Movie Tie In Novels

Big Fish (movie tie-in): A Novel of Mythic Proportions Review

Big Fish (movie tie-in): A Novel of Mythic Proportions Overview

When his attempts to get to know his dying father fail, William Bloom makes up stories that recreate his father’s life in heroic proportions.

Big Fish (movie tie-in): A Novel of Mythic Proportions Specifications

In Big Fish, Daniel Wallace angles in search of a father and hooks instead a fictional debut as winning as any this year. From his son’s standpoint, Edward Bloom leaves much to be desired. He was never around when William was growing up; he eludes serious questions with a string of tall tales and jokes. This is subject matter as old as the hills, but Wallace’s take is nothing if not original. Desperate to know his father before he dies, William recreates his father’s life as the stuff of legend itself. In chapters titled “In Which He Speaks to Animals,” “How He Tamed the Giant,” “His Immortality,” and the like, Edward Bloom walks miles through a blizzard, charms the socks off a giant, even runs so fast that “he could arrive in a place before setting out to get there.” In between these heroic episodes, Bloom dies not once but four times, working subtle variations on a single scene in which he counters his son’s questions with stories–some of which are actually very witty, indeed. After all, he admits, “…if I shared my doubts with you, about God and love and life and death, that’s all you’d have: a bunch of doubts. But now, see, you’ve got all these great jokes.” The structure is a clever conceit, and the end product is both funny and wise. At the heart of both legends and death scenes live the same age-old questions: Who are you? What matters to you? Was I a good father? Was I a good son? In mapping the territory where myth meets everyday life, Wallace plunges straight through to fatherhood’s archaic and mysterious heart. –Mary Park

Available and Special Offers Check Now!

Related Products

• Big Fish
• The Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation
• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
• Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck Centennial Edition)

Customer Reviews

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Feb 18, 2012 05:21:40

Bookmark It

Hide Sites