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Alissa

Alissa

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things - Bryn Greenwood 4.5 stars. It takes, I guess, intelligence and empathy to pull off a book like this.

This story is a departure from my usual reads, I rarely read contemporary fiction and I was forewarned it dealt with very serious themes which I cannot even apply the word “controversial” to, because it would imply the possibility of debate. Maybe that was the attraction, maybe that was the risk since I'm very judgemental when a book tackles disturbing subjects.

Point is, this novel had the potential to be a huge disappointment and instead it turned out very good. The writing and the alternating first and third person perspectives were spot on, so was the gradual unravelling of Wavy's behavior.
Let me get this straight: I devoured it. The story was sweet and painful and impossible to read detachedly, the events slowly brought me to sympathize with the main leads and I consciously let them.

I had some minor issues with the ending because it’s hard to make room for allowances, but my experience with this book was, at the same time, most fulfilling and emotionally draining.


I mostly liked high school. I liked learning things. How numbers worked together to explain the stars. How molecules made the world. All the ugly and wonderful things people had done in the last two thousand years.