PRETTY UGLY
(DRAMA/DYSTOPIAN THRILLER)
WRITTEN BY JENNIFER ANNE GORDON
BLURB: Omelia fills the empty place in her heart with Instagram clicks, likes, and subscribes, hiding the scars of grief under a mask of makeup, cloaked in an online personality. She yearns to be someone new: a girl in a magazine, a character in a book, a beauty queen. Anything not to feel, to be numb, but the sharp pain accompanying the red spot on her face cannot be ignored. Nor can the black, spindly tarantula-like vines that creep up the side of her face and the fever she spikes, forcing her to confront the fact that the person she has become may not be who she is at all.
Dubbed ‘the New JFK,’ Sam is the heir apparent to a powerful but emotionally distant political family, living the life he neither dreamed nor wanted. He sleepwalks through his days filled with self-loathing, rage, boredom, and an ache under his heart that reminds him that he is not complete. He is roused from slumber when a political scandal erupts that coincides with the end of the world. Too many Adderall and Old-Fashioneds leave Sam wondering, is he crazy or haunted? When lives are emotionally ended in childhood, it takes an apocalypse to see the ephemeral beauty of living again.
WHAT THIS BOOK DOES WELL: You mean besides using my favorite Shakespearan tale in Henry V in a unique and rewarding way? Okay, well there is more to it for me than that as to why this is my favorite book of 2021. The writing is exceptional, from the intricate wordplay to subtle foreshadowing, to the descriptions of when we get caught in between the character's dream states and realities. The preciseness and carefully chosen reveals and flashbacks allow this feeling of the panic of a moment early on, the motivations and desires of the characters right away and give us why they are who they are (which becomes paramount for the latter half of the book ;) ), and maybe most importantly allows to connect to them in a way that maybe you wouldn't have otherwise. I also appreciate that we aren't being led away from the obvious either. There are also nice moments where the darkness intertwines and gives us a glimpse of the power it holds in this story. I also enjoyed that even though there was a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time, not only was it covered on a need to know basis but we still managed to get a comprehensive story and character arc growth throughout. In fact, I think to sell the ending that had to be there and Jennifer Anne Gordon was smart to know that. There are some clever devices Gordon uses throughout, and I won't spoil those here but I think they are nice touches, the freshly grated parmesan cheese on the pasta if you will. A lot of the other characters around our main ones help move the story as well. Not all of them are "the good" especially when you might think you need the good. Some of them are "the bad" and sometimes (even sometimes simultaneously) "the ugly". Without that, this becomes an introspective fever dream covering a shallow ditch. Ultimately you do have a sense of where this is headed, maybe very early on even, but I think another clever thing that Gordon does is recognize that you might recognize that and she slows it down, just enough to entice you with more intrigue, more wordplay, more characters, and obstacles. I love being treated like we are smart enough to get the certain aspects that might be a bit newfangled or at times obtuse because I think ultimately being guided like that gives us the feeling to be as close to what Omelia/Nicole and Sam experience. I think as readers that's all we can ask for really.
WHY YOU SHOULD CHAMPION THIS BOOK: A lot of this book you may feel a certain too close for comfort relevancy to what we all are experiencing in the world right now but in many respects there is so much Jennifer Anne Gordon does here to kind of show different sides of it. I think for that purpose and maybe for a tiny bit of a weird cathartic feeling, this story might not be too triggering to read. Listen ultimately you are given 2 characters that you should care about, and maybe you even think they deserve a bit of what they are going through but if you stick with it then you just might be rewarded or tortured (I am not going to give away which one ; )) in the end. This is the kind of smart writing that brings about a story that has plenty of emotional up and downs, strong characters, and genre crossover appeal that never insults but rewards the reader's commitment, attention, and patience.
YOU CAN GET THE BOOK HERE
We also did an ORIGINS episode at the beginning of the fall of this year with Jennifer that you can watch below.
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