“Big Ray”

“Wow. Of course, wow.

“I’m awake and my father is dead. It’s snowing and my father is dead. I’m hungry and my father is dead”

Whatever Michael Kimball chooses to explore, he does it right. He’s an incredible writer and has a way of taking a story, boiling it down, and simplifying it without sacrificing any of the flavor.

His books have always stayed with me in a way that’s difficult to describe. I tend to be short on memory for book plots and quotes, but I’m long on memory for how a book made me feel. By the time you finish this book, that feeling will be inescapable. Which is why it took me so long to read it. I knew that it would be like this.

I know it’s hard to convince people to read a book that’s a downer. This most certainly falls into that category. But it’s a downer in the best possible way. I personally guarantee that you won’t walk away feeling manipulated or like you were tricked into feeling a certain way. This isn’t a book where we’re having a great time until the dog dies. It makes no mistake about what it is, and you can read this excerpt and see if maybe you’d like it: http://www.vice.com/read/my-father-at-the-end-0000191-v19n6

My personal advice, however, is to get it and read it cover to cover. It’s so much more than the sum of its beautiful, tragic, awe-inspiring parts.

“I tie my shoes in the morning and my dad is dead. It’s lunchtime and my dad is dead. I get the mail and my dad is dead. It’s sunny outside and my dad is dead. I’m happy right now and my dad is dead.”