Summer Reading: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

The next selection on my summer reading list was All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood. The story revolves around a young girl named Wavy and her incredibly dysfunctional childhood. Her father is a drug dealer and her mother is completely delusional with a compulsion for cleanliness that she uses to brainwash Wavy into thinking that anything she eats is contaminated. Wavy is basically responsible for raising her baby brother, Donal, and she is bounced between her negligent parents and an uptight aunt whenever her parents are in prison. She rarely speaks and refuses to eat in front of anyone. The only person who pays any attention to Wavy is an older man named Kellen who occasionally works as a drug-runner for her father. He is rough, anti-social, and quick to get into fights at the local bar but he takes responsibility for Wavy and she grows more and more attached to him. Eventually, the two of them begin an inappropriate relationship. When a tragedy strikes, Wavy is sent to live permanently with her aunt, who disapproves of this relationship and has Kellen charged with statutory rape. Wavy spends all of her energy, for the next six years, trying to reunite with the only person who has ever cared about her. I had a very difficult time with this novel.  On the one hand, it is beautifully written and Wavy's story about triumphing despite overwhelming odds is very compelling. In fact, I couldn't put it down and I confess that the story has stayed with me for quite a while. However, I just couldn't get past the relationship between Wavy and Kellen. I know that they are both profoundly damaged and turn to each other for the only comfort they can find in horrific circumstances but, to me, it is not a love story. No matter what they are going through, it is wrong for a 12 year old girl to be sexually involved with a 26 year old man. No matter how neglected, abused, or unhappy the protagonist is, she is still a child and there are just some boundaries that should not be crossed. I didn't view Kellen as Wavy's savior; rather, I feel that Wavy had so many opportunities in college that she threw away in pursuing a relationship with him. This is not a romance and I did not view the ending as a happy one. I don't think I can recommend this book but the very things that made me so uncomfortable might make this a compelling read for someone else.

Have you read All the Ugly and Wonderful Things? What did you think?