The classic novel that inspired the beloved Tim Burton film and the Broadway musical.
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. Animals loved him, people loved him, women loved him. He knew more jokes than any man alive. At least that's what he told his son, William. But now Edward Bloom is dying, and William wants desperately to know the truth about his elusive father--this indefatigable teller of tall tales--before it's too late. So, using the few facts he knows, William re-creates Edward's life in a series of legends and myths, through which he begins to understand his father's great feats, and his great failings. The result is hilarious and wrenching, tender and outrageous.I fell in love with the film long before I read the book. The film will always hold a special place in my heart. Reading this book awakened that same feeling of wide eyed wonder to the nature of love between a parent and their child that the film captured. Even though the plot is slightly different than what I am familiar with I loved it immensely nonetheless. Such a small book with few words but they are well chosen words...
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It often happens that after watching a good movie then finding that it was based on a book one becomes discoraged of reading the book behind it because the story was already portrayed in the movie. But 'Big Fish' was such a good movie that reading the novel was necessary. However from the very start of Wallace's novel I realized I was in for a whole new expedition into another Big Fish. John August did an excellent job...
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Daniel Wallace's Big Fish is the story of a son coming to grips with the imminent death of his father--a father he loves deeply despite harboring some contempt. Written with the pared-down, straightforward English of Hemingway and the imagination of Dahl, Wallace creates a simple story that pays homage to its setting, the South of a generation or two ago, and does so in the tradition of the Greek myth. But don't be fooled...
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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...
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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...
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