Good book, if somewhat awkward at times. ( )

Beautiful. ( )

I liked this book. I listened to it (audiobook) and the reader was great she gave the book the personality and attitude it deserved which made this book a very easy "read"/listen :-)

This book, besides being poorly written, contains mention of/the act of rape throughout the book. I labeled it for teens because the story centers around a teenage girl. However, recommend with caution. From the synopsis, I took away the idea that a girl was going to get sexually abused and her friend helps her out of a jam. I wasn't expecting the entire book to be about that, though. It's a constant rape for years. The story was really tough to read and didn't resolve itself much because, oh look, there's a sequel (called God Still Don't Like Ugly). I think books with subject matters this extreme can be important and find a place within literature, but the writing style threw me off so much that I couldn't connect with any of the characters or situations. ( )

Reviewed by: Angela (Class of 2013)

People say you have to truly love yourself before you can love someone else, but maybe all you need is a little love given to you to realize what you have within yourself; your beauty, your intelligence, and your capabilities.

Mary Monroe is an author from Alabama. She also lived in Ohio and moved to Richmond, California in 1973. Mary Monroe published her first novel in 1985. She won the Best Southern Author Award for "Gonna Lay Down My Burdens" in 2004, and she also won the Oakland Pen Award for Best Fiction of the Year in 2001 for "God Don’t Like Ugly".

"God Don’t Like Ugly" is a novel about a lost girl, whose bad situations help her to find friends and God which helps her cope. Annette Goode was a girl who lived in poverty in the 1950’s with her mother and father when her dad left them for a white woman; this truly devastated her mother so they attempted to move away from their troubles in Florida to Ohio. In Ohio, her mother struggles to provide a better life for her. Her mom does many things for money until she finally finds a way to get them a nice house. When they get a house Annette’s mom allows a Christian veteran boarder (Mr. Boatwright) to live with them. Annette was an overweight dark-skinned girl living in a harsh period of racism with very low self-esteem. Annette meets a pretty rich girl who lives across the street named Rhoda who makes her feel better about herself and they soon become best friends. Mr. Boatwright is a highly respected man but he deserves no respect at all because he starts to molest Annette; she has no one to tell but her best friend Rhoda, and Rhoda finds a perfect way to put an end to it.

This story is eye-opening and heartwarming and is enlightening about relationships and karma. I give it a rating of five stars because it had a brilliant plot with good structure and vivid details. As I was reading the story I could relate to the characters’ emotions because with the descriptions, I felt as if I was there going through some of the experiences with them. I felt their pain, their confusion, and their joy. Mary Monroe crafted this novel perfectly. ( )