All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

I picked this up the incredible ratings, and had no idea what I was reading until I was quite far in. Look, I don't know what to say. I didn't enjoy it, but that was due to subject matter and not the writing. It is a story about a paedophile. It is also incredibly well written, vivid and colourful and raw. There is a lot to admire here. All the ugly... is brave, and bold and yes, beautiful in places. Wavy is incredible and the hope Greenwood injects into such a dark scene is nothing short of spectacular.

From the back

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 star gazing 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.