All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

I don't even know where to begin with this one. Everything I thought I would think about right and wrong, this book twisted on its head.

But then again maybe not. I am not one of those people who believe that our upbringings and the things our parents do to us should be shucked aside once we are adults and that people should "just get over it and move on."

What has happened to us in our most formative years, what we witness and what we go through, these things shape us. Some people will repeat the mistakes and continue the cycle of what ever it is, others will be moved to do and be better but will make the conscious effort to do so. And I am sure there are other options, but those are the two most vivid.

Wavy has seen and been through more than any child should ever witness and experience. Her mother is a drug addict married to a meth producer. Wavy and her brother mostly grow up in this environment. She does get some reprieve in the time she spends with her Grandmother but for the most part she lives on farm where her father has his "business" he has girlfriends and her mother knows it and hates it. Wavy is profoundly shaped by her mother's voice in her head telling her the rules. It makes eating and touching and speaking so very difficult for wavy. But she is so smart and has such a full and loving heart. But it takes her little bother and her friendship with Kellen to crack her shell.

And it is the friendship with Kellen that presents the moral challenge I faced in reading this. He is an adult, at least age wise. He might have some developmental delays and is surely shaped by his abusive upbringing. But he is in his early 20's or just about 20 when he meets Wavy. He works for her father as a mechanic, courier, and occasionally a reluctant strong man. But he is gentle and kind and takes care of Wavy and her bother Donal. He makes sure she goes to school, even paying her registration fees. He makes sure she is safe and that she eats. But he falls in love with her and she with he. Even though at the time she is barely a teen. He is aware of the moral issue and doesn't want to feel what he does. Is it wrong? Should they be together? Is it ever ok for a man in his early 20's to marry and be with a 14 year old? When she turns 14 they could get married with her father's consent which he has given and Kellen is surprising Wavy with the new of when a tragedy sidetracks the plan and the next many years of their lives.

Their story is disturbing and wrong but beautiful and right. And I am left conflicted with having found myself pulling for them.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is the perfect title because it is ugly and wonderful. The writing is really well done and the feels...I had them..many of them...

(Finished January 9, 2018)