A review by morgob
The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

5.0

This book made me cry. It was such a good story and really made all the pain worthwhile. I love stories where people's lives intertwine. I just kept reading it and being like, "They have to meet again. They have to!!!" And that was eventually satisfied. I really liked how the story came together, so much of it was just sad. The reason it was sad is because it wasn't until the very end of their lives that things turned out alright. It wasn't until much, much later in their lives that everything came together. And the ending gives you a bit of a wondering, since the thing that you most want to happen doesn't happen within the story but is hinted at. I'm being vague because I hope people read this story. It talks a lot about how horrible institutions were in America, and how people with all sorts of different issues were all lopped together in them in the generalization that something was wrong with them. It gave people--families--a place to dump those kids that were born with something wrong with them so they didn't have to deal with them themselves. Horribly heartbreaking, but true. You can tell the author did her research, plus I've read something similar before that also talked about America's institutions. Anyway, it was a great story and I would certainly recommend it to anyone. It is heartbreaking, but the ending is very much worth it. And I love Martha so so so so much!!! Martha was the best part of the story by far!