Review: VERY TROUBLING AND REAL. SHOCKING AND ALL TOO COMMON!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 13, 2013
Gray November is a troubling,depressing and extremely rewarding book. It demonstrates the brutality and hate that is so ever present in the world in which we live. The author has perfectly captured a lost and lonely soul attempting to  find his way, bound to the earth, and his dreams. He has done it in such a way that has brought up bitter memories of my own youth. A novel this dark makes me think of Brandon Shire's "Value of Rain" and Jim Grimsley's "Dream Boy". This is some serious writing that pulls no punches and leads us to an all too common conclusion. Another reviewer mentioned Columbine. In the light of Ralph's suffering, I find it surprising that it isn't a more common occurrence given that real life stories are all too similar. There's definitely no happy ending here, unless you consider the end of unmentionable suffering a good end. Well, maybe that's appropriate.