Rating: 
Summary: Terrible, unrealistic read
Review: What I fail to understand are the positive reader reviews. What book are they reading? This book is ridiculous. The plot, if you can call it a plot, is trivial. The character of Ralph is just plain silly, the storyline makes no sense whatsoever. Remind me of junior high? I think not. It is far less realistic than Malcom in the Middle, the TV show. I did read the whole book, but it sure was a chore, especially the last quarter of it. I kept waiting for something to happen, unfortunatly, nothing does. Do yourself a favor, skip this one!
Rating: 
Summary: The Present, the Past, the Future
Review: Words can barely express my admiration for Mr McNally's brilliant text, The Book of Ralph. The South Side of the Chicago of the late '70s is brilliantly alive again, visceral and fully realised in The Book of Ralph. The pages abound with perfectly formed characters. The book is also a laugh riot, as if that needed to be said, but it never veers into mere slapstick. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: the greatest literary work of this century
Review: Words can barely express my admiration for Mr McNally's brilliant text, The Book of Ralph. The South Side of the Chicago of the late '70s is brilliantly alive again, visceral and fully realised in The Book of Ralph. The pages abound with perfectly formed characters. The book is also a laugh riot, as if that needed to be said, but it never veers into mere slapstick. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: John McNally....
Review: You beat me to it. I never thought anyone would ever talk about Burbank, or Ford City or Peacock Alley, or Bird's Paradise, or Our neighborhood, and I promise I'll be the second one to do so, but I saw your book last night, and I love it!!!!!
I love my neighborhood, even though you are 10 years older than me, I know everything you talk about, I live here still.
John, thanks for bringing the true South Side out: the one no one ever talks about.
Jim,
Burbank, IL
Rating: 
Summary: Boys Will Be Boys... (4.5 stars)
Review: You know a book is successful when you find yourself having a hard time putting it down. That's exactly how successful John McNally's "The Book of Ralph" is. Once I started reading it, I was hooked. I knew there was no turning back, and to be honest, I liked that. It's only a matter of time before these very pages began to turn themselves without any consent from me."The Book of Ralph" is a collection of stories that revolve around two characters, Hank and Ralph. Hank is a smart and good kid--a straight shooter. Ralph is a delinquent with a criminal record. Even though the two couldn't be bigger opposites of each other, the two are friends. They get thrown into some of the craziest, most humorous, and disturbing situations while trying to survive the eighth grade. With a buddy like Ralph, you just never know where you'll end up. While these are a collection of stories, "The Book of Ralph" reads very much like a novel. The stories are in perfect order and flow very much like the chapters you'd find in a regular novel. The book is separated in three sections: The Present (the majority of the book), The Past, and The Future (which is all one big story that is much darker and more unpredictable than any of the other stories). And even though all of these stories tie into one another, each one is a living and breathing organism that can stand on its own. What really impressed me about this book was how clever and funny the writing is. It's very straight to the point and never drags on. You never feel bored and you never know what's going to happen next. The characters are very animated, but at the same time have a very human quality to them that makes them real. Every character is worth getting to know and they make the stories that much better. McNally knows exactly how to execute each of these stories in an entertaining and fascinating way. The best stories, in my opinion, occur in the beginning (which is in the "Present" section). Reading about Hank dressing up as Gene Simmons on Halloween and Ralph becoming a thug for hire with a list that shows the cost of certain inflictions of pain he can make happen is only a taste of some of the crazy and unforgettable moments that will stay in your head. While I really enjoyed the last portion of the book (the "Future" section), the tone was much different from the rest of the book, leaning more towards the darker route. I had a hard time trying to remember that they were in fact grown-ups at that point, as I was so used to getting to know them as kids. Still, it is all a very enjoyable read altogether and I don't think a wasted moment ever happened in this book. "The Book of Ralph" is a fantastic read that really kept my attention the entire time. I couldn't wait to finish it and I was sad to see the journey end. It's definitely something I will be rereading again. If you're looking for fiction that is funny, sad, sometimes disturbing, and darkly outrageous, then this is something you should consider picking up. John McNally has created very memorable tales about childhood woes and obstacles, and so much more. -Michael Crane
Rating:
Summary: Boys Will Be Boys... (4.5 stars)
Review: You know a book is successful when you find yourself having a hard time putting it down. That's exactly how successful John McNally's "The Book of Ralph" is. Once I started reading it, I was hooked. I knew there was no turning back, and to be honest, I liked that. It's only a matter of time before these very pages began to turn themselves without any consent from me. "The Book of Ralph" is a collection of stories that revolve around two characters, Hank and Ralph. Hank is a smart and good kid--a straight shooter. Ralph is a delinquent with a criminal record. Even though the two couldn't be bigger opposites of each other, the two are friends. They get thrown into some of the craziest, most humorous, and disturbing situations while trying to survive the eighth grade. With a buddy like Ralph, you just never know where you'll end up. While these are a collection of stories, "The Book of Ralph" reads very much like a novel. The stories are in perfect order and flow very much like the chapters you'd find in a regular novel. The book is separated in three sections: The Present (the majority of the book), The Past, and The Future (which is all one big story that is much darker and more unpredictable than any of the other stories). And even though all of these stories tie into one another, each one is a living and breathing organism that can stand on its own. What really impressed me about this book was how clever and funny the writing is. It's very straight to the point and never drags on. You never feel bored and you never know what's going to happen next. The characters are very animated, but at the same time have a very human quality to them that makes them real. Every character is worth getting to know and they make the stories that much better. McNally knows exactly how to execute each of these stories in an entertaining and fascinating way. The best stories, in my opinion, occur in the beginning (which is in the "Present" section). Reading about Hank dressing up as Gene Simmons on Halloween and Ralph becoming a thug for hire with a list that shows the cost of certain inflictions of pain he can make happen is only a taste of some of the crazy and unforgettable moments that will stay in your head. While I really enjoyed the last portion of the book (the "Future" section), the tone was much different from the rest of the book, leaning more towards the darker route. I had a hard time trying to remember that they were in fact grown-ups at that point, as I was so used to getting to know them as kids. Still, it is all a very enjoyable read altogether and I don't think a wasted moment ever happened in this book. "The Book of Ralph" is a fantastic read that really kept my attention the entire time. I couldn't wait to finish it and I was sad to see the journey end. It's definitely something I will be rereading again. If you're looking for fiction that is funny, sad, sometimes disturbing, and darkly outrageous, then this is something you should consider picking up. John McNally has created very memorable tales about childhood woes and obstacles, and so much more. -Michael Crane
Rating:
Summary: Smart, Heartfelt, and Plenty of Belly Laughs
Review: You may not have met Ralph and Hank but you already know them. If you survived suburban junior high, then you know Ralph, the pyromaniac whose interest in optics extends only to trying to set his next door neighbor on fire with a magnifying lens, whose love of history begins and ends with a 19th-century pricelist for injuries inflicted by a New York gang. And if you're holding a book, then you know Hank too-you are Hank, the kid equally drawn and repulsed by Ralph, afraid of what he might do, afraid to miss it. McNally is a master of such in-betweens. He evokes the seventies-complete with references to KISS, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Stars Wars, and Evel Knievel-without ever playing to nostalgia or kitsch. Instead, he explores the simmering tension between Hank's parents, a Halloween night with Ralph's criminal cousin, or Ralph and Hank's chance reaquaintance years later with an unsettling mix of menace and belly laughs. Like a bully who lurks in bathroom stalls, McNally knows to dangle you over the toilet before plunging you in but has enough sense to pull you back before you drown. Sound a little harrowing? Well, it is-but it's also funny as hell, and McNally knows how to balance the hair-raising with the hysterical better than any other young writer at work today.
|
