Customer Reviews

Ray in Reverse

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ray Williams, the deceased protagonist of Daniel Wallace's tragicomic second novel, finds himself in Heaven's "Last Words" discussion group. Embarrassed by his prosaic death (from cancer at age 50) and his inconclusive final utterance, "I wish," he initially fabricates a more bloody and dramatic ending and, unmasked, storms off in a huff. His life then passes before us in a series of vignettes, beginning with his slow dying while the backyard birds make nests of his discarded hair and ending with an innocent act of simple heroism at age 10.

Each chapter reveals an emotionally pivotal moment in Ray's life - his wife's infidelity and the near break-up of his marriage, the treehouse he built for his son and used himself as a drinking refuge, his sexual confusion, early relationships, one-night stands, childhood mysteries. The chapters are complete stories; some brief and poignant, some more complex, revealing harrowing secrets - jolting the reader and Ray too.

Williams' comic touch is sometimes gentle, even sad, other times prickly and nightmarish. In one incident Ray hits a dog with his car and rather than driving on, stops, finds the dog's address from its tag and visits the animal's owners, thereby embroiling himself in an ugly, absurd scene between a warring couple.

Ray is no angel. Often clueless, he is occasionally cruel, subject to the buffets of fate and capable of acts of spontaneous generosity. Wallace's ("Big Fish") rendering of him is sharp but empathetic, making his story compelling and real. The completeness of the vignettes sometimes leaves loose ends dangling, conveying the feeling that Ray has compartmentalized his life to avoid the mysteries of his own nature. The reverse structure reinforces this - showing how Ray got to where he ended up - not from a progression of events so much as the natural, halting, unknowable vicissitudes of one man's human nature.

I read the reviews for this book and had to check it out for myself. I laughed a lot and thought a lot. What I found most intriguing was how well the author was able to really define where innocence ended and jadedness began in Ray's life...or is that jadedness ended and innocence began. It certainly gave me pause in looking at my own life.

All in all, it was an enjoyable read. I thought that the first chapter was absolutely hysterical. I didn't laugh that hard again until the very last line which was absolutely classic and probably portrays human nature,even at the end of our lives, more accurately than most of us would like to think.

And I don't mean hair stylists. Wallace is, line by line, one of the most gifted writers around. It's not just that he's funny - though at times, he is hysterically so - or that he's moving -- the poignant last line is profoundly so -- but that he's capable of taking readers so quickly from humor to pathos, from cleverness and arch irony to regret and sadness. This is a writer who has honed his craft, who has complete command of the language and can use it to express the deep ambivalence of most lives today. Ray's is the archtypical American life: so good in some ways, and so empty in others (a la American Beauty). And yet Wallace never makes excuses for him, and never makes him a false hero. Ray is one of us - which is what makes this slight volume something that will stay with you, long after that lovely ending.

I read BIG FISH, thought it was phenomenal, and sent in a five-star review. RAY IN REVERSE is even better--a brillant story, perfectly unfolded in distinctive prose. This novel should get six stars--it's the real article.

Daniel Wallace is one of the original writers I've discovered in the past year. He's one of the few willing to step outside the box and try something different.

"Ray in Reverse" is told in a reversed order--death begins, and childhood ends the book. It was immensely enjoyable and easy to read. I'm not sure what the significance of Ray's final words were, but I like the fact that you're allowed to think about it and come up with your own conclusions. I would reccomend this book to anyone and I'm looking forward to reading his first book.

I got an advance copy of Ray In Reverse and I promise you - this truly is an amazing story! Daniel Wallace develops characters with an empathy and gritty reality that exhibits courage... and faith in the reader... more than any contemporary author I have read. Like in Big Fish, each character resembles someone you know well. And you won't always like the protagonist Ray because he is real: awkward, selfish and inconsiderate, yet fragile, gentle and kind. We join Ray at the end of his life and then glide chronologically backwards to his birth. It isn't always an easy ride - but Wallace never lets go. There is not a sentence in this book I would not take home and introduce to my family.

Loved "Big Fish" but have no idea what this book has to offer. I feel like I'm reading the story of anyone's run-of-the-mill life. I really wanted to like it too, but no matter how I tried, I just felt like it was either over my head or just plain boring.

I have read this book easily 5 times since I first bought it in 2004. I have bought this book for friends and relatives, and keep my copy near my bed. The first time I read it I felt like someone was ripping at my heart. There are so many moments in this book that are simply beautiful. And beautiful hardly does it any justice. My favorite part of the book is in the second chapter. I thought the idea of losing his hair and birds making nests with it was really touching. Daniel Wallace has a great talent for really making the simplest of things interesting, and he definitely shows it in this book.

Most of you probably remember Daniel Wallace as the author of Big Fish, which was eventually turned into a fantastic movie staring Ewan McGregor. Fans of Big Fish will likely get the same sense of enjoyment from Ray in Reverse. I found this book on a bargain shelf at Books-a-Million and decided to read it. You'll see why I'm glad I did.

Ray in Reverse is a downright strange narrative with a unique and stunning conclusion. Ray Williams is dead and in heaven, where support groups collect people together to discuss various aspects of their lives. But Ray is in the Last Words group, where everyone is discussing the last things they said before death, and embarrassment is setting in: Ray's last words weren't all that interesting, let alone complete. What follows is a chronologically reversed narrative about Ray's life, starting from old age and taking leaps further and further back in time to his childhood, before finally returning back to Heaven. We learn about his triumphs and failures, his wants and desires, and, most of all, the kind of man he came to be through all the trials and tribulations of life.

Daniel Wallace has a pension for telling strange and engaging stories. I only saw the movie for Big Fish, but much of the magic and wonder that made that movie shine is also at work in Ray in Reverse. While the narrative does leave many questions open to speculation, the way Wallace has tried to capture the essence of a man, rather than the brilliance of a plot, is something worth noting. The narrative cannot possibly capture every moment in Ray's life to put together some sort of cohesive plot, but it can look into what makes Ray tick, and does so to great effect. We see Ray's life in glimpses in much the same way that we remember the most vivid moments of our pasts in glimpses. Certain memories stick out for us--just as they do for Ray--and when you put them all together they paint a unique picture of you. Ray's backwards motion glimpses do just that, and, by the end, we start to understand who he is, especially in terms of his faults. We also come to understand why the beginning of the novel is so prescient: Ray is the everyman looking back upon himself and wondering, "Who am I?"

Ray as everyman is a key thing to note about the novel. He's not perfect--not by a long shot. Ray cheats, thinks ill of other people, and succeeds and fails in much the same way that all of us do. Wallace doesn't pull punches for Ray, because to do so would take away from Ray's tragic, yet painfully average life. Flawed characters are strong characters. I think this is part of what makes the novel so enjoyable to read, because it takes what is so normal and everyday and makes it glamorous in its normality and flaws, for good or for bad. Wallace has a knack for doing just that, because even Big Fish has that kind of normality-turned-to-glamorous feel.

Wallace's adept storytelling, however, makes difficult for me to find fault with this novel. On the one hand, I loved the way the narrative was pieced together with glimpses; on the other hand, the glimpses also left a few too many holes for my liking, leaving me with a lot of questions at the end. But, at the same time, those questions are part of how the ending comes together, because even Ray is questioning his life. It's a Catch 22 for a reader, I suppose. Regardless, perhaps a few more glimpses could have made for a more rounded picture, but only if doing so wouldn't detract from the ending.

Needless to say, I loved Ray in Reverse. Ray is memorable, the structure of the narrative and the two Heaven scenes framing it make for a fascinating and engaging read, and the everyman has, finally, a little magic attached to the title. Hopefully we'll see more of Wallace in the future. For now, we have Big Fish and Ray in Reverse (and, apparently, a couple other novels I've never heard of before).

Ray in Reverse is light and humorous, and not a ponderous tome. I chuckled over Ray, and worried and wondered about him. I read the book straight through and finished with a smile. But the wonderful thing about Ray in Reverse is that it keeps coming back to me. Ray's last words are keeping me thinking. I highly recommend the book.