Ray

In the spring of 1990, a friend suggested if I liked J.D. Salinger, I should read Raymond Carver. It would seem this recommendation and my subsequent falling in love with Carver’s style would come a bit too late. My “discovery” of him came two years after his death. I read everything by Carver I could find. I even turned down plans with friends to stay home and read his stories.Years later, the controversy of Carver and his editor, Gordon Lish, became public and many voiced their thoughts on the process of such heavy editing of a writer’s work. I felt strangely betrayed. I wondered if I had read more Lish than Carver in all those stories. Yet, when I read what Tess Gallagher gave to *The New Yorker* as the first draft of “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” which Carver had titled “Beginners,” I could honestly say the story was better for the editing. I also found it intriguing an editor would suggest a longer title.In 2009, it was because of this controversy I met my future editor and publisher, Carter Monroe. A question was raised about it on a writer’s board and I asked him how he felt about it. After many in-depth discussions on the editing of Carver by Lish and the nature of editing in general, we began our own process. I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned and continue to learn about writing.So this year when Carter said I needed to read *Ray* by Barry Hannah, I listened. I found it interesting Hannah had also worked with Gordon Lish. While reading *Ray*, a part of me wondered if Lish had done heavy editing on the short novel. Perhaps we’ll never know, but my feeling is the voice in *Ray* is so strong and surprising- like a whirling dervish spinning you into unsuspected territory- it must be authentic.The narrator, Dr. Ray, takes us through a journey of experiences and relationships in a succinct whirlwind of a lifetime in 128 pages. Hannah finds the comedy and tragedy of our humanity and unabashedly reveals it with a delivery of hope. While it is a perfect and complete work, it has us asking for more time, much like life itself.As with Carver, it seems I am once again “finding” an author two years after his demise. Although Carver and Hannah are no longer with us, their body of work is eternal.

Dr. Ray, a Vietnam vet, womanizing local drunk, gropes his way through a small Mississippi town. Hannah's prose lives in the crevices between soaked and rotting plywood. This novel thwarts our expectations for redemption and meaning. Uproarious and untamable fiction.

"Gah", "wow", and "what?". Those three words sum up my rotating reactions to this novel.Hannah writes extremely well. It really was a pleasure to read this novel, and I don't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who enjoys well crafted lines. He makes emotion. His careful prose effects emotional states, but those states don't last much longer than it takes to reflect on the lines.For all his skill, the book grows tedious. The well-crafted lines don't come together to mean anything in the long run. A rapid succession of non-sequiturs fails almost by definition, and this novel never grows into its promise. Find joy in the particulars because it fails in the whole.The novel also suffers from the conscious attempt you find in so much modern literature to shock. It's painful, but not in the way intended by the author. It's painful because it's trite.

When I can find my peace, I take a ladder to the hot attic and get out the whole plays of Shakespeare.Okay, old boy. Let's hear it again. Sweats popping out of my eyes, forehead.Let's hear it again. Between the lines I'm looking for the cure for cancer.

What an odd book. Sweet sentimental sexy love, nasty sex, inexplicable violence, pointlessly unethical nice protagonist, inexplicable flashbacks, some memorable characters for such a short book. Perplexing narrative. The protagonist sometimes refers to himself in the third person. Would I recommend this book to a friend? I don't think so. Would I read another book by the same author? I'm thinking it over...

You can't help but find the anger, comedy, raw sexuality, confused emotions, and healing a fresh voice in American Literature.Nothing is even remotely sugar coated in this fast paced novel.Ray lives on the edge with a fanatic frenzy which borders on lunacy while possessing the steely nerves of an ACE fighter pilot.Fasten your seat belt!

Gifted writer. This is not your everyday writer. Expect few can emulate his writing style and characters.

I did not care for this novel. Too much profanity and glorification of sexually irresponsible behavior for my taste. Also the style is rather choppy and tedious --- like wading through a stagnant swamp.

'Ole Miss' professor and writer's early novel. Readable, occasional flourishes in the writing that give credence to his strong reputation.

good