don’t think I’ll ever get these characters off my mind.” ―Emily May, #1 Worldwide most popular reviewer, Goodreads”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 News”This is one of those books whose story, if you heard about it on the news or glimpsed some sensationalist headline, would be horrifying, but in THIS book, with THESE characters, where you are privy to interior monologues and backstories and a hundred examples of what defines them as people, it makes sense. It’s two damaged people finding something in the other that answers a need, and it’s unexpectedly touching. It’s so, so impressive.” ―Karen, #1 US most popular reviewer, Goodreads”The stirring Bryn Greenwood’s All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, so freakishly good and dangerous that it should come with a warning label… the writing is direct and muscular, a snake with all the slithery danger of a coiled rattler on a hot rock. VERDICT Greenwood (from Kansas, daughter of a “mostly reformed drug dealer”) astounds in creating a world where assorted murderers, felons, and thieves are sympathetic.” ―Library Journal”Bryn Greenwood has handed readers a strange – but strangely grabbing – tale.” ―Harry Levins, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Best of 2016″Greenwood’s haunting novel…is a story that will stay with readers long after the book is finished.” ―Lisa McLendon, The Wichita Eagle”[A] powerful, provocative debut…intelligent, honest, and unsentimental.” ―Kirkus Reviews (STARRED)”An emotionally resonant novel with an unlikely cast of characters you won’t soon forget. Bryn Greenwood’s unique voice and her understanding of human nature offer an amazing tale of family, loss, and love that’s as unpredictable and inspiring as love itself.” ―Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader”Written in lyrical and searingly honest prose, Bryn Greenwood tells a powerful story of love and resilience against the bleakest of backdrops. Like the best fiction, this is a novel that means to disturb and challenge as it forces us to look with compassion on every last one of its flawed, memorable characters. I was captivated from the first page to the last.” ―Patry Francis, three time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and author of The Orphans of Race Point”Gritty and dark and tough and uncomfortable, but it’s brilliantly constructed…Greenwood develops an incredible and resilient character in Wavy. It’s an outstanding debut novel and I am itching for Greenwood’s next book.” ―Kelly Jensen, Book Riot”Greenwood is a gifted writer, and Wavy’s story will stick to your bones long after you put this book down. These characters will fast become friends, and you will find yourself reluctant to leave their ugly and wonderful little world.” ―Madeline Lemieux, Creative Loafing Charlotte”Incredible book alert…Another true page turner as Greenwood takes her reader on an emotional bungee jump that requires you to decide for yourself what you can and can not accept given the grimmest of circumstances.” (5 out of 5 stars) ―Erin Woodward, The Girly Book Club”All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is just that: ugly and wonderful all at the same time. An epic love story…This book will be the birth of a vibrant debate about the law and societal norms as your book club members will truly be divided by the actions of our male lead. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for this one!” ―InStyle UK“Achingly raw and beautifully written, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is both a hypnotic coming-of-age story and a heartbreaking tragedy. Greenwood’s emotional prose and her well-drawn characters immediately drew me in and kept me captivated. I’m still thinking about Wavy, and her ugly and wonderful world, long after I’ve turned the last page.” ―Jillian Cantor, author of Margot and The Hours Count”Bryn Greenwood is so good it hurts. Her writing is lean, precise, elegant and dripping with the telling detail-the understated bit of dialogue that reveals everything.” ―Robert Ferrigno, New York Times bestselling author of Monkey Boyz, Horse Latitudes, the Prayer for the Assassin trilogy and other novels”The author skillfully creates widely varied and original voices… a memorable coming-of-age tale about loyalty, defiance, and the power of love under the most improbable circumstances.” ―Publishers Weekly

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ Do not buy this book. I have never written a review before but this book was so disgusting I feel compelled to warn people. If I could give it 0 stars I would.Is it well written? Yes. For someone who condones pedophilia. I only read to the end because I couldn’t believe that a book so popular wouldn’t end with the victim living a life far from her abuser. I was wrong. Not sorry for spoiling the ending. I can’t believe Amazon is even willing to sell this. It seems like it should be sold by some secret NAMBLA website to justify a man’s sexual relationship with a 13 year old (though the inappropriate activity starts even younger). I am not a prude. Consider myself a liberal feminist (so not some conservative who believes in censorship) but this is awful.I myself wish I had read more of the reviews before I purchased this book and didn’t go by the overall star rating. I’m disappointed with my fellow readers for rating it so highly. I’m about to read “A Handmaids Tale” and feel like I’ll be less disturbed.

⭐ I was so in love with this book at first. The dynamic father-daughter relationship of Wavy and Kellen is heartwarming. As Wavy grows and is protected by Kellen, the reader begins to thing of him just as Wavy did — her protective “gentle giant”. Unfortunately, the author took her opportunity to turn this into a truly amazing “who are we to judge love?” book, and instead turned it into pedophendllia. Love was what drove the reader to smile when little Wavy hugged Kellen, but disgust is what makes the reader shiver when a 28 year old man talks about a 12 year olds boobs. This book is not one that pushes your thinking, that makes relatives uncomfortable at thanksgiving with differing opinions, this is a disgusting book of the grooming of a virtual sex slave, and makes readers uncomfortable for all the wrong reasons. We root for Kellen at first, the author twisting our mindsets into thinking it’s nothing more than platonic, and when it suddenly turns sexual, we are not as disturbed as we should be. A man “marrying” a 13 year old is a molester, not the hero he is depicted as

⭐ I literally had to walk away from this a few times because the relationship was too disturbing. Are we really supposed to be moved by their happy ever after? I don’t care if this is dirt poor meth-labville, Oklahoma. I don’t care if these relationships actually happen. I can’t get OK with tying up in a big pretty bow in the end. I was never rooting for them, I didnt see the ‘romantic’, I saw a lot of needing therapy. A happy ever after would be that she got out of that gutter, did great in school, moved on, had a life of age appropriate relationships, and succeeded despite her past.

⭐ I couldn’t even finish this book. This seems like a book a pedophile would love. The relationship between a child and adult should never be like the one that is described. I can’t believe with all that’s going on in the world right now and the new awareness of victims that this book receives such great reviews. It is alarming.I’m not a huge trigger warning guy unless I think something really warrants a trigger warning but here is one for ya: victims of assault, especially for adults that endured it as a child, read with caution.

⭐ I thought this was a terrible book. The premise of the story is about a pedophile relationship. Graphic details about a child molester isn’t a book I would recommend.

⭐ I had to finish this book, at the expense of everything else in my life. I could not put it down. Is it sad? Yes. Is it disturbing? Yes. Does it hit you in the feels? Yes. The whole premise should be off-limits, but strangely, it’s not. It’s so well written and so compelling that you can’t help but be drawn into this world. No child should be cursed with parents like that, my heart broke for her. Wavy finds some comfort in this stranger, the only person in her life that is looking out for her and her brother. Is this whole relationship wrong? Perhaps, but he is broken as well. Read it and make your decisions.

⭐ I have heard so many good and bad things about this book! After reading a review I just knew this book wasn’t for me. After hearing good things about this book from several book friends I was still not reading. But one day I went on NetGalley, after being in a horrible funk and requested to review. I had this book on my iPad for the longest time and I finally read 4 days before its release. At the 40% mark I found myself NOT hating this book like I thought I would.This book was so different than what I was expecting. Granted the whole falling in love while she was a minor was rough for me. Several times I kept saying she’s a child stop but I also felt their connection. What kind of person does this make me?! Several times I would say aww how sweet but then I remembered Wavy was just a child!!!This book isn’t for everyone and lord knows I didn’t think I would like it but I did. Even though there are some uneasy scenes in this book, the whole book wasn’t based on their taboo relationship. Wavy and her brother, Donal suffered tragedy after tragedy. No kids should have gone through what they did. Every time things got a little better the rug would get pulled from under them.This book truly does show all the ugly and wonderful things in life. The story was one of a kind and I couldn’t stop reading. The writing was excellent. I would have given it 5 stars but the messing around while she was a minor wasn’t cool. This story will definitely stay with me for a long time. I’m happy I forced myself way outside my comfort zone and read this story. I look forward to reading more works from this author.4.5 Stars

⭐ I’ve sat on my review of, “All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel,” for a week or so, as I wasn’t really sure what to write or how to fairly critique the book. However, because I was genuinely taken by this story, I’ve decided I should just dive in, and see where my words take me. (Please note: the story contains triggers for some.)The short and dirty: Wavonna/Wavy is a young girl who lives with extended family because her mother and father live a life filled with drug addiction and mental illness. When her mother is released from jail, Wavy is forced to take on the role of caregiver not only for herself, but for her younger brother, mother and father, as well. The book is filled with a cast of characters including the aforementioned extended family, her father’s various girlfriends, shady business partners, and the one bright spot in Wavy’s life: Jesse Joe Kellen.When I first started reading Bryn Greenwood’s tale, I knew there were themes that would make me uncomfortable. But Ugly/Wonderful is sneaky, quickly sucking me into the story with its brutal realism. When the plot eventually shifted to the questionable – and, yes, inappropriate – relationship between Wavy and Kellen, I was too invested to stop reading.To me, Kellen came across as a bit of a naïve man-child, but there is making excuses for his actions and no romanticizing his character. Impossible considering the descriptions often attributed to him (‘sweaty’, ‘meaty’, ‘pan-faced’). I think these descriptions are intentional on the part of the author. While other reviews have done so, we aren’t supposed to romanticize the relationship between these two. It IS inappropriate; even Kellen admits it to himself several times. So what are we supposed to feel? I’m still not sure because as much as I was repulsed and squeamish during certain scenes, I was also frustrated when Kellen was eventually forced to face the consequences of his actions.How do you both root for and against a monster? And is it even fair to call him that? At some points, I found myself feeling sympathetic for him as much as I did for Wavy.The larger setting of the relationship Wavy has with her parents is equally if not more disturbing, and this is where Green really gets her hooks into you. The book is extremely well written. I suspect the author’s background has lent itself to her ability to write such a credible story. The only ‘problem’ I had was toward the end when Wavy is in college, and we drift from gritty realism to more of a ‘romantic’ pace. This section was a bit too ‘cutesy’ for me with all the back and forth angst in the Kellen storyline, and the dealings with her aunt. Sounds strange to say considering everything that’s happened up to that point, but this was just too pat for me.Greenwood did an excellent job of setting up the chess pieces of this story, and makes reference to all of the ‘ugly and wonderful things’ people do to one another. In the end, I walked away conflicted; loving the story, yet hating some of the actions of the characters. Perhaps that’s the brilliance of her work. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel

⭐ This writer has skill, and I was captivated by the novel at first – but I kept saying to myself about the main characters’ relationship – please don’t turn sexual – and, of course, it did. That is not the problem – that was very realistic – The problem with this novel is that it pushes the reader to root for the “affair” between a girl and a man. He is the only one in the world who treats her kindly and sees her as valuable – he has never been attracted to a young girl before (not realistic) – and he is very good to her. He is a very sympathetic character. AND – the ending!!! After the girl gets a bit older, the man marries her and they are happy! I am not a prude and do not think writing about this type of relationship is taboo – it’s the WAY she writes it – the man is a hero. What a message to send to a young girl who is having a confusing relationship with a pedophile – a girl who desperately needs love and thinks she has found it in him. This novel tells her – yes, he does love you, and you two can live happily ever after. I think this is irresponsible writing that could do damage to vulnerable readers.

⭐ I was intrigued by all the positive reviews for this book. The beginning hooked me in, and I ended up finishing it in one sitting, but for different reasons than the fans. Wavy and Kellens relationship was innocent to begin with, but took a gradual inappropriate turn at some point. I found myself waiting for the plot to redeem itself; by maybe skipping ahead to an adult Wavy before the relationship became romantic in nature. Once the first intimacy happened I knew it was too late for that! I found myself torn between wanting Wavy’s happiness and cheering the aunt on for doing what any adult with a lick of sense would do! In the end I kept with it waiting for Wavy to heal and move on, maybe get some counseling, be able to eat in front of at least her friends or family! I feel like the author in one sense was pushing for a gritty realistic read and in another was asking us to believe in a fairytale ending of happiness. Lastly, since this material involved a child, I have to go here: the description of a sexual act with a child for entertainment is considered child pornography. The only saving grace here is that this particular child is a fictional character. I find it disturbing that in our society love conquers decency. So a good love story between a 25 year old and a twelve or thirteen year old is acceptable as long as penetration doesn’t happen? What the heck people?!

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