All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

*** CONTENT WARNING: SA, Abuse

This was a very dark and disturbing story. It was definitely well written, but I had to take multiple breaks and couldn’t read it straight through. I even skimmed some especially disturbing scenes. I only finished because I paid for it and wanted to give it a chance since it had such high reviews.

In the end, the story felt unfulfilling. Wavy’s life was just one devastating event after another, and her relationship with Kellen felt deeply inappropriate. She needed a parent figure, but instead ended up with a predator. I understand the book is exploring the ugly truth of something that absolutely happens to real people, but the romanticization was laid on too thick and left me feeling sick.

I didn’t think Kellen was justified at all. He admitted to being attracted to Wavy from the first moment he saw her at eight years old (which he frames as “love”), and he repeated this more than once. He also manhandled her multiple times, even leaving bruises. The fact that the book ended with them together only further proved how adults meant to protect Wavy failed her at every stage of her life. Her family basically gave up and allowed Kellen’s control over her, and even her aunt — the only one who resisted — eventually bowed down to him.

Kellen’s low IQ and past trauma didn’t make the situation more sympathetic; if anything, it made him feel manipulative. He constantly acted innocent or justified (“I didn’t have a choice!”) for everything he did — including murder, statutory sexual assault, and repeated acts of violence that left people in the hospital. Nothing about him was endearing, and given how intelligent Wavy is, she deserved so much better. Instead, she was trapped in the same cycle of poverty and abuse her parents dragged her into.

1/5 Stars