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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.
... Read more ›But Wallace's ability to write in the way we remember is what makes Big Fish a great read. Although we generally follow his tale of William Bloom's father, Edward Bloom, in chronological order, it is not necessarily so. The reader is never quite sure when a specific tale occurred, nor does it matter in your understanding of Edward or of William. The tales occur as they are triggered in William's memory, as he strives to understand his father, to see what he has seen and feel what he has felt.
Wallace's writing reflects the joys of oral traditions, of storytelling, of fabrication, of fantasy, of re-creating ourselves in other's eyes and the consequences that may bring.
Big Fish is a wonderful, multi-layered series of stories combined to create a joy of a novel.