Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions [Paperback]

Daniel Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

In his prime, Edward Bloom was an extraordinary man. Or at least that's what he told his son. Faced with the prospect of his father's death, William Bloom sets about to discover who the man really is. Daniel Wallace's magical first novel, Big Fish, is told as a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts that William knows. Through these tall tales-hilarious and wrenching, tender and outrageous-William begins to understand his elusive father's great feats and great failings.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

"People mess things up, forget and remember all the wrong things. What's left is fiction," writes Wallace in his refreshing, original debut, which ignores the conventional retelling of the events and minutiae of a life and gets right to the poetry of a son's feelings for and memories of his father. William Bloom's father, Edward, is dying. He dies in fact in four different takes, all of which have William and his mother waiting outside a bedroom door as the family doctor tells them it's time to say their goodbyes. He intersperses the four takes with stories (all filtered through William's mind and voice) about the elusive Edward, who spent long periods of time on the road away from home and admitted once to his son that he had yearned to be a great man. The father and son deathbed conversations have son William playing earnest straight man, while his father is full of witticisms and jokes. In a plainspoken style dotted with transcendent passages, Wallace mixes the mundane and the mythical. His chapters have the transformative quality of fable and fairy tale, and the novel's roomy structure allows the mystery and lyricism of the story to coalesce. Agent, Joe Regal; author tour. (Oct.) FYI: Wallace is an illustrator who designs T-shirts, refrigerator magnets and greeting cards.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140282777
• ISBN-13: 978-0140282771
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #395,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fool and a hero to his son's eyes, December 14, 2003

By 

Alysson Oliveira "Alysson Oliveira" (Sao Paulo-- Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions (Paperback)

The world is full of mother and daughter books, such as 'The Joy Luck Club', 'Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood' to name a few, it was high time we had found a good book about fathers and sons. And here it is. Daniel Wallace's 'Big Fish' does not disappoint when it comes to explore this universe.

It is not a novel, but a episodic book, nevertheless, it must be read in the order, because they chronologically tell the story of Edward Bloom, through the eyes of his son, William Bloom. Edward is dying and in order to reconstitute his life, his son starts telling his (Edward's) stories --somehow, he believes that telling this father's adventures is a form of keep him alive. Like his father advises to him once: 'Remembering a man's stories makes him immortal'. Of course, that to William's eyes his father is a hero, more than that sort of a mythological figure-- hence the subtitle of the book 'A Novel of Mythic Proportions'.

From time to time, a chapter called 'My father's death' pops up, and this is the bitter side of this bittersweet book. While most of Edward's stories are sort of expanded jokes, these chapters are much more serious --even being funny when Edward shows up-- and sad, because that's when William has to come to terms with that his father is dying.

When commenting a hard fishing, William states 'Only a fool or a hero would try to catch a fish that size, and my father, well -- I guess he was a little of both'. The love that William has to his father is touching. More a dreamer, like a Don Quixote, it is hard to tell how Edward really was, because his stories a very fantastic --he fights against giants, meets fantastic creatures etc.

As a book of episodes, it is undeniable that they don't share the same level, some are much better and more developed that the others. It seems that Wallace put a lot of effort in some particular chapters --which ended up being very good, by the way -- and working in others segments in a hurry. It is clear that 'The Day He Left Ashland' and 'In Which he Buys the Town, and More' were much more crafted than the rest of the book. It is not a majot flaw, because the writer's style is light and he keeps it most of the book, but when comparing these two particular chapters to the rest of 'Big Fish', one notes the difference and wonders why it happened.

As a whole, the book is fairly good, whit funny and sad moments, that will certainly touch many hearts. Nevertheless I wonder about its gender appeal. I'm not sure women will enjoy 'Big Fish' as much as man. Of course, the girls can like it, but maybe not for the same reasons boys do.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply magical, November 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Big Fish : A Novel of Mythic Proportions (Hardcover)

BIG FISH is fantastic. I read it a few weeks ago, and it has totally stayed with me. I can't get it out of my mind, and keep picking it up and start rereading it at random, just to be back in its magical world. It's funny, witty, sad, and in the end incredibly moving. It's about learning to come to terms with your parents, with a son writing about his father as myth, a superhuman who seemed like he would live forever (and in a way, he does), and it's really remarkable that so short and light a book could be so incredibly powerful. BIG FISH should become a classic. Whatever you do, don't miss it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glorious, January 15, 2004

By 

KundaVega "kundavega2" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions (Paperback)

As a lover of myth, folklore and fairytale I was absolutely enchanted by this book. I do believe that storytelling is a direct route to our psyches, especially all of our collective unconscious as humans who share trials and triumphs with each other and forever wonder how we rate as individuals. Daniel Wallace has created an endearing world within a son's imagination of the father he desires to know. As a daughter I can embrace this same longing with both my parents. The beauty of our minds and souls is how we can indeed fill in the negative spaces with dreams and tall tales that somehow do reality and truth justice within the reflection. I loved this book for all it had to share. A lovely read and I recommend it to everyone.