Synopses & Reviews
Soon to be a major motion picture, directed by Tim Burton, and starring Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito.
In his prime, Edward Bloom was an extraordinary man. He could outrun anybody. He never missed a day of school. He saved lives and tamed giants. He was an inspired salesman a visionary, in fact and a beneficent real estate magnate who once bought a whole town just to make sure it would never change. Animals loved him. People loved him. Women loved him (and he loved them back). And he knew more jokes than any man alive. Or at least that's what he's told his son, William. William doesn't really know his father because, actually, Edward wasn't home all that much. So William sets out to discover who his father was by recreating his life in a series of myths and legends inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tall tales, William begins to understand Edward Bloom's great feats and his great failings. In scenes by turns hilarious and wrenching, tender and outrageous, Big Fish teaches us about the manipulative power of mythmaking, the search for an honesty somehow deeper than truth, and the redemption that can occur when one moves from life to death.
Review
"[A] refreshing, original debut....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." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
"Wallace begins with a nearly exhausted topic...adds legends and folk tales from the Southern backwoods, throws in a smattering of Greek myth and attaches a few of his own inventions....[A] story that is both comic and poignant." James Polk, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"An audacious, highly original debut....[A] vigorous updating of the purely American genre of the tall tale as well as an imaginative, and moving, record of a son's love for a charming, unknowable father." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Small glimpses of the soul of another through the lattice of tall stories make up this charming first novel....Readers who loved Martha Bergland's Idle Curiosity will love this one, too." GraceAnne A. DeCandido, Booklist
Review
"A comic novel about the mysteries of death, about the mysteries of parents and the redemptive power of storytelling." USA Today
Review
"Wallace delivers handsomely with a wise story that is a delight to read." Dan Koenig, Book Magazine
Review
"A refreshingly different approach....Wallace exhibits a masterly touch." San Diego Union Tribune
Review
"A talented and fascinating writer. Daniel Wallace has created a jewel in Big Fish." Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump
Review
"I have a feeling that Big Fish is going to make a very big splash." Lee Smith, author of News of the Spirit
Synopsis
Sitting by his father's deathbed, William Bloom tries to understand the man quickly slipping away, who is more interested in evading his son's questions than answering them. So William reconstructs his father's life through a series of stories, and in doing so finds a way to say goodbye.
About the Author
Daniel Wallace has published stories in numerous magazines. His first novel, Big Fish, has been translated into five languages. His other novels are Ray in Reverse and The Watermelon King.
Table of Contents
PART I
The Day He Was Born 5
In Which He Speaks to Animals 8
The Year It Snowed in Alabama 9
His Great Promise 12
My Father's Death: Take 1 13
The Girl in the River 24
His Quiet Charm 28
How He Tamed the Giant 29
In Which He Goes Fishing 34
The Day He Left Ashland 37
Entering a New World 50
PART II
The Old Lady and the Eye 57
My Father's Death: Take 2 65
His First Great Love 76
His Legendary Legs 78
In Which He Makes His Move 79
The Fight 81
On Meeting the In-Laws 86
His Three Labors 91
He Goes to War 101
My Father's Death: Take 3 106
The Day I Was Born 117
How He Saw Me 120
How He Saved My Life 125
His Immortality 128
His Greatest Power 130
In Which He Has a Dream 134
PART III
In Which He Buys a Town, and More 143
How It Ends 164
My Father's Death: Take 4 169
Big Fish 175