Rating: 
Summary: Mary Monroe brings her characters to life
Review: This was a very good story, particularly the characterization. Although some of them are easy to hate, they all come off as colorful, interesting, and alive. I liked how the motivation for Boatright's abuse is revealed after his death, and I also enjoyed Rhoda and her eccentric family. The town of Richland, Ohio seemed like a very real place, and the author's writing style kept things moving throughout the novel.
The few things I didn't like were the fact that all through the book, I was waiting for Annette to find some strength, but she remains passive and weak to the end. She never makes anything happen; she only lets things happen, even as an adult. Her moving away and the disintegration of her relationship with Rhoda are probably the only two decisions she makes. Rhoda was a very interesting character, and I would have liked to know a little more about what went on inside her head, and what made her do the things she did (and always believe she would never be caught.) PeeWee seems to want to be an important part of the story, but the author doesn't seem sure if he is or not. I would have liked for Annette to confront her mother (not even neccessarily in a bad way.) Her mother, like Rhoda, never has to answer for the wrong she did...although as a black woman in that day and time, I can understand how she could fall under the "did the best she could" shield, but to me she could have done much better.
However, this was a very good book, well-written, with a careful plot and real-life characters. Good Job, Ms. Monroe!
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Summary: Excellent book about self-esteem, secrets, and more
Review: This good was a great read from beginning to end, the characters captured you from the beginning. The story is surrounds Annette, a young black, obese, and poor woman. Her family is dirt poor and her father leaves Annette and her mother to fend for themselves, for a white woman. Annette is trouble with moving from month to month, until her mother lands a job for Judge Lawson . . a wealthy black judge who let them rent one of his homes. Enter Mr. Boatright....a God-fearing church going man moves into the household as a grandfather figure to Annette. From day one this spells nothing but a life of misery and sexual abuse for the little 7 or 8 year old.... This books has twists and turns that leave you wanting to read page after page... It is really a book about how someone can try to shatter your self-esteem, self-confidence and all of those other self words... This is a must read!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Juicy Book!!!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! It was well written and very interesting! I didn't want the story to end and perhaps Mary Monroe will think about writing a sequel. I would definitely recommend the book to others!
Rating: 
Summary: God don't like ugly is horrible!!!
Review: I have read a lot of books on various subjects, rape, murder& love, just to name a few. I feel that Ms. Monroe has a lot of potential as a writer but her characters should have been much better developed. It seemed as if none of them got any closure. I felt very frustrated at the last page, like where is the last four chapters??? I was left wondering about Rhonda, Annette, Annette's mother ect... I hope there is a sequel to make up for this feeling of being in the middle of watching a movie and the tape goes POP!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This book was awesome! Mary Monroe wrote from a realistic perspective and dealt with true-to-life issues. Life is difficult when you're treated as an outcast because you are different. Mary Monroe dealt with these issues superbly!
Rating:
Summary: Author tackles a sensitive subject
Review: Interesting topic, which is a sensitive subject in our society. The book leaves enough doors opened for a sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: God Don't Like Ugly and lack of character development
Review: I think Mrs.Monroe has good ideas. I am sure that the child molastation issue will help a lot of people who are suffering. However, she should have spent more time developing the characters and the story line. We are left hanging on a lot of the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and Engaging
Review: This book grabs you from the beginning and sucks you in like water going down the bathtub drain. It is written in true conversational style, like two girlfriends talking to each other. Annette grows up poor, in an unholy environment shrouded by hypocritical, church-going adults who are too blind to see what's happening right under their noses. As we watch her grow up, she feeds her humiliation and low self esteem with food until she convinces herself that no one will ever like her. Annette's relationship with Rhoda is complex, yet understandable. A lonely, obese girl finally finds a friend and gets jealous when others compete with her for attention. Rhoda's character is never fully developed to explain why she does what she does. There's got to be more to her story! All in all, a good book. I wouldn't recommend it for teens, though, unless read WITH a parent. I don't think it sends the right message about letting an adult know that abuse is going on. It could be a great vehicle for parent-child communication if used correctly. And, by the way...what ever happened to Pee Wee???!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Ugly was this book
Review: I was truly disappointed in the is book. While a quick and easy read - the book lack the depth in describing some of the more important relationships.... I waited for the main character to truly come of age... and she did not... I know many women and many who have been assaulted and abused, they had more strength of character then the girl in this book and I find that this author has missed her mark by a mile. Research and character development should be this authors next move before writing again...
Rating:
Summary: Poignant & Riveting Coming of Age Story!
Review: God Don't Like Ugly is a compelling and engrossing novel from first-time novelist Mary Monroe. Monroe takes us into the world of an overweight, shy, fatherless, insecure and lonely girl by the name of Annette Goode who's being sexually abused by the elderly boarder(Mr. Boatwright aka Buttwright) who lives with Annette and her single mom. Sexual abuse is a harsh subject to read about and an even harder pill to swallow. When it goes on for years and years one starts to question why and where was the mother when all of this was going on. Maybe the mother assumed that because Mr. Boatwright was an elderly man, with a peg leg and a church-going man that Annette would be safe in his care. Afterall he did have some good qualities...uum they were too insignificant to mention and didn't make up for the fact that he was a perp. Fortunately, Annette found a friend, Rhoda who she could share her secrets and dreams with. Rhoda was everything that Annette wasn't. She was attractive, slim, outgoing, daring and came from a middle-class family. There was no Buttwright around to secretly molest her. Rhoda was also revengeful and very overprotective of Annette. Rhoda had the courage to stand up to Buttwright and do the things that Annette was afraid to do. This book is not only about surviving molestation, but it is about life and growing up in the 1960's and 1970's. Thank goodness there were some laugh out loud moments which made up for the sadness of the sexual abuse which went on for over a decade. One of Monroe's greatest strengths is her character development. The characters were so well developed they practically jumped off the pages! The cast of colorful characters included folks with names such as Scary Mary, Pee Wee, Flo, and Viola just to name a few. Additionally, GDLU was so vivid and graphic that the imagery appeared lifelike. Along the way Monroe gives us surprising and shocking plot twist and turns to keep us rapidly turning the pages. If I could change anything about the book it would probably be the ending...the story seemed to drag with the last 50 pages; I'm not sure they were necessary. That aside, Mary Monroe's writing style is fresh and captivating and I look forward to future reads from this talented author.
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