The author tells Ute's story in dark brevity, free from sentimentality and shock effects: Growing up in bleak poverty in a West German seaside resort in the 1970s, she is born with a cleft lip and six fingers on each hand, unwanted, and sexually abused by her stepfather. "Life is Beautiful" also narrates Ute's resistance and her tender love for her Turkish classmate Volkan. Ultimately, Ute takes revenge on her tormentors: the mocking classmates, her stepfather, and her silently complicit mother. A book that disturbs and incites anger, but despite everything, also offers hope.