Synopses & Reviews
The Ralph you know is better than the Ralph you don't.Remember Ralph? He was the kid who failed grade school not once but twice, the kid who was constantly, unwaveringly up to no good. He was the outsider you avoided at all costs. But who precisely was Ralph? And whatever happened to him?
The Book of Ralph, a resonant tale of boys growing up together, reintroduces you to the Ralph you once knew. Suffused with wit and charm, this dazzling story draws readers inexorably into the lives and antics of Hank -- a good boy, a B+ student -- and his troublemaking classmate Ralph, who takes Hank to places he has never dreamed of -- places on the edge, sometimes, of genuine danger.
It is 1978 in Chicago. Hank wants eighth grade to be his big year to shine. But when Ralph starts acting as if he and Hank are best friends, things don't go quite according to plan -- in fact, Hank's special year spirals into an odyssey that is as frightening as it is hilarious, as poignant as it is bizarre.
Reluctant cohort though he may be, Hank none-theless joins forces with Ralph and his older cousins, Norm and Kenny, employees of the Tootsie Roll factory; together, they wreak havoc over Chicago's southwest side. For good or ill, Hank's right there by his side when, for instance, Ralph becomes a thug-for-hire and starts stalking a fellow eighth-grader with plans to bite off his ear (rate: $15.00). For his part, Ralph proves his loyalty in unexpected ways, including a show of solidarity with Hank's grandmother when she's hauled in for a series of shoe-store robberies. Through it all, in a year that sees the rise of Styx, Cheap Trick, and Kiss, Hank doesn't win the popularity or acclaim he'd hoped eighth grade would bring. But as the adult world seems increasingly opportunistic and indifferent, his alliance with Ralph offers him an escape, and even some wisdom. By the end of the school year, though, unanticipated events have altered the nature of their friendship, possibly forever.
John McNally, an award-winning author and an exciting new voice in fiction, presents a delightful, warm-hearted coming-of-age tale replete with the terrors and wonders of early adolescence. Hank and Ralph are an irresistible and entirely surprising blend of wise beyond their years and awestruck at the world made available to them as high school approaches. Beautiful in its plainspoken insight into the experience of teenage boys and all human beings, this story exquisitely renders those flashes of transcendence that can occur in everyday life.
As they seek to survive eighth grade, a bad economy, and threadbare family lives, Hank and Ralph give us a window into the ties that bind us together, hold us back, and sometimes redeem us.
Review
"[An] enjoyable first novel....This lively novel will appeal to fans of Rich Cohen's Lake Effect or even Jean Shepherd's wistful fiction." Publishers Weekly
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"Harmless fun for the lads, courtesy of second-timer McNally." Kirkus Reviews
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"John McNally's vivid, skewed characters, his vibrant prose and hilarious situations make The Book of Ralph, with its undercurrent of menace, a serious joy." Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls
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"Wildly goofy yet touching, The Book of Ralph inhabits the same territory of growing up charted by Stuart Dybek and Tobias Wolff, and with as much warmth and terror as those masters. John McNally is sharp and smart and flat-out funny. The only time I stopped laughing was to marvel at his talent. And then he'd get me again." Stewart O'Nan, author of The Night Country and Wish You Were Here
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"John McNally brilliantly evokes childhood with all its love and loneliness, fear and sorrows, laughter and joy. His bold leaps through narrative time reveal our inability to fully escape the pressures of our past." Chris Offutt, author of No Heroes
Review
"Hilarious, perverted, cartoonish, violent, absurd, disturbed, and, in the end, dead-on realistic. How can we withhold our love from someone so haunted by Chicago's most notorious serial killer, so lustily inspired by Cheap Trick (I Want You to Want Me...)? In The Book of Ralph, McNally more than cops a feel of his generation's psyche, he nails it." Julianna Baggott, author of Girl Talk, The Miss America Family, and The Madam
Synopsis
From the award-winning author of Troublemakers comes this dazzling coming-of-age tale that speaks volumes about the wondrous and antic lives of teenage boys.
About the Author
John McNally is the author of two novels, The Book of Ralph and America's Report Card, and a short story collection, Troublemakers. His next book, Ghosts of Chicago, a collection of short stories, will be published this fall. A native of Chicago, he lives with his wife, Amy, in North Carolina, where he is associate professor of English at Wake Forest University. The first word he ever spoke was "Batman," who has remained, in his darker incarnations, his favorite superhero. John's first creative work, a play written in the fourth grade, featured an overweight superhero who gets stuck inside a phone booth while changing into his costume. He is happy to return to the genre, albeit thirty-four years later.
Table of Contents
ContentsThe Present: 1978-1979
The Vomitorium
Power Lines
The Price of Pain
Sheridan Drive-in
Junk Heaven
Peacock Alley
Smoke
South Side Records
The Book of Ralph
You
The Bear at Your Front Door
Red's
The Grand Illusion
The Past: 1975
A Diagram of the Future
The Future: 2001
Brains of the Operation
Reading Group Guide
The Book of Ralph A Fiction
John McNally
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. The Book of Ralph is referred to as "a fiction," or a series of linked stories. Does the book, in fact, read like a novel? In an interview, John McNally said, "The chapters were...published as individual stories, so there are essentially two versions of each story: the self-contained story and the chapter that fits into the book." Does knowing this affect your interpretation of The Book of Ralph?
2. Ralph is the title character, and Hank is the book's narrator. Of the two, who would you say is the main character? Why do you think the author chose to tell the story from Hank's perspective and not Ralph's? With Hank as the narrator, the reader is privy to his view of the people in his life -- Ralph, Kenny, Norm, Kelly, his parents, his teachers. How do they, in turn, view Hank?
3. In what ways do Hank and Ralph change during their eighth-grade year? Why, at the end of the summer, do they not speak again until they're reacquainted by chance more than two decades later? Did reading about Hank and Ralph in their youth give you a better understanding of them as adults?
4. On more than one occasion Hank admits that he has no idea why he and Ralph are friends. What draws them together? Is Ralph a good influence on Hank in any way?
5. Discuss the second part of the book, THE PAST: 1975. What does this section add to your understanding of Hank and Ralph?
6. When Hank reconnects with Ralph as an adult, he falls into a similar role he played as a kid -- Ralph's sidekick, not standing up for himself, going along with Kenny and Norm's schemes. Why do you suppose this happens to him?
7. When Hank stays in Ralph's house after arriving back in Chicago, he reveals, "When I was a kid, it had seemed like a junky, run-down house, a poor person's house, but now I could see that it had more character than any other house around, despite the years of neglect" (217). What else does Hank see differently now that he's looking through the eyes of an adult?
8. Discuss how family is portrayed in The Book of Ralph. Is Hank's a typical family? Why does Ralph's mother appear only briefly in the book? Is there any significance to Ralph never having left his childhood home?
9. To what extent are the lives of the characters shaped by their economic circumstances, and by the time and place in which they live -- the South side of Chicago in the 1970s? After vowing "never to return" (249) to Chicago, why does Hank not only return but also decide to stay?
10. Discuss Hank's relationships with Karen, Janet, and Ruth. Why is he unable to fully commit to Karen? How would you describe his relationship with his sister, Kelly, both in their childhood and adulthood?
11. In one instance Hank says, "What did surprise me was Ralph. Being with Kelly transformed him into the one thing I never would have imagined Ralph: a romantic" (283). What attracts Ralph and Kelly to one another? Were you surprised they ended up as a couple?
12. What is Hank's fascination with telling the story about the squirrel he almost killed? How does this incident, as he says, "keep coming back to haunt" him?
13. What do you think is the most compelling scene in The Book of Ralph? Which scene reveals the most about Ralph? How about Hank?
14. When Hank and Ralph both admit that the prospect of being brothers-in-law is scary, Hank reasons, "We may not have been reading the same book, but we were at least on the same page" (285). Have he and Ralph been more on the same page than Hank has been able to admit?
15. Author Haven Kimmel described The Book of Ralph as being "populated by unlikely heroes." Who is she referring to as the "unlikely heroes," and why?