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All the Ugly and Wonderful Things - Bryn Greenwood

Eight-year-old Wavonna (Wavy) Quinn is the daugther of a meth-dealer knows not to trust anybody, not even her parents. Struggling to raise her little brother, Wavy is the only responsible "adult" around. She finds peace in the starry Midwestern night sky above the fields behind her house. One night everything changes when she witnesses one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold, wreck his motorcycle. What follows is a powerful and shocking love story between two unlikely people that asks tough questions, reminding us of all the ugly and wonderful things that life has to offer.



Well, the blurb was right: a shocking love story. The subject makes it quite hard to review, because I don't want to give anybody the wrong idea. So, to all of you reading this: I do not support these kind of relationships.

"Odd couple that they were, they had a real connection."

So, the subject made this a very ambigiuous story, as it is a love story between a child and a grown man. At first, the idea of a relationship between these two had me worried about what kind of story this was going to become.

But it actually turned out... quite amazing. It had some moments which made me uncomfortable, but the story really was beautiful. As worried as the idea of these two getting together worried me (I mean, a child and an adult getting together... that's something that's uncommon and not accepted), seeing their relationship grow, you could really sense how much they really loved eachother.

"“Love at first sight, huh?” Beth snorted. “How old was she?”
“Eight.”
“That’s creepy.”"

Now, I am not here to encourage these kind of relationships, but I really felt for these two characters. In the beginning, some moments between them reminded me of Eleven and Hopper in season 2 of Stranger Things. Very sweet, well-meant moments between a man and a girl. But as their relationship grew stonger, this comparison faded away very quickly. I realised it was becoming way more of a serious adult relationship than just a relationship between something like a niece and an uncle (they aren't (that would make it even heavier), that's just how I would compare their early relationship to something everyone can understand).

I understood Wavy's aunt's reaction, being absolutely appaled by the fact that these two were actually having this sexual relationship (though Kellen was very apprehensive about this part). I really understood that reaction, it seems quite natural to me. I really understood her view, but I was also really kind of hoping things would work out between Wavy and Kellen. So this, again, was very ambigiuous.

After all, the ending was good. I don't really know what else to say about it. It was just that: good. I know this story is going to stick with me for a very long time. I'm glad I picked it up.

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