All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood Review

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

4 out of 5 stars

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publishers down at Thomas Dunne books for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest and original review.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things Review

“...if you knew the constellations you would never get lost. You could always find your way home.”

Wavy, an emotionally abused and lonely eight year old girl finds love and home in the most unusual place, or rather, the most unusual person: an enormous twenty-six year old motorcycle rider who also, subsequently, finds home and love in her. 

Above all else, this is a tale about true and everlasting love, the kind that lingers after a first kiss, or impatiently jumps within the depths of your soul, the one that refuses to even think about going away… even after all this years…

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things does raise questions about what ’kind’ of love is real, what ’kind’ of love should and should not be allowed, and who gets to ’allow’certain kinds of love?

Can another human being tell you what you're feeling is or isn't love?

Do we feel love, the sudden dopamine rush, the electric feeling that runs down our skin, the sparkle that turns on in our eyes, in different ways?

And why is love, the one emotion that should equate to the feeling of freedom, often restricted?

Why are we afraid to just love each other?

What is holding us back?

Our past.

As humans we are doomed from birth to dwell in the norm, but some of us dedicate our lives to trying to make sense of the unusual, the weird, and the different.

And yes, sometimes the unusual can be dangerous, sometimes the weird can be irksome, and the different can be… wrong.
But we are so afraid of these outcomes that some of us don't even try.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things does make you think. In fact, it makes you think across the barriers and boundaries of the norm. And that is what literature is for, to make you enjoy your story and to then think about it.

Written beautifully and with care, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, proves that once again, we are just humans after all, and that after pain and hurt, some of us need someone to hold on to, to love and to care for, and some of us need that feeling to be reciprocated back.

You could tell by the ending that the author loves these characters more than the story-line itself. Don't be put off by the lovey-dovey ending (even though I lean towards the more dramatic, or the more simplistic), it does not take away from the struggle and pain these characters had to go through. In fact, I feel as if they earned that happy ending.

Whether the book is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depends on the individual, but there is hardly any doubt that this book is important.