This Isn't Going to End Well: The True Story of a Man I Thought I Knew

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It is not too much of a stretch to call this tale a Shakespearean tragedy. And it is powerfully and eloquently written.”— Star News

While "This Isn't Going to End Well" feels like a series of essays that are all supposed to be about Wallace's brother-in-law, William Nealy, they are as much about Wallace, his obsession with Nealy, and some seemingly un-self-aware observations. When an individual suggested early on that they would not participate in an interview to add to the author's advancement, I didn't see any flag but now wonder. How is it acceptable to take a deceased individual's journals and use them as a prop for the latter half of your book when you've already decided that he was unworthy because he committed suicide and left your sister in need? Perhaps there's a revelation near the end. Or perhaps not. Representing another’s life is a daunting task, especially when it is someone we have loved and admired and once wanted to become and that person chooses to end their life, the very life we have emulated. It is this tension between idealization and betrayal that Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish and other novels, captures in This Isn’t Going to End Well: The True Story of a Man I Thought I Knew, his first nonfiction work. Nealy had an extraordinary life that needed no embellishment. He also struggled with a lot of demons, including the unsolved murder of his best friend, and near-constant suicidal ideation. You either understand suicidal depression or you don't, and pretty clearly Wallace doesn't. It is cringe-inducing to read his fumbling about for reasons why why Nealy lived - and died - the way he did. He spends a lot of time being angry with Nealy for leaving his sister, and refuses to fulfill said sister's wishes after she dies, and it takes nearly twenty years for him to try to right that wrong. Without any sort of belief in the spirit world or afterlife, however, this rings incredibly hollow. Wallace may have believed he came full circle, but I don't. This Isn't Going to End Welloutlines the complicated, tender truth about one mythical man.”— The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Coming of age also factors heavily, with healthy doses of young joy (and foolishness) balanced by the view in retrospect of all the things one doesn't see in the moment.Add to that the fact I know people here and elsewhere who, if the situation really demanded it, would be on the next plane to Israel - and not all of them are Jewish. No idea how many there are globally who would do the same, but I'd be surprised if it was much less that 100k in total, probably many more. The afterword indicates that Wallace did a huge number of interviews about William's life with all kinds of folks, but they mostly didn't get quoted. It's hard to say what contributions they made, except for in the one chapter where William is convinced that this one rando murdered his friend. Then you saw a bit more input from others. Stories about artists and their creations are always interesting to me - how does the sausage get made, and what unpleasant byproducts are we left with? This brilliantly layered book is about what calls us to write, create, dance and even destroy those we love. What began as Daniel Wallace’s story became my story, too – the writer who lives “in that place between experience and understanding” and is compelled to touch bone regardless of the pain. I love this book. This Isn’t Going to End Well ended too soon -- and like all great ghost stories I want to read it again.”— Terry Tempest Williams, author of Erosion – Essays of Undoing Negociate peace and treat the Palestinians as equals to begin with,and work from there,but after decades of dehumanising them,this may be an impossible sell to the Israeli public ...

THIS ISN’T GOING TO END WELL: The True Story of a Man I Thought I Knew, by Daniel Wallace. Illustrations by William Nealy. A couple of blokes on a US military forum who are, I guess, Jewish and have just been called up inside Israel are claiming that some quite horrific things have been done by Hamas. It has been reported in the mainstream media that Hamas killed whole families, including infants. These fellows are claiming that the bodies, including the babies were pretty nastily mutilated. Spears’ vulnerability shines through as she describes her painful journey from vulnerable girl to empowered woman.

So often we go into a book experience with expectations. In this case, after reading that Daniel Wallace wrote the novel which was the basis for a movie I adored, "Big Fish," I presumed, rightly or wrongly, that I would equally adore his writing. UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly says that calls for a ceasefire “aren’t going to help the situation”.

The journals become Wallace’s own salvation. He realizes that unlike William Nealy, Wallace is not one man for the world and another for himself. “I had escaped the influence of my mentor, the man I wanted to become. I harbored few dark secrets; I had no shadow life.” Daniel Wallace] writes like no other Southern writer I’ve ever read… This Isn’t Going to End Well is deeply moving, as any reader of Wallace’s fiction would expect.” ― Salvation South Of course we want to see Israel safe, peaceful and secure,” he says in an interview, but there is no indication from Hamas that they would accept or abide by a ceasefire. Daniel Wallace's first foray into nonfiction is a memoir dedicated to his brother-in-law, fellow author, and complete idol William Nealy. Wallace traces their intertwined lives from their first meeting in 1971 through William's suicide in 2001, and Wallace's own reconciliation with this fact in 2019. Wallace writes about the man he admired so much, the man he modeled his own life after, who influenced so many decisions Wallace himself made in his life, not least of which was to become a novelist. And then he writes about Nealy's death and the aftermath that rippled through he own life, and the twenty years it took for him to understand what happens when heroes die and become flawed humans all over again. A revelatory and reflective tale about how males perceive others and how they present themselves. More than anything, I felt compassion for their vulnerability and fear, and made me realize perhaps we are not so different, men and women, after all.”— Sandra Cisneros, author of Martita, I Remember YouWhy is Israel like it is ? Because of where the settlers came from. It’s not racism it’s a fact the experiences of the people of Eastern Europe who settled in Israel have shaped the country and its attitudes. The holocaust is still in living memory just but prior to that the Jews were subject to pogroms, expulsions, ghettoisation and many other crimes. If you live in any country for generations you cannot help but take the characteristics of that country so whilst I don’t have the Netanyahu family tree with me I’d hazard a guess that since there’d been Jews in Russia since AD 500 his family would have been there long enough to acquire some local qualities. A memoir wrapped in an elegy… [that] maps a strangely stunning life… [Wallace] imbues this chronicle with tremendous compassion — for William, for everyone. This Isn’t Going to End Well gives off the particular radiance of a life lived hard, whatever else: as such, a brand of American bildungsroman. There’s deep satisfaction to its arc, despite its inherent sadness — a wondrous glimpse of the melding, in human doings, of fate, character and serendipity.”― Washington Post

As for your last bit, if I had been an Israeli leader at the times of the major conflicts, I would have done just as you wrote. It would have brought even more criticism from people who would criticise me anyway, but so what? It would have made Israel vastly more defendable and, despite the extra scorn, more secure. Don't get me wrong, when the Jewish terrorists were targeting our people I'd have happily slotted them, but I'm writing from an Israeli perspective. But when William took his own life at age 48, Daniel was left first grieving, and then furious with the man who broke his and his sister’s hearts. That anger led him to commit a grievous act of his own, a betrayal that took him down a dark path into the tortured recesses of William’s past. Eventually, a new picture of William emerged, of a man with too many secrets and too much shame to bear. So what next? Two factors make this situation impossible to resolve without a complete capitulation by one side: water and religion. While the one is essential and scarce and the other is behind all policy, nothing will or even can change. And so what? A revelatory and reflective tale about how males perceive others and how they present themselves. More than anything, I felt compassion for their vulnerability and fear, and made me realize perhaps we are not so different, men and women, after all.”— Sandra Cisneros, author of Martita, I Remember You From the Publisher In This Will Not End Wellyou will find the expected Daniel Wallace clarity, humor, and precision. But you will not find fiction. This is a true story about Daniel himself and his wild-man mentor and relative, William Nealy. Few writers can so seamlessly thread together love, loss, admiration, fear, pain, and hope. And this narrative is not traditional memoir-fare. It moves magically—unlike any traditional genre you’ve ever read. At times I experienced that thrill-feeling of a roller coaster dropping away from beneath me. This book is a rare gem gift from one of our very best writers.”— Clyde Edgerton, author of Raney

Yes there are rules / laws and what have you which are supposed to govern conflicts of whatever size and type. But... outside of the democracies, these are merely given lip-service; inside the democracies they are always generally adhered to, sometimes completely. What a talent, what a career, what a life, and what a treat to relive it all with this most down-to-earth of demigods.