Ray in Reverse - Hardcover

Wallace, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565122607 ISBN 13: 9781565122604

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 2000

Synopsis

In a funny, bittersweet new novel by the author of Big Fish, Ray Williams looks back on his life from heaven, recalling the confusion, sin, and petty joys that marked his life.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Early praise for Ray in Reverse

"Funny, thoughtful, full of refreshing surprises, it will take you to Heaven and back." --Elizabeth Strout, author of Amy and Isabelle

"Ray in Reverse is filled with wonder at the world and a gentle sadness over one man-child's baffled place in it. Unfailingly gentle and acute, the book somehow manages to get bigger and bigger as it moves toward its unusual vanishing point. A winning production from a singular writer." --Thomas Mallon, author of Dewey Defeats Truman

"A damn good book." --Percival Everett, author of Glyph

"A delightful, small package of exquisite writing...Ray is real, and his life makes oddly compelling reading--especially in reverse." --Booklist, starred review

Praise for Big Fish

"A comic novel about death, about the mysteries of parents and the redemptive power of storytelling." --USA Today

"Refreshing, original debut...the transformative quality of fable and fairy tale." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"An audacious, highly original debut novel...an imaginative, and moving, record of a son's love for a charming, unknowable father." --Kirkus Reviews

"Both comic and poignant." --The New York Times Book Review

"A magic carpet ride of a novel...amazing." --Birmingham Weekly

From the Inside Flap:

Sitting in Last Words group where everyone is recounting their last words on earth, Ray is embarrassed. He didn't declare his love. He didn't say anything symbolic. He didn't reveal his benevolence or goodwill. In fact, he didn't even finish his sentence. His words didn't measure up, and now he can't seem to get them out of his head.

Now, in Heaven, he has time to reflect on his short life of fifty years. This is the darkly humorous story of that life, told backward. We see Ray Williams in his life's most crucial moments--his moments of infidelity, his premature proposal of marriage, his sexual confusion, the dog he accidentally killed, the penny he had to have, and the baby he unwittingly saved. Ray is Everyman at his very best and at his absolute worst--and is none too clear about when he's being either one. Beginning at death and ending at age ten, Wallace's novel leads us back to Ray in his innocence--achieving, against all odds, a happy ending.

Funny, unforgettable, and with one foot in a fabulistic world, Ray in Reverse continues the incandescent storytelling of Big Fish, the storytelling that one reviewer described as "Gabriel Garcia Marquez meets Rowan and Martin."

About this edition

• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1565122607
• ISBN 13: 9781565122604
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 225