About 60 persons attended the Greene County Reads sessions Thursday of “All the Ugly and Wonderful Things” by Bryn Greenwood. Greenwood, who lives and works in Lawrence, KS, was at all the discussions.
Retired East Greene English teacher Jan Scharingson led the discussions in Grand Junction, Paton, and Jefferson.
Readers at the Jefferson session characterized the book as “chaotic,” “frustrating,” and “beautifully disturbing.”
The book is an adult book that centers on a relationship between a girl and a man whose ages are different by 12 years. According to Greenwood, consent is at the heart of the book.
Greenwood shared some of her life experiences, which in many ways are reflected in the book. She also talked about her writing process and her source for ideas and characters.
Greene County Reads is a project of the Greene County Librarians and is funded by the Greene County board of supervisors.
She visited the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower and rode to the top. She lived in Florida for several years and visited the Bok Tower in Lake Wales close to 20 times, Greenwood said. The Bok Tower was Floyd Mahanay’s inspiration for the bell tower in Jefferson. Greenwood was very excited to see the Mahanay tower, although she turned down an invitation from volunteer coordinator Pat Richards to play a tune on the bells.
