The Wrong Boy

by Willy Russell | Humor |
ISBN: 0552996459 Global Overview for this book
Registered by RowanneM on 6/4/2007
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10 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by RowanneM on Monday, June 4, 2007
The Dewsbury Desperadoes are on their way to Pontefract for a gig at the Allied Butchers' & Architects' Club. The Girl with the Chestnut Eyes is on her way to somewhere. And Raymond is heading for Gulag Grimshy. Raymond Marks is a normal boy, from a normal family, in a normal northern town. His dad left home after falling in love with a five-string banjo; his fun-hating grandma believes she should have married Jean-Paul Sartre: '1 could never read his books, but y' could tell from his picture, there was nothing frivolous about John-Paul Sartre.' Felonious Uncle Jason and Appalling Aunty Paula are lusting after the satellite dish; frogs are flattened on Failsworth Boulevard; and Sickening Sonia's being sick in the majestic cathedral of words. Raymond Marks is a normal boy, from a normal family, in a normal northern town. Until, on the banks of the Rochdale Canal, the Flytrapping craze begins and, for Raymond and his mam, nothing is ever quite so normal again. In Raymond, prize-winning and internationally acclaimed playwright Willy Russell has created an unforgettable character to rival his Shirley Valentine and educated Rita. The Wrong Boy is his extraordinary first novel.

Journal Entry 2 by RowanneM at Edinburgh Book Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom on Sunday, August 12, 2007

Released 16 yrs ago (8/12/2007 UTC) at Edinburgh Book Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom

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Released at the Bookcrossing Meetup at the Book Festival...

Happy Reading!

Journal Entry 3 by kinedi from Rushyford, County Durham United Kingdom on Monday, August 13, 2007
Have heard much about this author so grabbed this book from the table quite quickly at the Bookfestival Meet Up on Sunday, thanks.

Journal Entry 4 by kinedi from Rushyford, County Durham United Kingdom on Monday, September 17, 2007
Utterly compelling read ! Very very funny but also quite melodramatic at times and I got completely absorbed in Raymond's stories and *just* had to read on to find out how his life developped. Good ending too. Wonderful array of character (I loved his gran) and beautiful play with words too.Mentioned I was reading this book at our last Meet Up so will bring it along in October as more people expressed interest to read this one.

Journal Entry 5 by serialdeviant from Swindon, Wiltshire United Kingdom on Thursday, October 11, 2007
Picked up at the Edinburgh BC meetup. Was told it's very good, so plan to read it soon. Will edit this entry when I'm done.

Journal Entry 6 by abbax on Thursday, January 10, 2008
Picked it up at Edinburgh BC meetup.

Journal Entry 7 by wingAnonymousFinderwing on Thursday, February 28, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. Great read. I'm sending it to travel to Greece. I think it will make lots of people happy.

Journal Entry 8 by erinne from Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Thursday, March 13, 2008
Picked up from BC meeting on the 12:th of March. Thank you!

Journal Entry 9 by erinne from Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Wrong Boy was good! I liked the story (even though it did not carry all the way to the end) and loved the fun-hating Granny. All you need for your life to come miserable is a spell of bad luck in the wrong place.

I brought the book to Finland with me and will probably pass is to Harmaja. Thanks, all you previous and future journalers.

Journal Entry 10 by harmaja from Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I am taking Wrong Boy to the local meet-up today. Happy travels!

Journal Entry 11 by VariC from Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin Germany on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Picked this one up at the meet today because apparently people liked it and it sounded sufficiently weird.

Journal Entry 12 by VariC from Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin Germany on Wednesday, January 20, 2010
I'm finding it hard to articulate my thoughts of this book. Raymond's story has a clear arc, familiar to me from a number of bad feel-good movies, but executed much better, with its predictable ups and downs. A captivating tale it was, with the interleaving of the present and the past as a typical technique of forcing the reader onwards. I did not find direct thematic connections between the two narratives, as is usual in these kinds of tales, but then, I wasn't looking very hard either.

Conformity, or more properly, its damaging effect, seems to be a major theme. From the beginning, the people who go against “normal”, Raymond's Gran, Twinky, are raised up to be idolized, those opposing them demonized. Understandable, as Raymond himself sides with the non-conformists, in spirit if not always in deed. Enforcing conformity is what school and work are designed for in this world, and only a rare individual escapes.

Raymond also experiences how we are not always remembered for our best achievements but often from our worst mistakes, even single incidents (“I built that bridge, but do they call me the Bridge Builder? No, they do not”). A reputation, deserved or not, is hard to shake, and we see how Raymond is constantly evaluated through the fly-trapping lens, thoughts he is supposed to have projected onto him. Perhaps this also ties to the conformity, the idea that fundamentally people are all the same, and they can be understood based on the same template.

The ending is, perhaps, somewhat weaker, but still, appropriate to the story being told. The number of coincidences in Raymond's journey did stretch credulity a bit, and now that I think of it, it is funny that they were all happy ones, coincidences that led to Raymond's life improving. But perhaps, the events I call coincidences have no other possibility, that the unhappy events I label as just stuff happening.

Journal Entry 13 by VariC at Kokkola, Keski-Pohjanmaa / Mellersta Österbotten Finland on Sunday, January 24, 2010

Released 14 yrs ago (1/24/2010 UTC) at Kokkola, Keski-Pohjanmaa / Mellersta Österbotten Finland

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Sent to Chania who won it in the Thursday raffle.

Journal Entry 14 by Chania from Kokkola, Keski-Pohjanmaa / Mellersta Österbotten Finland on Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thank you, VariC, this book sounds interesting!

Journal Entry 15 by Chania at Kokkola, Keski-Pohjanmaa / Mellersta Österbotten Finland on Thursday, November 17, 2011
Loved this! The Times says in back cover: "Unusual, funny, unsettling and rich with sadness" and I agree completely. For me this book was most of all heartbreaking. I work in psychiatric field and the parts where Raymond had his hallucinations and strange thoughts were very well written and sounded pretty truthful for me.
This book also made me wonder how Raymond's life would have been if he didn't get the bad reputation from the early age.

Anyway, a lovely and strong, warmhearted story, which is travelling to USA next.

Journal Entry 16 by Jeanlovesbooks at Kalispell, Montana USA on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
I received the book recently and haven't read it yet. From the reviews I've read I think it should be fabulous!

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