FICTION

Ugly Girls

Farrar. Nov. 2014. 288p. ISBN 9780374533861. $26. F
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Was innocence ever an option for Perry and Baby Girl? They've bonded over skipping school and joyriding in stolen cars, but what they really share is a deep sense of loss. Both are driven to keep on the move, twitching with the need to connect but never knowing how. The adults around them are failing as well. Jim, Perry's guardian angel stepfather, gives into despair and anger and loses his one chance to divert the unkind fate awaiting them all. One bad choice follows another, fear triumphs over compassion, and the whirlwind of hopelessness grows.
VERDICT Acclaimed short story writer Hunter's (Don't Kiss Me) debut novel is a gritty and unrelenting baring of lost souls that pulls readers along. The girls are not ugly, but their lives are. For readers with an appreciation of the dark and bitter. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," p. 27, LJ 9/1/14.]
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