by John Michael Cummings
Jason tries to find ways to make his life better than it is now. Ugly to start with means his young life with his family and area he lives in has always been a little ugly. Each stories captures pieces Jason’s will to climb out of a dark hole or him getting pushed back in. These short stories were ...
The Page SageIn all honesty, this probably wasn't the book for me, but I figured I'd give it a go. Unfortunately, my gut was right and I just could not get into these stories.The writing is plain and a little coarse, although I did like the first short story of the collection. The problems the main ...
Jason tries to find ways to make his life better than it is now. Ugly to start with means his young life with his family and area he lives in has always been a little ugly. Each stories captures pieces Jason’s will to climb out of a dark hole or him getting pushed back in.These short stories were ve...
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 thoug...
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 though...
Originally published at Ruby's Bookshis was a very interesting book. Set in the 70s, the story shows you different chapters from Jason's life, a teenager living in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The stories are all strong and some are sad and filled with so much irony it was a little painful. Jason is liv...
John Michael Cummings' Ugly to Start With offers a series of glimpses of Jason's life, scenes which can be sharp or poignant, or both.The contrasting emotions that these tales provoke are appropriate; what's messier, what's more contradictory, than adolescence. With the world both too-small and too-...
Originally posted at my blog Chasing Empty PavementsWhen I was approached by Mr. Cummings to read Ugly to Start With, I was a little apprehensive. While I love short stories, I wasn't quite sure how a series of them would work as a full novel. I am glad, however that I agreed to read and review Ugly...
The Fence is in my opinion the standout story of this collection but Ugly To Start With is a beautifully written book, though does contain adult themes and due it's time setting moments that a modern reader may find uncomfortable.Full review at http://chooseya.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/review-ugly-t...
Generally speaking I’m not a huge fan of “plot-less” stories. You know stories that are more about the characters rather than a larger story. This book falls into that basic category but it was done in a different way. Rather than mesh together a bunch of smaller stories that kind of tell a story, t...
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