Book Review
Mystery | Psychological Thriller | Fiction
First Impressions:
Beautiful Ugly kept me guessing until the last page, and even after finishing it I’m still unsure what to make of the ending.
I feel the author took inspiration from the song “Hotel California” and turned it into a book. The women are programmed to receive but the men can never leave!
Why I Couldn’t Put it Down:
The thing about a good thriller novel is.. if it’s good and if it is a psychological thriller, then it’s hard to put it down. It takes over your life, resulting in loss of sleep, detachment from the real world, forgotten over-ripe avocados, a list of pending house chores that keeps getting longer, unanswered emails, and ignored friendships (the less unimportant ones).
The novel cleverly begins by making us sympathize with Grady. His wife has disappeared, and neither he nor the reader knows whether she is dead, kidnapped, or missing.
Unreliable Narrator
The story is entirely narrated from Grady’s perspective, a flawed, unreliable character, who is either intoxicated by alcohol or has his mind obscured by the bob-myrtle tea, which makes him hallucinate.
So the entire story feels blurry, what Grady sees is what the reader reads. This in turn makes the readers wonder if the scenes are real or if they exist only in his mind. This uncertainty keeps us engaged in the story while subtly hiding the darker truths about Grady.
The ending is as uncertain as the entire book. Perhaps the uncertainty is one of the strengths of the book.
A Character Fighting Himself:
Grady is like the protagonist and the antagonist of the story. He spends so much time living in his head, spiraling down his own thoughts that he destroys everything that matters to him the most.
Convinced without proof that his wife is having an affair, he plots to kill her. His obsession not only costs him his marriage but also ruins his career.
The Ending (Spoiler Alert)
The last section titled “One Year Later”, shows how Grady has accepted his fate that he can never leave the island. He goes about living his life, settling into the same routine as the rest of the people on the island.
BUT, the unexpected closing scene at the end is so unsettling of Grady buried alive in the coffin. Was he or was he not? Did “One year later” even happen?
But as I kept thinking more and more about the ending, I came to the conclusion that perhaps Grady being buried alive is like a metaphor where he is trapped by his conscience rather than by the island. What do you think?
Layered Plot Twists Throughout
There were so many confusing elements, multiple layers and plot twists. The use of the name “Abby” for two characters! What was that, Abby/Kitty added another layer of confusion.
The story started unfolding all at once towards the last few chapters. I was like wait… I think I need to make notes to follow what’s happening?! I was a little annoyed at the final reveal, it all felt so silly but that was the point I guess that Grady is a flawed unreliable character.
The Hidden Message:
Stranded Grady on the island even included a secret message by taking the very first word of each of the first 14 chapters. I obviously had to check if it really existed in the book and it did and this is the message. “If you are reading this, I am trapped on the island. Please help me.”
The Island Was My Favorite Character and that poor loyal dog, Colombo.
Beautiful Ugly isn’t one of the best thrillers that I’ve read, but it gave me something I wasn’t expecting…it has got me strangely interested in visiting Scotland. The setting of the story on a mysterious island in Scotland, and I am sold just reading about its haunting beauty.
The island, Isle of Amberly itself feels like a character, dreamlike, foggy, misty, where the ocean and the trees in the forest all play their part in making the whole setting creepy.
I’d like to stand at The Edge and watch the ocean, I’d like to meet these weird characters on the Isle of Amberly, and walk on the Lane with No Name, and stumble into the Stumble Inn with Columbo. Such an interesting choice of names, love it. And thank you, Alice Feeney, for including a map at the beginning of the book. It made this island feel real enough for me to explore every corner of it.
Final Thoughts:
What I liked about the story is that the mystery was not written to be “solved”. The ambiguous ending invited plenty of room for interpretation long after the story ended.
Now if a book can make a reader fall in love with an imaginary island in Scotland, it surely has done something right. Definitely recommend giving it a read!
Nuraine Sadaf 