All the Ugly and Wonderful Things cover art

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

A Novel

 Preview
Free with 30-day trial
Prime logo New to Audible Prime Member exclusive:
2 credits with free trial
1 credit a month to use on any title to download and keep
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks
Download titles to your library and listen offline
₹199 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

Written by: Bryn Greenwood
Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie
Free with 30-day trial

₹199 per month after trial ends. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for ₹836.00

Buy Now for ₹836.00

About this listen

A beautiful and provocative love story between two unlikely people and the hard-won relationship that elevates them above the Midwestern meth lab backdrop of their lives.

As the daughter of a drug dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. It's safer to keep her mouth shut and stay out of sight.

Struggling to raise her little brother, Donal, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible adult around. Obsessed with the constellations, she finds peace in the starry night sky above the fields behind her house until one night her stargazing causes an accident. After witnessing his motorcycle wreck, she forms an unusual friendship with one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold.

By the time Wavy is a teenager, her relationship with Kellen is the only tender thing in a brutal world of addicts and debauchery. When tragedy rips Wavy's family apart, a well-meaning aunt steps in, and what is beautiful to Wavy looks ugly under the scrutiny of the outside world.

A powerful novel you won't soon forget, Bryn Greenwood's All the Ugly and Wonderful Things challenges all we know and believe about love.

©2016 Bryn Greenwood (P)2016 Audible, Inc. Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literary Fiction

Critic Reviews

"Jorjeana Marie was meant to narrate this gripping story, which takes place in meth country in the Midwest. Neglected, abused 8-year-old Wavy Quinn is stargazing when she unintentionally causes Jesse Joe Kellen, an ex-con employee of her drug-dealing dad, to crash his motorcycle. Marie grippingly portrays this troubled pair who befriend each other after Wavy saves his life. Things come to a head when their relationship is misunderstood. In addition to deftly presenting the lead characters, Marie perfectly renders Wavy's adorable little brother and beloved grandmother. Some chapters are written from other characters' viewpoints over a period of 15 years, and Marie presents those flawlessly as well. Listeners will be eager to hear what happens next, always rooting for Wavy and Kellen." ( AudioFile Magazine)
All stars
Most relevant
A dark, emotionally intense novel that explores themes of love, trauma and morality challenging with its uncomfortable and morally gray subject matter

Very heartfelt

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The title justifies the story.. it's exactly what it reads. Don't miss out on it.

Really Good Read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely insane. Normalising something so disturbing and immoral and make it look like a love story. Basically an adult grooming a literal child who has been abused by her parents and making it seem like it’s romantic.

Stories like this try to warp reality and beautify things that are absolutely wrong and immoral.

Taking advantage of a little child and making it look like it’s normal since the child thinks it’s love.

What the child needs is therapy from all the years of trauma from her parents.

There’s no voice of reason or logic.

The whole story is absurd and making it all rosy and romantic which in reality is twisted and pathetic.

This story is dark and disappointing.
There’s no one to protect the child and is left at the mercy of the abuser.

This continues till her parents are murdered and she goes and lives with her aunt.

Aunt’s husband is another cold hearted man who doesn’t even care about this child or her brother.

The child isn’t even given therapy for all the trauma she’s been through.

It just shows how to fantasise physical relationships which are above every moral structure and that nothing is wrong when it comes to love. There are no moral grounds at all.

The premise of this story is weak and there’s nothing to redeem it.

Better skip this if you don’t want to see someone romanticise grooming of a minor as something normal.

This story is sickening and an absolute disservice in the name of a book.

It’s a disappointing book.

Encouraging abuse of vulnerable children. Just sick.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.