Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119790 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 506 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Wrong Boy is the debut novel of Liverpudlian playwright Willy Russell, famed for his plays-turned-films Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, and the West End musical stalwart Blood Brothers. Both Rita and Valentine were star-making roles and if (and when) The Wrong Boy makes it to the screen, the main character Raymond is likely to have the same effect on one lucky young actor.

Teenager Raymond Marks has not had a charmed life. His profligate, instrument-loving father made an early exit, leaving him with a struggling mother and doting Sartre-fan grandmother. Fifteen minutes of potential glory when he saved a boy from drowning are cruelly compromised when it's discovered that the boys were near the canal indulging in what they called "flytrapping", and Raymond becomes "the precocious pervert, the evil influence, the filthy little beast". Eventually packed off to "Gulag Grimsby" at the suggestion of his despised Uncle Jason, Raymond pours out his life's woes in a series of missives to his idol, one-time Smiths' star Morrissey.

Writing his letters with improbable speed, Raymond is ingratiating, unstoppable and superbly miserable, as befits a Morrissey devotee--and lucky enough to be surrounded by a bevy of gift-wrapped Northern character parts. Russell's genius is to take situations and characters that are firmly placed in the banally familiar--and then push them to their comic limits. In The Wrong Boy those limits are tested to the full. --Alan Stewart

Review
A big-hearted, wonderfully funny and engrossing saga.', The Mirror .'Unusual, funny, unsettling and rich with sadness.', The Times .'A warm, funny, poignant story. I loved The Wrong Boy - and so will you.', Sunday Telegraph .'A comic masterpiece.', Bel Mooney, Mail on Sunday .'Willy Russell's triumph is to have created an unforgettable character, both unique and an Everyman.', Mail on Sunday

From the Publisher
A master of the stage proves he's master of the novel
THE WRONG BOY is, perhaps surprisingly, Willy Russell's first novel and it is, not at all surprisingly, a triumph of the art.

As Alfred Hickling puts it in his review in The Guardian, Willy Russell's novel is "expressed in unpretentious language, which heavyweight critics, in the words of his own educated Rita 'probably won't like, because you can understand it'."

However, the majority of critics have liked it, a lot:

"Willy Russell has created a character [in Raymond Marks, the 'Wrong Boy' of the title] to stand alongside his celebrated progeny, Shirley Valentine and Rita...his real achievement is to present the exaggerated horrors of childhood and adolescence with an unusual wit and sympathy." STEPHANIE MERRITT, The Observer

"The Wrong Boy shows that he's still got that magic touch...With a dead pan delivery that Alan Bennett would be proud of, and a grasp of the teenage psyche not seen since the creation of Adrian Mole, this is one for square pegs in round holes everywhere." ANDREA HENRY, The Mirror

"Willy Russell's first novel is warm, funny and poignant." JESSICA MANN, Sunday Telegraph

"Unusual, funny, unsettling and rich with sadness, The Wrong Boy manages to work on a multitude of levels. It also showcases Russell's gift for sinking deep into the minds and motivations of his characters, offering a voice to the dispossessed. Russell can now add the label of novelist to the tags of playwright, lyricist and composer. Onec again he has proved himself to be a multi-faceted Renaissance man." DOMINIC BRADBURY, The Times

If you're looking for the perfect gift to lift the spirits of your mother, father, daughter or son, look no further!

Customer Reviews

Morrissey should be buying the film rights...
...if he hasn't already!

This is a fantastic novel. I was dubious at first as one of the reviews I read compared it to Adrian Mole - roughly equivalent to comparing a creme egg to a Faberge. Simply put it is the story of the "strange" kid at school, the one who wore white socks and a parka and smelled faintly of TCP . Raymond is a lyrical and literal genius, a weirdo extraordinaire, and a victim of circumstance of the unluckiest kind and his grim sense of humour and introspection see him through some very unfortunate events. His nihilistic granny, B!stard Uncle and hilariously sympathetic best friends really deserve to be discovered and I can't help thinking this would make an even better film than Shirley V. So good I can even forgive the slightly clunky coincidence that wraps it all up.

One of the best books I've read in years. If you like character based novels with a dark sense of humour and a little bit of spirit, this is definitely for you.

Skilful and moving portrait of a boy's descent into madness
Russell's novel is told through the central character's reactions to a chain of events and coincidences that are so unfortunate and so excruciatingly catastrophic that they result in severe mental breakdown. Raymond Marks is a gifted boy, imaginitive and articulate, but is let down badly by the adults who have control over his life. Russell's well-paced and moving account of Raymond's descent into madness, as his world fractures around him time and again, is drawn with extreme skill and insight. It is a heart-rending portrayal but the novel also has its fair share of laughs and is ultimately uplifting. Try listening to the Smiths while you read to get you in the right frame of mind for Raymond's story.

An absolutely superb book
I read this book last year, and it moved me more than nearly any book I can call to mind. Two particular scenes stood out for me, though I won't mention which ones: those who've read it will know! One brought tears to my eyes, the other had me unstoppably laughing out loud in a crowded train. I'm not the sort of person to get such strong emotional reactions from books: well, I never had until then.

I just wanted to post a review because I couldn't believe the overall ranking was only 4/5. Looking in more detail, this doesn't tell quite the whole story: almost everyone seemed to love it as much as me, there are just a couple of 1/5 people pulling down the average. I'm sorry they didn't enjoy it, but to the reader who said:

> I have to say that if he were real I would have liked to
> have killed him and most certainly at my school he wouldn't
> have survived.

I can only reply, yes, probably, and that is why I felt such a wonderful pathos for him. Thank God I didn't go to your school.