Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Voted by members as our additional read for the Fiction nominees

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood



As the daughter of a meth dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. Struggling to raise her little brother, eight-year-old 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.

This is probably my favorite book from last year. I love it so much! :)

I really liked it too. I couldn't put it down, nor did I find it offensive like some people might.

I wasn't inspired by the summary, cover and title but I might give it a try as everyone seems to like it.

I felt the same way, Savanes. I'm not sure I'll be able to get to it this month, but I added it because of all the hype and was able to get a Kindle copy on sale a while back.

I loved this one too - def a different kind of story.

This book definitely stirred something in me. I'd recommend everyone give it a try!

Gah, I really want to read this one but real life is kicking my arse in June!

I haven't gotten to it either, Lynn.

Wow, just wow. It was ugly and wonderful all at the same time.

I agree Tracy - it was a memorable one!

Finally got around to this and I loved it ...... one of the best reads of 2017 for me so far. It was ugly and wonderful and I'm pretty sure I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.

For you audio fans out there, I listened to this one and the narrator does an excellent job.

I never did read this one. I almost got the audio, but it went up in price after this was scheduled. I already own the Kindle edition, so I'm being grumpy about the increase in price for the whispersync deal. Now, I'll have to consider it again. Glad you loved it.

@Lynn: Well I guess I definitely need to read it then! ;)

@Kristie: You're so lucky! I didn't even know whispersync existed. It doesn't on amazon.fr But I agree, it su**s that they increased the price!

Oh, I thought that was on Amazon everywhere, Savanes. I had no idea that some people might not know what I was talking about.

I have seen it but not used it at all. I should look into it. How does it exactly work?

I don't actually use it properly. You're supposed to be able to switch between devices and it will find your spot for you. So, you can listen to it on Audible then read on your Kindle and not lose your place.

I just use it because sometimes it is less expensive to buy the Kindle and audio than it is to just by the audio. There have been several times where it is about $10 for the audio, but you can get the Kindle for about $2 or $3, then you can get the audio deal for another $2-3. So, it's worth it, even if you don't actually read the Kindle.

I'm at 60% so far and I'm sorry to say that I hate it. Maybe I'm not open minded enough but it feels like a reading an apology of pedophilia. "Her tiny breasts and tight hips...." blaaaaaah!
I think it will be a dnf for me. #50ShadesOfWrong

Oh yikes, Savanes! I own this one, but I'm hesitant. I know it's out of context, but that quote is not something I want to think about.

I recently read this book and to tell you I couldn't agree more with Savana..it is just pure pedofilia

Me neither Kristie but i already read it. Now i can't erase a lot from my mind. A 13 y old and a 27 y old man is not right. The author is trying to mitigate the circumstances by showing how strongly he fights his pulsions but that doesn't make it right at all in my opinion. Plus there shouldn't be any pulsion! So even if it's not medically classified as pedophilia (I didn't researched that), it is still very very perverse.

I didn't get that at all from reading the book. I agree that some scenes were not easy to accept (hence the ugliness .. though that was even more so in the parts outside of "them"), but their relationship was not perverse to me or pedophiliac. I do understand why it may bother some and the book is certainly not for everyone, but to me it was truly wonderful and more a tale about two people forgotten and lost and hurt and having nothing but each other to bring them a little bit of joy .. which was not even sexual for the most part and in no way exploitative. So, I'd recommend finishing it as it does develop quite a bit, but it is hard to read in parts.

Thanks for that, Janina. That may explain why there are so many high ratings for the book.

I'm with you Janina, I thought it was a hard book to read but wonderful. However I don't agree with the recommendation to finish the book - if someone has already made the conclusion that it's a story of pedophilia then I don't think finishing the book will change their mind.

That's probably true, Lynn.