Ugly to Start with

by John Michael Cummings

Jason Stevens is growing up in picturesque, historic Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in the 1970s. Back when the roads are smaller, the cars slower, the people more colorful, and Washington, D.C. is way across the mountains - a winding sixty-five miles away.

Jason dreams of going to art school in the city, but he must first survive his teenage years. He witnesses a street artist from Italy charm his mother from the backseat of the family car. He stands up to an abusive husband - and then feels sorry for the jerk. He puts up with his father's hard-skulled backwoods ways, his grandfather's showy younger wife, and the fist-throwing schoolmates and eccentric mountain characters that make up Harpers Ferry - all topped off by a basement art project with a girl from the poor side of town. Ugly to Start With punctuates the exuberant highs, bewildering midpoints, and painful lows of growing up, and affirms that adolescent dreams and desires are often fulfilled in surprising ways.

• ISBN10: 1935978098
• ISBN13: 9781935978091
• Publish Date: 1 January 2012 (first published 30 October 2011)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 17 June 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: West Virginia University Press
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 177
• Language: English

Reviews

[celinenyx]

Ugly to Start With is a collection of short stories that describe Jason's life growing up in 1970s small town West Virginia.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. With a title like Ugly to Start With I expect some kind of bizarre semi-realistic romp through childhood. What I got was a well thought-through string of stories that all highlighted a little part of Jason's personality. They were all very well-written and polished. There were no loose ends or stories that I didn't understand the meaning of, which is quite an accomplishment in this genre.

A LOT is wrong in Jason's life, from his highly dysfunctional family to the racism that raged through the States and everything in between. Yet Ugly to Start With is a hopeful book that shines in some passages. It was nice to see that meaningful books don't have to be depressing but can be enjoyable to read.

I liked reading about all the different characters that make up the little town of Harpers Ferry, all strange in their own way. At moments I was disappointed that the story ended so quickly, I wanted to know what would happen next.

Ugly to Start With is a great little book, and I would love to read something from Mr Cummings again.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Source: Sent from author for review.

Ugly to Start With is an ambitious and unique book , as short stories are not often marketed toward teen readers. The format alone had me intrigued before I began reading it, but I am torn as to whether I think it was a success. The chapters are not so much stories in my opinion, as they are snapshots of events in Jason’s life in which he struggles to decide who he is. They appear chronologically but do not always build upon each other in an evident manner, and it occasionally seems as if the gaps between the stories must have included some moments even more formative to Jason than the ones that are chronicled. Alone each story is interesting; together they leave the reader with the sense that something is missing. Perhaps there is some artistic merit to feelings of incompleteness and questions left unanswered, a way to make readers remember what it can feel like to be a teenager, but at the end of the book it is just unsatisfying.

The myriad issues presented also indicate that Cummings is an ambitious author. He takes on cancer, race, poverty, sexuality, parenting, alcoholism, and sexual harassment. Each chapter pretty much has its own tough theme. My concern is that there are so many that they have time only to be introduced, not to be fully explored or explained, before the next story and its theme begin. Again, each chapter is an absorbing, well-written snapshot, but compiling them into a single book has the unfortunate effect of drawing attention away from that.

The strengths that shine through despite the format include beautiful and moving descriptions of the Harpers Ferry region, which Cummings obviously knows and loves well despite its imperfections, and a delightful smattering of historical facts that will unobtrusively bring readers unfamiliar with Harpers Ferry’s past up to speed. Not many of the characters come across as particularly likeable, barring the mothers, but they are very relatable. Jason in particular has a lot of dreams and fears with which teens might empathize. Again, if a reader has any experience with alcoholism, estranged parents, exploration of sexuality, et cetera, there will be something for him or her in Ugly to Start With. There just might not be as much as he or she wants.

This review is also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews