Cover Image: One Year of Ugly

One Year of Ugly

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Member Reviews

My thanks to HarperCollins The Borough Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘One Year of Ugly’ by Caroline Mackenzie in exchange for an honest review. It’s available in ebook format now with the hardback and audiobook editions to be published on 23 July.

“It was Aunt Celia who got us into the whole mess. The entire Palacios family thrust smack into the middle of a crime ring.”

Yola Palacios and her family had escaped from
Venezuela and are settling into their new peaceful life in Trinidad. Yet when her beloved Aunt Celia dies, the family discovers that she had been concealing a big secret – the Palacios are in serious debt to a local criminal called Ugly. As they don’t have the funds to pay him they must do his bidding until the debt is cleared. Or else!

When Román, Ugly's gorgeous right-hand man, turns up, Yola finds herself strongly attracted to him. Yet this potential romance is not only foolish but possibly dangerous, but can she resist?

Caroline Mackenzie opens with an Author’s Note to detail how she came to write ‘One Year of Ugly’ after witnessing the influx of Venezuelan refugees into Trinidad and the responses to them:

“though the subject matter is heavy in that exile, exploitation and the collapse of Venezuela constitute major themes, I wrote the book as a comedic novel because there is nothing that makes even the heaviest subjects more accessible than humour. My rationale is that a comic approach to telling a difficult story will not only help humanize my characters, but that it will help the book reach those readers who might, for whatever reason, be put off by the more traditional immigrant narrative.”

I certainly felt that Mackenzie succeeded as I found this a brilliant blend of thriller, romance, and dark comedy combined with family drama. There is strong language and scenes of violence, though these felt appropriate given the subject matter.

I felt that she skilfully balanced the multi-layered plot with a large cast of characters and brought them and the Trinidadian setting vividly to life. I will be adding the audiobook edition to my wish list as I certainly would revisit this novel.

Given its excellent storytelling and addressing of important social issues, I would imagine that this would be an excellent choice for reading groups that are looking for contemporary fiction that is a little different.

It’s a strong debut and Netflix has optioned it for a future television series.

Highly recommended.

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3.5 stars

This is a difficult review to write. Mostly I enjoyed the book, however there were issues for me which reduced the rating.

The positives - this is a fast paced story, full of detail (although sometimes a little bit too much detail - I now know more about strip clubs than I ever did before), some interesting characters and locations, and a family who had fled Venezuela to seek refuge in Trinidad.

The family suddenly find themselves indebted to a local gangster, Ugly, and have to work hard to repay the debt or face the consequences. The main character is Yola, an aspiring writer, who loves her family, misses her late aunt and falls in love with someone she probably shouldn't.

The negative is that about 60% into the story, the choice of language worsens - maybe I'm old fashioned but I didn't see the need for the C-word, which is a word I hate to see or hear. I skimmed over that section, and thankfully it didn't get repeated later on. I know this is a personal hate but this is my personal review of the book.

Overall, the story was interesting and something very different. Thank you to The Borough Press for a digital review copy via NetGalley - my thoughts are my own.

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At face value this book is hilarious, following a year in the life of the Palacios as they encounter Ugly and all that that entails. The Palacios are a Venezuelan family living in Trinidad, and herein lies the main story. Yes, this is a work of fiction, but to cover the topic of illegal immigrants and the many ordeals they must have to go through whilst still maintaining a level of humour is a brave thing to do.

The wider subject of Venezuelans in Trinidad made me spend time of google to learn more and seek out OV reviews for the book. The author herself living in Trinidad would have good insight, but I was left wanting to learn more, which I see as a good thing. This book bought a subject I knew nothing about into my world and made me research.

So as you can tell I am no expert and for that reason I can really only review the surface story, which by the way I loved.

Taking the surface story of Yola, I loved her feisty character and the rest of the Palacios who we saw mainly as secondary characters, but whose stories were nevertheless still important to the book. The crude humour made me laugh out loud on many occasions as she explained about her life as well as her relationships, but this won't be for everyone.

I would love to follow Yola some more and see where her character could end up. Overall this was a really enjoyable book that I would recommend, so if you want a funny story with a deeper underbelly then this is your book.

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The Palacios escaped from the crumbling socialism of Venezuela a few years ago and have been trying to keep a low profile in their new home of Trinidad. They all work hard and live their lives, but also live in fear that they will be deported back home.

But when Aunt Celia unexpectedly dies, her debt to an underworld gangster named Ugly is revealed. The family are essentially sold into an indefinite servitude of harbouring more illegal immigrants for Ugly until the unspecific time when their debt will be repaid. What Yola expected even less was her intense physical attraction to Ugly's right hand man, Román, which leads to a steamy ongoing romance behind their scenes of their new, criminal, lives.

You may well think that romance has no place in a story about people becoming trapped by their status as 'illegals' and harbouring others who are trying to flee a country. It really shouldn't - there's just so much else going on that needs unpacking. But in this case, it works.

Part of that is down to the brilliant voice of Yola. She tells it exactly the way things are. She's straight-talking, intelligent, no-nonsense and sarcastic. Not in a 'I've made this strong woman in the face of all these difficulties' - it's just who she is and she's telling it how it is. That's part of what makes this so good and so funny.

Another part is her family - they are loud and raucous, happily fitting their own Latin stereotypes. But they are family, which means that they stick together. They're close, although that's both a good and a bad thing in this situation, and their relationship together takes on a greater importance throughout the story - the whole criminal gangster threatening our lives and our residency storyline almost feels like the funny one because everything else is so strong and normal.

And then there's the romance - it all gets pretty hot and heavy between Yola and Román, definitely no holds barred. And it's good. Especially because it's not a blow by blow account of everything - little details are added in later on. We're not sharing everything with them, just the impression of everything. It's good writing.

And then there's the whole (big) issue with illegal immigration. Sometimes that is what feels like the most ridiculous thing in this novel, that people have to live without personhood status, and around the government, or have to escape their own country. In the relative normality of everything else going on in this novel, it's this that feels like the dark comedy.

But there are also moments where it's beautifully and achingly described:

"Our immigrant story is as classic and unchanging as any Hans Christian Anderson fairytale - the tale of the illegal refugees who risked it all to live like cockroaches, hiding in the dank cranks of an unknown society where they hope no one will find them, antennae forever twitching, listening for the heavy boot of National Security, only to discover the strange new place that they call home has all the ugliness of the world they left behind, except worse, because here you're stripped of rights, dignity, personhood."

Although the Palacios want to help their fellow countrymen, they are very aware that they are doing so without any legal standing of their own - in some ways they are in greater danger, their status further reduced, than the refugees they are hosting.

More importantly, none of this can truly end happily - and that's not forced on you. It ends the way it needs to, and the way it should.

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Reading this was like watching a Latin American soap opera. The characters copycats of the colorful characters one can see in the said series and very stereotypical as well. But it is a very amusing read. In fact, some scenes/dialogues are so ridiculous, they made me laugh out loud.

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This book just wasn't for me. I found everything to be rushed and underdeveloped, but beyond that, I wasn't a fan of the dark humour and the relationship between the MC and Roman just felt so off to me. The way it started and the lack of development made it even weirder and made it impossible for me to root for them, or like the MC. Making it hard for me to get into the book.

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This book was a surprise in the best of ways.
I expected light contemporary fiction.
What I got was a warm and sparkly read about family, love and how far you’ll go to protect the ones you care about. This is beautifully written and will make you laugh, want the best for and genuinely care about the main character, Yola.

Absolutely recommend.

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This is a story about a family's illegal migration from Venezuela to Trinidad. Th3 Palacios family lived a moderate life within their means. But then they got a visit from the local crime lord who is called Ugly. It seems that their recently deceased aunt Celia owed money to Ugly. The family has to work to clear the six hundred thousand Trinidadian dollars u which ever way Ugly required them to. Ugly left them with no doubt that If they didn't comply, violence would ensue.

There is some complex social and cultural issues covered in this book portraying the difficulties Venezuelans were faced with in Trinidad. There's a lot going on in this story. There is some really funny laugh out loud moments. But the thing I liked most was the family loyalty and their love for each other. What a fantastic bunch of characters and they were all believable. This is quite a remarkable debut novel. I do recommend this book.

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This was the first book I've read from this author and I enjoyed it very much. It was very well written and the characters were well thought out.

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What a wonderful fun book this is. It filled me with a warm love for Yola and her huge family.

It does deal with a serious issue of people trafficking, and the consequences for those who are vulnerable as Yola and her family are to the traffickers, but it’s dealt with in a light way, and there is so much love and humour in the story that you just can’t put it down. I wanted to stay with them!.

I loved Yola and her family, and I just enjoyed this book so much!

My thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for the advance copy.

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Well... this was something a little different for me. Set in Trinidad, we follow a family containing a whole host of very eclectic and colourful characters who have fled their native Venezuela for a better life. But, soon after the death of matriarch Aunt Celia, they are visited by a man who claims she owed him money for papers her provided. A man known by the name Ugly. The interest has mounted up and they are nowhere near in a position to pay him off so... well... basically, Celia's debt is being passed to the rest of the family. In a nutshell, they now belong to him. To do as he bids. Beginning with hosting other illegal immigrants, it soon spirals out of control. And so begins the Palacio's Year of Ugly...
It sounds all doom and gloom from that description. But it is anything but. As well as the fear - sword of Damocles if you like - hanging over their collective heads, we also have a lot of humour and a side order of romance thrown in to boot. Not that these take anything away from the peril that the family finds itself facing at every turn, it just makes it a bit easier to swallow. We mostly follow Yola, a translator and aspiring writer, as she tries to keep the family going, pretty much filling the role the death of her Aunt has left. It's almost her coming of age book in parts too.
The plot is quite harrowing and, as I believe, also reflects how life was for refugees and the humour contained alongside this in no way belittles the plight and fight that many went through just to survive and get ahead. Food for thought all along the way.
Pacing was on the whole good although it did get a bit bogged down in places. It never really dragged though and the humour was pretty consistent throughout. The ending, when it came, was satisfying if a little on the schmaltzy and neatly tied up side. To be honest, it did fit what had gone before so I can't really complain. And it's a debut to boot! Really can't wait to see what the author serves up next time.
All in all, a funny serious (yes that makes sense) read that kept my attention nicely and was a great distraction to the times we are going through just at the moment. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

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The jokes are sharp, the comedy is dark - but unfortunately, this book wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. My issue is mainly that the writing felt messy and uncoordinated, which made me lose interest relatively quickly. I think some of the humour was a little crass and the characters a little cliche - and I don't quite understand why the copy has given it such accolades as 'blisteringly funny'. Sadly, this one just wasn't for me, but I'm sure it'll find an audience somewhere.

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Warning: don't read this if you're offended by swearing or millenials! I adored this book right from the beginning. The characters came to life and from very early on I was invested in their story - both of the Palacios family as a whole, and in Yola's individual journey.

The sardonic tone of the story adds to my love of the characters, because it makes them realists. I'll remind you here that this is a work of fiction, and as such there may be some elements of disbelief - but isn't that was fiction is for? There are stereotypes and cliches, and even a couple of moments where I rolled my eyes, but in my opinion that's exactly why I read contemporary fiction - if I wanted the disappointment and tragedy of real life, I'd go to the local bus station. Underneath the story are real issues that need to be addressed and this book does so with a sprinkle of sugar, a good belly laugh, and characters who fly off the pages with their exploration, attitude and vulnerability.

Just one more thing, and this is a tip of my hat directly to Caroline McKenzie - there is a real knack in this book for placing me firmly in time. It's not always easy, and not always obvious, but when an author has the skill to ensure the reader always knows where they are in time, it can truly lift a piece of fiction from mediocrity into excellence.

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The Palacio’s fled their unstable lives in Venezuela for the relative peace of Trinidad. How? They knew a man with a boat. They don’t consider themselves illegal immigrants but their status becomes much higher on their respective agenda’s when Aunt Celia dies owing a considerable amount of money to a local bad guy named Ugly.

Ugly demands the family be at his beck and call and without the recourse of law enforcement Yola and her family are pretty much held to ransom, their lives are turned upside down and havoc ensues. And did I mention Ugly’s smoulderingly handsome right hand man, Roman? Well, there’s him too.

Mackenzie tackles serious and complex cultural and social issues in this book and does so with wit and humour. The situations are so not funny and yet they are told in such an eye watering funny that you just can’t help yourself. I loved it, highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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The entire Palacio family, hating the President’s corrupt regime, have fled their homes in Venezuela, following their beloved Aunt Celia to Trinidad, where they are living and working as illegal immigrants. The story is told by Yola, definitely the brightest member of the family, who works as a freelance translator though would dearly love to become a writer.

We are introduced to the family shortly after Aunt Celia’s sad death, at a barbecue organised by her ex-husband, Mauricio who thinks that a get-together could start the road back to normality (whatever that may be!). The day is interrupted by the appearance of Ugly, a gun-toting criminal, and his dishy henchman, Roman, who causes Yola’s heart to flutter. Ugly imparts the news that Aunt Celia owed him a vast sum of money which they must repay. When it is obvious that cash repayment is impossible they find themselves forced into sheltering more and more illegals and the story develops at a fast pace into a tragicomedy with romance thrown in as Yola falls head over heels in love with Roman.

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I couldn’t get into this book at all. I tried, I persevered but I just couldn’t read it. I gave up at about 30% just wasn’t for me, it seems. Sorry!

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Thanks to the Borough Press (Harper Collins UK) and NetGalley for providing me an ARC copy of this novel that I freely chose to review.
This is a debut novel, and what a debut! Although I hadn’t heard of the author before, I was thrilled when I realised that we had a few things in common (I’ve also worked as a translator, and we’re both alumnae of Sussex University. Go Sussex!), and I am sure this will not be the last novel I read by Mackenzie.
This novel touches on many things, and although it does it with wit and humour (at times a very sharp and quite dark sense of humour), the themes it delves in are quite serious. Illegal immigrants (in this case, Venezuelans in Trinidad) that try to settle into their new life, but whose already uncertain and danger-ridden existence becomes more complicated when they are blackmailed into doing all kind of other illegal things to settle the debt a member of their family, Aunt Celia, left unpaid upon her sudden death. The Palacios, an extended but close family, with their traditions, their unique personalities, their traditions from home and from their adopted land, their parties and meals together, with their quirks and their not-quite-upstanding members, are suddenly thrown into the hands of the criminal underworld, and their lives become even more dangerous. There is blackmail, housing other illegal immigrants, being tracked and followed, having to work all hours to keep their non-paying guests, being threatened and pushed around, and some of their members are even driven out of their minds by the pressure. To all these events (and more that I’m keeping quiet), we have to add life as usual for this family, and that includes: secret love-children, a young girl’s pregnancy, dangerous love affairs, strong women (some with a flair for drama), weak-willed men, heavy drinking, unfaithful husbands, grief and mourning, mental illness, trying to fit into a completely different place and being the object of prejudice and suspicion. The author explains her reasons for choosing to write a comedy in her note at the end, and they make perfect sense to me. First, because, as she says, some people might resist reading another book that deals in some of these very serious topics if they are presented in a straightforward manner, but a comedy might reach those readers, and also, because comedy and humour are great weapons to deal with dark situations and to endure and keep hope alive when things are tough. The author does a great job, both in dealing with the illegal immigration angle, and also in creating a family that we love (or at times, love to hate).
There are many characters, some pretty major (not all the members of the family have important roles, but we do get to know them fairly well by the end of the novel, although there are plenty of surprises, and I’m not only talking about Aunt Milagros here), and others that only pass-by, like some of the illegal immigrants they are forced to house through the year, and in many cases they are depicted like a cartoonist would do, exaggerating some traits for comedic purposes, but affectionately. Yola, the main protagonist, who narrates the story in the first-person, is intelligent, witty, hard-working, and although she might not see eye-to-eye with all the members of her family, she loves them fiercely and would do anything for all of them, even for the new arrivals that she’s not so keen on. Aunt Celia, who has died just before the story starts, is also very present in the novel, as she had been writing her biography/memoir, and the manuscript is passed on to Yola, who is also a writer and translator, and whom the majority of the members of the family think of as the most suited to follow in Aunt Celia’s steps (and become the family’s official bitch). Celia’s book is priceless, and we get to hear her voice through Yola’s reading. Then we have Ugly, who although doesn’t turn up often, his few appearances are very memorable. And Román, the romantic hero (yes, I know, the name is self-explanatory), who at first appears more of an antihero, but there is more to him than his gorgeous looks, and, well, let’s say the romance side of the story is bound to satisfy most readers keen on the genre. I liked Yola, and although some of her actions seemed pretty unreasonable and inconsistent, she is fully aware of it. As we’re inside her head, it’s easy to empathise, especially because she’s put in pretty impossible situations at times, and it’s difficult to imagine what else she could do. I also liked most of the members of her family, and yes, Aunt Celia and Aunt Milagros truly shine through. The female characters are more memorable than the males (other than Román and Ugly), but they are also familiar, and it’s likely that most readers would identify people they know who share characteristics with them. As is the case in all families, you might have your favourites, but there’s so much history shared that you feel for them. Yes, I’ll miss the Palacios.
The writing is sharp, witty, and eminently quotable. It flows well and although I know many readers don’t like first-person narratives, I enjoyed this one, and also the fragments from Aunt Celia’s memoirs. There are words and expressions in Spanish (I’m not from Venezuela, but the Spanish terms are well-written, and the research has paid up), but they do not impede the understanding of the text, and rather add to the atmosphere and the realism of the piece. I have highlighted the text extensively, but I’ll try to share a few examples of the writing. As usual, I’d recommend prospective readers to check a sample first, to see if it suits their taste. (Some reviewers did not like the humorous tone when dealing with such serious matters, but I felt that was one of the strong points of the novel).
“Her wit was as lethal as a syringe of cyanide.”
“Only a real political genius like him, with his communist sympathies despite everything we’d been through in Caracas, would name his kid after Fidel Castro.”
“Our immigrant story is as classic and unchanging as any Hans Christian Andersen fairytale —the tale of the illegal refugees who risked it all to live like cockroaches, hiding in the dank cracks of an unknown society where they hope no one will find them, antennae forever twitching, listening for the heavy boot of National Security, only to discover that the strange new place they call home has all the ugliness of the world they left behind, except worse, because here you’re stripped of rights, dignity, personhood.”
“’Life is a big piece of sugarcane’. ‘Sugarcane?’ ‘Yes, a maldito sugarcane! You have to bite down hard and suck as much sweetness out of it as you can.’”
The ending is open to interpretation and to what we have learned and think about Yola. I liked it, as I liked the whole book, and whichever choice readers think she goes for, it is certain to be hopeful and positive (although this being Yola, not without a touch of irony and ambivalence). Considering what happens during the book, the ending is perhaps too neat, but this is a comedy so it goes with the territory, and I think most readers will enjoy it.
This is a great debut novel, which deals in serious topics using a comedic register that in my opinion works very well but might not suit everybody. The characters are wonderful, if somewhat cartoonish at times, and the family Palacios is likely to stay with readers for a long time. I recommend this novel to people interest in finding new authors, and who don’t mind the use of dark comedy to discuss important issues. I highly recommend this book and I am looking forward to the next novel by the author.

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DNF @41%

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for allowing me to read an eARC of this book! This was actually one I was sent directly by the publisher and not one I requested and honestly, it’s not one I would have chosen myself because it’s just not my sort of thing. I’m not a contemporary fan generally and it has to be something I love the sound of to book me in, but this wasn’t it for me.

I didn’t get the “dark humour” everyone was talking about? I can have my fair share of dark humour but this never seemed funny to me. And the relationship between the MC and the “bad guy” felt so cliched to me I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Not one for me but it’s out 14th May 2020 so you can make up your own mind!

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Oh my gosh I loved this book. It was just so good

It follows the story of Yola and her family, who have recently fled the hardship of their home country Venezuela and are now living in Trinidad. They get caught up with the local bad guy ‘Ugly’ who makes them pay back a debt belonging to a recently deceased aunt. What follows is a year of their lives living under his control.

The main thing about this book is that it’s very funny. Not comical funny, but quick- witted, sharp talking, laugh-out-loud funny. The characters are well developed and you can picture them in real life. Strong female characters are all through the novel, which I thought was fantastic. There’s also a romantic theme in the story when Yola’s life is complicated with the introduction of Ramon, Ugly’s main henchman.

I read reviews of this novel before I started it, where some critics admonished the author for including humour in a tale surrounding the plight of immigrants but I completely see what she was trying to do here. By including humour throughout this story, she is opening up this conversation to a wider audience.

I would definitely recommend this novel. 5 stars from me!

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I started this book one evening, thinking I'd read a few chapters before sleep. But I just could not put it down until I had finished it in one sitting. What a triumph! One Year of Ugly deals with difficult issues but does so in a comedic way which does not in any way detract from the message the author is trying to deliver, rather it reflects how humour gets people through the hardest of times. Following the death of Yola's beloved Aunt Celia (who is in debt to Ugly), her whole family ends up being held to ransom by him - Ugly is a human trafficker and violent man. They must provide accomodation, at their expense, to Venezuelan refugees whilst Ugly arranges for fraudulent residency permits. Being illegal immigrants themselves, they have no choice and no protection from the law. Ugly's right-hand man in Roman, who Yola falls first in lust with, and then deeply in love. The feelings are reciprocated but their relationship must be conducted clandestinely, and is tainted by her guilt. As events take a darker turn, salvation comes from an unexpected source, and the family become freed from the shackles of Ugly. Witty, sharp and punchy, this is a fantastic read.

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