TeenHelp - Ugly by Margaret McHeyzer

Ugly by Margaret McHeyzer
By Cassie (cynefin)
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Ugly by Margaret McHeyzer is a sad yet enlightening story about a woman named Lily and her journey out of abusive living situations. Throughout the book, Lily is put into abusive situations and struggles with denial and not feeling worthy enough to deserve better treatment.

Being a survivor myself, I think this book did a good job portraying physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. The characteristics of emotional abuse such as manipulation were especially well done.

In the beginning of the book, Lily is seventeen and at the end she is about twenty-seven. While this book portrays abuse and a survivor's feelings accurately, I do think it was drawn out in some ways. For instance, I feel as though one of the abusive relationships she was in would have been more effective if it were shorter. I almost put the book down because of how lengthy it felt.

Even though I felt the book was too long in some areas, I read the book to the end and was pleased with it. There is a twist near the end that I kind of saw coming and as someone who likes characters with a lot of background, I appreciated it.

One thing this book shows is that not all people are cruel in the way that abusers are. Survivors sometimes have difficulty with people after being abused because they fear people will be the same way. This book, however, shows the kindness people have and it reinforces the fact that not everyone is cruel.

Next, the book lets readers know that abuse is more common than it seems like it is; many people are impacted by it in some ways. Readers are informed of this when a healthy person in Lily's life revealed the ties they had to domestic violence as a reason for wanting to help her. Another kind character in Lily's life lost someone due to physical abuse.

Finally, this book shows that Lily was dealt a tough hand and came out on the other side. Perhaps this can encourage readers to do the same. If Lily can do it, they can do it, too.

This book has some abusive scenes in it and for that, I wouldn't recommend it to people who are easily triggered but I would recommend this book for people who can keep safe while reading it.