Big
Ray
Big Ray's temper and obesity define
him. When Big Ray dies, his son feels relief and sets his
feelings aside, but not forever. Years later, the adult
son’s reckoning takes place with the outsized presence of
his father's memory in this stunning novel. Told in over
500 brief entries, the novel moves between past and
present, between the father's death and his life, between
an abusive childhood and an adult understanding. Shot
through with humor and insight that will resonate with
anyone who has experienced a complicated parental
relationship, Big Ray is a staggering family story—at
once brutal and tender, beautiful and sickening.
Available
September 2012 from Bloomsbury USA
&
December 2012 from Bloomsbury Circus
(UK)
Advance
Praise for Big Ray:
“Michael
Kimball has been writing innovative, compelling and
beautifully felt books for years, but Big Ray seems a break-through and culmination
all at once. It's funny and terrifying and it's his
masterpiece, at least so far.”
-- Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask
“An uncompromising work of power and
grace. I finished reading it a week ago, but I still
can't put it down."
-- Jon McGregor, author of
This
Isn’t the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like
You
“Big Ray, the man, made an indelible
human impression on me. Big Ray, Michael Kimball's terrific new novel,
is genuinely moving because it is so rigorously
unsentimental. Kimball is a powerful and courageous
writer.”
-- Dana Spiotta, author of
NBCC Finalist Stone Arabia
and NBA Finalist
Eat the
Document
“Big Ray is disturbing in the most extraordinary
ways, and in the end extraordinarily touching also.
There’s nothing quite like it I’ve ever read till now
(though there were times I thought the ghost of Barry
Hannah was whispering in my ear.) It’s amazing.”
—Madison Smartt
Bell, author
of All Souls’
Rising
“Elegy, meditation, story, final
reckoning—whatever you want to call it,
Big Ray
is mesmerizing. Sorrowful
and honest, the kind of book that compels, not
compromises...”
—Deb Olin Unferth , author of Revolution
“Big Ray is stunning, haunting, and beautiful.
This groundbreaking and unforgettable novel should not be
missed.”
-- Jessica Anya Blau, author of Drinking Closer to
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