Big Ray — Michael Kimball

A potent novel revealing a son's complicated feelings in the aftermath of his abusive father's death.

Big Ray's temper and obesity define him. When Big Ray dies, his son feels mostly relief, dismissing his other emotions.Yet years later, the adult son must reckon with the outsized presence of his father's memory.This stunning novel, narrated in more than five hundered brief entries, moves between past and present, between his 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, sickening and beautiful