Stunning! It is written in little paragraphs, little bits of memory. It's quick and easy to read but impossible to forget. I had to keep reassuring myself that it's a novel, not the author's actual observances.
I bought this book several months, maybe a year, before I read it and it was nothing like I thought it would be. I thought Big Ray would be a likeable man and he was anything but. The book was written by his son who was able to almost like him after a lifetime of trying. And I have to admire him for that. The author's sister also reached a measure of acceptance during her life. Big Ray was a man who should never have had children; probably should never have married. He insulted, humiliated and hurt his wife and children as well as physically and emotionally abusing them. He was grossly, disgustingly overweight and did nothing to change it which ruined his health as well as his appearance. I did not like him at all.
