A review by mrsjkamp
Ordinary Beauty by Laura Wiess
4.0
I checked this book out from the library. Here is my honest review:
I can only describe this book as dark and painful but necessary. It's touching, personal, and very deep. Sayre has a lot of things to go through before she can feel free of her troubles. Her childhood was terrible, and it could have completely ruined her life. But as she's trying to get her life back together she finds out that her drug addicted, alcoholic mother is in the hospital, dying. Dianne has done a lot of wrong as a mother and person in general, but is it enough to keep Sayre from forgiving her? Read this one and find out!
This story is told from Sayre's POV in present tense, but she takes us through the past, story by story. She tells us everything she knows, and a lot of her childhood is disturbing. It's a sad, dirty, unlucky journey. Every turn made me feel worse and worse for Sayre. Once things are finally going right for her and her family, you know they're going to be ruined completely. These easily could have been some sob story taken too far, but Wiess did a great job of making this feel real and just about plausible. I haven't lived anything like this, but I can see it happening or being real.
I will say that I enjoyed the ending. By the final page, I was satisfied and felt whole again. The first pages rip you apart in order to prepare you for the depth and intensity of this novel, but I promise you'll feel better by the end. Oh, and get tissues ready. Enjoy!
I can only describe this book as dark and painful but necessary. It's touching, personal, and very deep. Sayre has a lot of things to go through before she can feel free of her troubles. Her childhood was terrible, and it could have completely ruined her life. But as she's trying to get her life back together she finds out that her drug addicted, alcoholic mother is in the hospital, dying. Dianne has done a lot of wrong as a mother and person in general, but is it enough to keep Sayre from forgiving her? Read this one and find out!
This story is told from Sayre's POV in present tense, but she takes us through the past, story by story. She tells us everything she knows, and a lot of her childhood is disturbing. It's a sad, dirty, unlucky journey. Every turn made me feel worse and worse for Sayre. Once things are finally going right for her and her family, you know they're going to be ruined completely. These easily could have been some sob story taken too far, but Wiess did a great job of making this feel real and just about plausible. I haven't lived anything like this, but I can see it happening or being real.
I will say that I enjoyed the ending. By the final page, I was satisfied and felt whole again. The first pages rip you apart in order to prepare you for the depth and intensity of this novel, but I promise you'll feel better by the end. Oh, and get tissues ready. Enjoy!