All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

Product Information

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.

The fact that Kellen was a father-figure, in many ways, to Wavy for so long made accepting their romantic relationship all that much harder for me. It just was unfathomable to me that Kellen would go there. Who does that? Bryn Greenwood: Certainly there will be more books. I have no idea whether they’ll turn out to be controversial. At the end of the book we could not judge Wavy and Kellen, we just accepted it and all The Ugly and Wonderful Things. Until then I hadn’t known the stars had names. Arm extended, finger pointing, Wavy traced out shapes above her head, as though she were guiding the movements of the stars. A conductor directing a symphony.

Reader Reviews

Nonetheless, this book blew me away. I love a book that can make me feel the way this one did. I'm still feeling conflicted and uneasy with the content. That being said, I'm still thinking about it, and trying to figure out exactly how I feel, days later. That says a lot. Now this is where many readers may become very uncomfortable. It may make you uneasy at times and horrified at others but at the same time you may not feel like you would normally in this situation. But many readers may find it very hard to wrap their brains around certain parts of this ....love story. Yes it did. I never thought before that a 13 year old should have the ABILITY to consent. I make the exception for Wavy. I have a friend who is angry over her 18 year old wanting bodily sovereignty. The 18 year old is a foster child and my friend... - celiap Wow! This was a spectacular book. I devoured this story. Beginning to end, I was completely lost in this disturbing, yet beautiful, love story.

That was my favorite line and moment in a book that was filled with more than a few touching lines and moments.Wavy’s story is not an easy story to read. She grew up with negligent parents and no one who really cared about her. Eight-year-old Wavy keeps to herself and tries to take care of her little brother. But who takes care of Wavy? No one. Until she meets Kellen. Kellen is around twenty when Wavy meets him. Kellen works for Wavy’s father, has tattoos and drives a motorcycle. Kellen becomes the only friend Wavy has and the only person who truly cares for her. Through her neglect and his loneliness, their love blossoms. Don’t get grossed out just yet, when Wavy is a child of 8, it is not a romantic love. Not at all. It’s a true friendship and a real love, without any sex, lust or anything inappropriate. my mother has always told me the secret to a long and happy marriage is by marrying your best friend. she said if you find a love that is respectful, deep, genuine, caring AND it also happens to be with the one person who you want to tell all your secrets, have the most fun with, and who knows you better than you know yourself, well then, youre in for a world of happiness. I was hoping their relationship would remain platonic until the threat of legal action ceased to be an issue. However, for Wavy, sex was a natural extension of male-female relationships. With the adults in her life, sex was always present, spoken ... - kdowney25 I thought this format served to give us even more insight into the story and the characters. In some ways, it reminded me a little bit of Nine Minutes in that I felt like Morgan Freeman was reading it to me.

The only person that cared for Wavy was Kellen. He's older, he's a biker that has done some bad things. But in this world that Wavy lives in, he's an angel. He takes her to school, he buys things she needs for school and just everything. When Donal gets a little older he tags around a little bit too. But he doesn't get treated as bad as Wavy. Wavy is the daughter of a man who runs the meth lab. Her circumscribed world is woefully bereft of anything wonderful; her short life has been a daisy chain of abuse, abandonment, and hopelessness. When we first meet her, she is just a child, already deeply scarred by mistreatment at the hands of her drug-addled mother and drug-producing father. An unlikely rescuer appears in the shape of Kellen, the hired muscle at the lab, an over-sized misfit just as damaged as Wavy - but more than twice her age. Wavy is so starved for love and affection that her heart opens to Kellen, and Kellen cannot help but enter into the relationship she offers him. While uncomfortable, disgusting and often graphic, it is so emotionally confusing because Kellen is not another Humbert. His motivations in his relationship with Wavy are loneliness and compassion, and he is not driven by sexual agenda. In fact, Wavy seems somehow removed from the regular notion of sexuality, existing on a plane where she is not an adult or child, male or female, but simply Wavy. Just herself. Wavy forms an unnatural crush on Kellen. I mean that is bound to happen right? Things just take all kinds of twists and turns from there and I am so glad, so so glad, that after so many years things turn out right. But it was a hard road to get there for many people and some, just didn't make it at all. Wavy is the daughter of a violent man, womanizer and drug dealer, and a drug addicted mother with deep emotional, existential and psychological problems, who transmits to her daughter her fears regarding food and germs.

There was only one thing that was sorta wonky for me in this book and honestly it’s not a biggie because I didn’t even notice until I was half-way though the book. The time period was the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. I don’t remember meth being the drug of choice during that time period. See the thing is…My dad was a drug dealer during that time period. I think this book got into my heart and head so much because some of my past was similar to Wavy’s. I remember being at school and the police officer’s bringing in some drug paraphernalia and it being some of my dad’s stuff. Raids and a fear of the police were nothing new at that house. (Relax-my dad served his time later and my family went even more nuts into religion-but that’s a whole nuther story) My family is a total Jerry Springer wet dream. I feel like the author was trying to make the reader understand that in some cases a teenager can be mature enough to consent to a relationship with an adult. I’m just going to have to disagree on that for a lot of reasons. 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

She must have expected Wavy to fight her, but when she reached for the grocery bag, Wavy let it go. My mother opened it and frowned at the contents. Mr. Arsenikos said if you knew the constellations you would never get lost. You could always find your way home." Kellan es grande y con sobrepeso, motorista y tatuado, ex convicto e hijo de un padre abusivo. No es alguien atractivo, pero es generoso, de una gran personalidad y, lo más importante para Wavy, respeta su espacio y acepta sus silencios sin cuestionarlos. Bryn Greenwood: I mostly avoid them. After all, it’s too late to revise the book to please anyone else. Plus, I remind myself that not every book is for everybody. People who don’t like my book, it’s not for them. As she grows up Kellan stays by her side. He is the person she goes to when she can’t get registered for school because neither of her parents can get their act together to make sure she is going. He stands in when she needs someone. He is the one that protects her.I know you mean well, Brenda. You want to help her. I get that. But when her behavior starts endangering our children, it’s time to choose. We can’t keep her. She’s out of control.” This will be your dresser.” I didn’t want to sound like my mother, like an adult. I wanted Wavy to like me. After I put the clothes in the drawer, I held the doll out to her. “Is this your baby?” Bryn Greenwood: Obviously, my agent and my editor at St. Martin’s Press were my strongest supporters for this book. My agent loved the story enough that she took it to auction. My editor loved it enough that she bought and published it. Neither of them ever suggested to me that I should change it. As for me, the riskier something is the more likely I am to try it. I wrote the book with my whole heart and it never occurred to me to be afraid to send it out into the world. I would rather write books that are problematic but passionate than something I feel lukewarm about.