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Big Mouth and Ugly Girl

Joyce Carol Oates

3.44 · Rating details · 4,400 ratings · 382 reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Ever make a stupid comment or joke, or say something you obviously didn't mean? Of course you have -- we all have. Was it ever taken out of context? Written in the wake of some highly publicized school shootings, Big Mouth & Ugly Girl takes a look at the shock waves that emanate from an overheard comment muttered in sarcasm, and the overzea ...more

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Paperback, 288 pages

Published April 29th 2003 by HarperTeen (first published May 14th 2002)

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3.44 ·

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· 4,400 ratings · 382 reviews

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Nov 07, 2007 Valerie rated it liked it

Recommended to Valerie by: Kim

Shelves: young-adult

"Ugly Girl" is a high school student (aka Ursula Riggs) who has built up walls around herself. Walls that protect her from the insensitivity of others (including her own disinterested family), and from changes and emotions that she doesn't want to (or can't) deal with in her life. Ugly Girl isn't afraid of anyone, and doesn't care what anyone thinks about her. She has black or fiery moods, and depends on no one but herself. She's a Warrior.

"Big Mouth" is another high school student - a boy named "Ugly Girl" is a high school student (aka Ursula Riggs) who has built up walls around herself. Walls that protect her from the insensitivity of others (including her own disinterested family), and from changes and emotions that she doesn't want to (or can't) deal with in her life. Ugly Girl isn't afraid of anyone, and doesn't care what anyone thinks about her. She has black or fiery moods, and depends on no one but herself. She's a Warrior.

"Big Mouth" is another high school student - a boy named Matt Donaghy who talks too much, and sometimes says things that he shouldn't... words spill out of him without thinking.

When Big Mouth "innocently" jokes about bombing his school, he quickly learns the consequences of speaking without thinking, and sees his life turned upside-down as he's suspended from school and investigated by the police. He learns who his real friends are.

Strangely enough, one of them turns out to be Ugly Girl.

As she comes to his aid, they learn a lot from each other. Ursula, a loner, reaches out to Matt to do what she believes is right. And in turn, Matt reaches back and helps Ursula to reconnect with things and people that she's left behind.

In this novel - written for young adults by Joyce Carol Oates - everything extraneous is stripped away as two unlikely friends figure out what really matters, and they change from kids to young adults (and not the easy way).

I thought it was pretty well-written, although at times Oates' terminology and slang seemed more like how she thought high school students would act and speak rather than how they really would (sometimes the dialogue seemed a little stilted to me). Also, I found it a little lacking in depth, and the story-lines wrapped up somewhat tidily at the end. I think that in a really good young adult novel, these issues can be dealt with in a way that doesn't seem like the author is taking things down a notch for the audience (teens rather than adults) and I found this novel wasn't quite at that level. I also wish Matt's character had been better developed, because Ursula's character pretty much blew him out of the water.

There were definitely gems, though. I loved this part, by Ugly Girl:

Life consist of facts, and facts are of two kinds: Boring, and Crucial.

I figured this out for myself in eighth grade. Wish I could patent it!

A Boring Fact is virtually any fact that doesn't concern you. Or it's just trivial. A nothing fact. (Like the annual rainfall in, let's say, Bolivia. Crucial to the Bolivians, but Boring to everyone else.)

I know the Crucial Facts of Ugly Girl's life are Boring Facts to others. Yet, to Ugly Girl, they are Crucial.

There's one test of a Crucial Fact: It hurts.

All in all, a pretty good coming-of-age novel dealing with freedom (or the lack) of speech, and the ramifications of speaking carelessly in a world of zero-tolerance policies. ...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Give this book to every tween and teen you know. Adults, you should read it too. It's a fast read, a day or two at most, and the pages are filled with a sparse, honest prose that creates two characters who somehow manage to be outcasts and everygirl/boy at the same time. You know that teenage experience of feeling totally alone and different from everyone around you but then as an adult you realize everyone was feeling that way and so you were all actually together in that aloneness? This book e ...more

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Jan 22, 2008 Robert Beveridge rated it liked it

Shelves: finished, cle-pub-lib

Joyce Carol Oates, Big Mouth and Ugly Girl (Harper, 2002)

Okay, I admit it. I'm a sucker for books like this. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl into pickle. Boy gets girl out of pickle. Boy gets pickle into girl. They all live happily ever after.

Now turn that formula on its head.

Big Mouth is Matt Donaghy, class clown. Popular guy, suddenly arrested one afternoon as a suspect in a bomb scare. Ugly Girl is Ursula Riggs, captain of the basketball team, anything but popular, a witness to Joyce Carol Oates, Big Mouth and Ugly Girl (Harper, 2002)

Okay, I admit it. I'm a sucker for books like this. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl into pickle. Boy gets girl out of pickle. Boy gets pickle into girl. They all live happily ever after.

Now turn that formula on its head.

Big Mouth is Matt Donaghy, class clown. Popular guy, suddenly arrested one afternoon as a suspect in a bomb scare. Ugly Girl is Ursula Riggs, captain of the basketball team, anything but popular, a witness to the events surrounding Matt being a suspect. As with many high school kids, Ursula and Matt know each other by sight, but have never really talked. Still, Ursula feels compelled to go to Matt's defense, immediately sparking rumors that the two of them are an item. Which is ludicrous, right? Despite Ursula's growing feelings for Matt, that seem to be reciprocated when she can pull her head out of her posterior long enough to notice.

In other words, your basic coming of age novel. Which is all well and good but, well, this is Joyce Carol Oates we're talking about. And this is the first Oates novel I've read that's missing the common Oates (and Rosamond Smith, too) thread-the overwhelming sense of dread and despair that culminates in the horror of human tragedy. The house burning in Beasts. The child molestation in Cybele. The son killing his father in A Garden of Earthly Delights. Teddy Kennedy plunging off the Chappaquiddick bridge in Black Water. Oates novels end with a massive display of human-tragedy fireworks, don't they? Well, they all have up till now. Oates fans will be expecting the other shoe to drop, and will likely be sorely disappointed.

Not to say the ending that's here is bad, it's just, well, somewhat predictable.

What is classic Oates in this novel are the characters and their development. Oates is a master at subtleties of character, and Ursula Riggs is one of the most real high school students to come along in a novel in a very long time. She alone is worth the price of admission, all the other good stuff is just icing on the cake. *** ...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Crystal vasquez rated it did not like it

Big mouth and Ugly girl was not really a good book at all in my opinion. Ursula was just an annoying character that needs to get over herself and just drop her tough girl act. The fact that the guy got in trouble for saying something was really ridiculous as well. I thought the story in the beginning was interesting until it began to repeat itself. Since the story is so fast pace it just goes on and on and doesn't make sense. Well maybe im just not into these kinds of stories but all I know is t ...more

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Jul 02, 2010 Angie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, belovedbookshelf

The first time I ever heard about BIG MOUTH & UGLY GIRL was on the lovely Shannon Hale's website a few years ago. I was browsing around and ran across a list of her book recommendations. This one was on the YA non-fantasy list and the title caught my eye. So I hunted down a copy at my local bookstore and went home with it. Something about her description of why she liked it made me certain it was worth buying sight unseen. I must have felt strongly because, let's be honest, I would never oth The first time I ever heard about BIG MOUTH & UGLY GIRL was on the lovely Shannon Hale's website a few years ago. I was browsing around and ran across a list of her book recommendations. This one was on the YA non-fantasy list and the title caught my eye. So I hunted down a copy at my local bookstore and went home with it. Something about her description of why she liked it made me certain it was worth buying sight unseen. I must have felt strongly because, let's be honest, I would never otherwise have purchased a book with this cover. I'm sorry, but it's horrendous. Sort of the definition of unappealing. Nothing that calls out to me in any way. And, as with so many other of my favorites, this story deserves a cover worthy of it. Not the drab, awkward ones it's gotten thus far. So I hope this review will appeal to some of you enough that you'll look past the puzzling, slightly garish cover and see the gold inside. Because it is most certainly gold and instantly went on my Beloved Bookshelf because of its honest and heartfelt approach to being a teen outsider and the often unfair and complicated ways in which others view you when you don't conform to their model of expectations.

It was an ordinary January afternoon, a Thursday, when they came for Matt Donaghy. They came for him during fifth period, which was Matt's study period, in room 220 of Rocky River High School, Westchester County.

These are the opening lines of the story of Matt Donaghy and Ursula Riggs. On that ordinary day in January the police come to arrest Matt Donaghy. To escort him from school and down to the station on charges that he was planning to blow up the school. Matt is speechless with confusion and fear. He had no such plans. He said no such thing. Or did he? It's impossible to remember. He might have joked about it. Not necessarily in so many words, but he might have. Matt is always joking. You might say he has a big mouth. Big enough, hopefully, to cover up for his shyness, his inability to blend in perfectly with his peers. Then there is Ursula Riggs. Tall, sturdy, with fierce eyes and an unyielding presence, she's on the edges of Rocky River High as well. Everybody knows of her but nobody really knows her. And in her head she is Ugly Girl. Too large and broad and forceful to be accepted, but sure of herself and determined not to be run over by anyone. But Ursula heard what Matt said that day in passing. And she decides she won't let him go to jail for a crime he didn't commit. But will the two outcasts together be able to stand against the fear and the mob mentality that arises in the wake of rumors of a crazy boy and a bomb?

First published in 2002, this is Joyce Carol Oates' first young adult novel and I was impressed to say the least. It reminded me of a more "American," if you will, version of Just in Case by Meg Rosoff. No less angst, but a little more hope. The two main characters, Matt and Ursula, develop alter egos (see title) which in turn enable them to cope with the shocking events of their junior year. The thing is you will like these two. You will like them from page one. Though skinny and geeky, and prone to skimming along under the radar, Matt is incredibly likable and funny. And Ursula. Well, as Matt would say, Ursula is "1 individual in 1 million." Often brash and abrupt and unconcerned with other people's feelings, she is actually an unusually straight arrow. And her insistence on justice and the perseverance of truth is doggone admirable. What these two accomplish together is heroic. Here is their first conversation:

Twice Matt dialed the number Ursula had given him and twice he hung up quickly before the phone could ring. So damned shy. The third time he dialed, he let the phone ring and it was answered at once. "Hello?" The girl's voice was husky, guarded.

"Hi, this is . . . Matt. Is this Ursula?"

"Yes."

"I . . . got your message."

Matt was speaking in a lowered, shaky voice. He was feeling a leap of irrational hope.

Ursula said, still guardedly, "You know me, I guess? From school?"

"Ursula, sure. Sure I know you."

As if they hadn't been going to the same schools most of their lives.

Ursula said, "This hasn't been such a . . . great day for you, I guess."

"No, but--" Matt paused. He wanted to say, At least I'm home, not in jail. But that wasn't much of a reason to be grateful, considering he hadn't done anything wrong. "--I'm alive, anyway."

Was that meant to be funny? Matt laughed, but Ursula remained silent.

Matt had begun to sweat, this conversation was so pained. He hated calling girls on the phone if he didn't know them really well and if it hadn't been understood, more or less, that he was going to call, and was expected. He was even uneasy sometimes calling his friends. Which was why he liked e-mail. Maybe Ursula Riggs was the same way? Her telephone voice was unexpectedly hesitant, diffident.

Or maybe she just didn't like Matt Donaghy, personally. But had to talk to him for some mysterious reason.

Ursula began speaking rapidly, as if her words were prepared. "Look, Matt. I heard what you said in the cafeteria today. I was walking past your table, and I heard. I know you were joking, and there's no way any intelligent person could misconstrue your words or gestures. If it's taken out of context, maybe, but there was a context. And I can be a witness for you. I'll go to Mr. Parrish first thing tomorrow and talk to him. Or the police, if necessary."

By the end of this speech, Ursula was speaking vehemently. Matt wasn't sure he'd heard right. Witness? He felt like a drowning swimmer whose flailing hand has been grabbed by someone, a stranger, whose face he can't see.

He said, stammering, "You . . . heard me? You know I didn't . . . wasn't . . ."

"A friend of mine, Eveann McDowd, was with me. She heard you, too. I'll talk to her."

"You'd--be a witness for me, Ursula? Gosh."

Ursula said quickly, "You've been falsely accused. I'd do it for anybody." She added," I mean--even somebody I didn't like."

Matt was too confused to absorb what Ursula Riggs seemed to be saying. That she liked him? All he could say was to repeat, "Thanks, Ursula. I--really appreciate it."

"You're the only person who's contacted me, Ursula," Matt added impulsively. "I'm a pariah, I guess--is that the word? Like leper. Outcast." When Ursula didn't reply, Matt said, "I've been suspended for 'at least three day.' Till they can investigate me."

"Investigate you? They're the ones who should be investigated."

Ursula Riggs spoke so heatedly, it was as if, suddenly, she was in Matt's room with him and Pumpkin.

Don't you want to stick with them and find out if she's right? If together they can face down The Man and win? This is a particularly timely tale, I think, with two painfully real protagonists that dare you to drift away and forget them after the story itself is over. Recommended for fans of Courtney Summers and Meg Rosoff. ...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Ryan rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015-challenge

Have you ever made a joke that got you into a lot of trouble? It's seems funny as it's coming out of your mouth, but when an unintended person overhears the joke, you realize that you've gone too far? That's what happens to Matt, one of the main characters in Big Mouth & Ugly Girl. Matt makes a joke that actually gets him arrested by the police (you'll have to read to find out what the joke is). After the joke his life starts to fall apart, when all of the guys he thought were his friends s ...more

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Jul 02, 2014 Thomas Strömquist rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-collection

"Joyce Carol Oates is a wonderful author and even when she writes an apparent "young adult"-novel it is very fulfilling even for a general audience. Matt (the self-proclaimed "Big mouth") is a popular high school student who gets into trouble due to shooting off his big mouth. All of a sudden he finds himself not only not popular, but seemingly without any friends and when his parents move to sue the school for defamation he ends up being harassed by older kids. The clearing up of the trouble he ...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Rita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 18-book-challenge-2010

This novel was pretty good. I liked how the perspectives were switched between Ursula Riggs and Matt Donaghy. The plot itself was also really good.
It was a fun read. But not that outstanding as I first thought it would be.
But all in all - a nice read.

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Feb 28, 2017 E rated it it was ok

Meh

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Feb 27, 2019 Leslie rated it liked it

I would say that this was a pretty ok book. Maybe not one of my favorites but still a good book. It teaches a good lesson though. You should always think before you say something, even if you are being sarcastic. You never know how someone might take it.

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Jan 21, 2019 Eugen rated it it was amazing

Good book

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May 29, 2013 Jessica Lugo rated it it was amazing

Young adult fans are not to be fooled, played, or tricked. We know what we want - humor, excitement, teenage drama, lies, most of all we want laughs!!! We want to be able to vision the scenes and feel the scenes as well!!!

Big mouth & ugly girl by Joyce Carol Oates.....

This book has not just made me upset but also made me feel some what sad for Matt... Okay now I don't think its right how everyone decides to listen to the rumors that go around the school. Like someone should go ask directly ...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Rizza rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Matthew Donaghy. He is just a normal teenage high school guy as you can see form the start. Who would have known he would want to blow the school up? Or massacre as much people as he can? Or are these rumours true? How would you know if you didn't hear? But, people who might be against you, tell lies to get you in trouble.

Ursula Riggs. Not even a catchy name. Like that violet villain in The Little Mermaid. Well, not that much. She is one of the girls basketball team. Pierced, Boyish outfit. You ...more

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Apr 29, 2010 Cassandra McCracken rated it liked it

Written in two perspectives, those of Ursula Riggs and Matt Donaghy, two students at the same high school, the novel peers deep into the ideas of true friendship and self discovery. As the character describes in first person, Ursula Riggs comes from a wealthy, attractive, and popular family, but she is none of those things. When Ursula went through puberty she grew "big" and "ugly." When society began to reject her for these superficial subjects, she developed a second self - she called this "Ug ...more

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Oct 30, 2013 Rosa Martinez rated it really liked it

Big mouth and ugly girl is one of the most tremendous young adults books I have read in a while. There are two different types of main characters their is Ursula Riggs(ugly girl) and Matt Donaghy. (big mouth).They have totally completely different personality's . Matt always gets bullied around school by all the football players and jocks for spreading rumors.He is also suicidal. Ursula is very insecure because she is not the prettiest girl.They come together in a loneliness kind of way, they be ...more

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Mar 08, 2015 Cindy Newton rated it liked it

Shelves: ya-books-read, owned-books

I thought the protagonists were very interesting character studies--one a girl who was already a misfit and comfortable with it (or trying to be), and the other a boy who was mainstream and suddenly find himself, overnight, a misfit. Watching Matt having to learn to deal with his sudden expulsion from his life is fascinating. Ursula, as a misfit teen who is seemingly content to make her solitary way through life, still notices every stare, whisper, and comment from those around her. While sneeri ...more

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May 05, 2010 Winddancer rated it really liked it

This book really surprised me. At first I thought the title was describing one person. I liked how the novel didn't read in a linear, chronological fashion. I also liked how it kept switching point of view. It kept things interesting, not that this story needed livening up. I completely identified with Ursula and “Ugly Girl” and was quite satisfied as a reader to watch, through the course of the novel, how Ursula mastered Ugly Girl and was able to use her to make situations better for those arou ...more

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Oct 01, 2009 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

Ursula Riggs knows people don't like her. She's completive and tough. She's tall, which gives her an advantage when she plays basketball but not for her social life. That's ok with her because she doesn't need people. She's above it all. Until she finds out that Matt Riggs is being arrested for making a bomb threat during lunch at their school. She knows that's not what he said because she overheard him.

This book was so hard to put down. It really exposes the hysteria we have now, post Columb ...more

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Jun 08, 2014 Maryam_H_145506 rated it really liked it

I really liked this book because it is talks about my age and what happen to teenagers like me. Big mouth and Ugly girl describe what teenagers go through in high school and what turn's a student life upside-down. I liked the way they meet each other as the ugly girl (Ursula). She is a girl who doesn't in connect with people but she doesn't like the wrong judgments around the big mouth (Matt). Also, what I like in this book is that they tried to learn from each other and help each other when som ...more

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Sep 03, 2015 Colin Kirkwood rated it really liked it

I think it is a great book and that the way they ended up as friends was unusual. I think that it was unfair that Matt automatically was blamed for saying that he was gonna blow up the school. But the thing was that every body believed that he said it and was going to do it. He was only joking and the people who told just did it because of there father. The fact that he was in the papers for saying that he was going to blow up the school made his life and everybody related with it miserable alon ...more

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Jun 30, 2017 Mrs. Wegener rated it really liked it

Shelves: realistic

I enjoyed this story way more than I thought I would when I first started it. I had to re-read the beginning chapters a few times before I could get into it. But, once I focused and got about a third of the way in, it was a quick & enjoyable read. Usually I'm very cynical about young adult novels and how characters are either cheesy or unbelievable, but I really loved Matt & Ursala at the end of the novel. I found them both to be extremely honest and relatable. I may not necessarily have ...more

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Jul 09, 2008 Kendall rated it it was amazing

This book is very original. The story of an outcast and an insider become outcast who become friends, not caring what anyone else thinks. It is interesting to realize how false accusations and rumors can really hurt people's reputations and lives.

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Nov 07, 2015 Charlotte Larsson added it

Shelves: female-author, in-english, us-author

2003 I wrote that this feels like Catcher in the Rye for the 1990s. I learnt the word truculent

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Apr 04, 2016 Sean Callaghan rated it really liked it

Great beginning. I thought this would give a little more than the standard YA novel ending... and then Oates wrapped it up much too neatly.

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Jul 20, 2013 Pauline rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

Fantastic. A book about standing up for what is the right thing to do no matter what.

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Nov 18, 2017 Jessica Chester rated it liked it

Meh....as YA books go, this is a solid effort by a well-known and respected author, but there is so much she didn't "get" about teens I don't even know where to begin.

The characters are well developed, and the story plays out nicely (though it is really, really tame) but her "teens" are very much like middle-aged urbanites in their thinking and behavior.

For starters, teens in the book are constantly emailing each other. That does not happen. They text, they use snapchat. They don't email each ot ...more

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Jun 25, 2018 Anna Cavallo rated it really liked it

This book really surprised me.
At first I thought the title was describing one person. I liked how the novel didn't read in a linear, chronological fashion. I also liked how it kept switching point of view.
It kept things interesting, not that this story needed livening up. I completely identified with Ursula and “Ugly Girl” and was quite satisfied as a reader to watch, through the course of the novel, how Ursula mastered Ugly Girl and was able to use her to make situations better for those arou ...more

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Apr 01, 2018 Emily rated it liked it

Shelves: ya-13-25

Matt Donaghy is an average guy. He's a good student, active in his school community, sometimes funny. One day he says something that makes it seem like he's going to bomb to school. One other person, Ursula Riggs or "Ugly Girl" as she calls herself reveals what she heard and the context of which it was said. This book is about the consequences of speaking without thinking and figuring out who your real friends are.

I thought this book was very interesting. It was well-written despite the fact tha ...more

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Jan 19, 2019 Tammy Massey rated it it was amazing

At a time when threats of school violence are taken very seriously, this book hit very close to home with me. Matt, the smart and slightly smart-alleck main character says something jokingly (or is it?) that is taken seriously and has serious consequences, sending him into a downward spiral and plotting “friends” against friends. Throw in Ursula, a girl who is sometimes herself and sometimes an alter ego known as Ugly Girl, and Matt’s life gets even more complicated.

This book is told mostly in ...more

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Oct 27, 2018 Elisabeth rated it liked it · review of another edition

What I really liked about this book was the friendship story at its core and how reasonable and mature the two main characters were. What I didn't really like was how extremely exaggerated it was in places (very much a caricature, which is probably intended but which I just didn't like) and the fact that one character's part of the story is told in first person while the other one is told in third person. It was a really jarring switch every time and felt very awkward to me.
So overall this bala ...more

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About Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates

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Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is also the recipient of the 2005 Prix Femina for The Falls. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. Pseudonyms ... Rosamond Smith and Laure ...more