Dating Big Bird

by Laura Zigman

Book Overview

Ellen Franck isn't in love with Big Bird. After all, he's a big yellow Sesame Street character -- and she's an intelligent single woman with a fabulous job. On the other hand, Big Bird is looking like... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385333404
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: The Dial Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Insightful Yet Humorous

Ellen Frank is a 35 year-old woman who likens her reproductive system to a gumball machine, and the gumballs are running out. Having devoted most of her adult life to a career in the fast-paced yet shallow world of fashion, Ellen now finds a little voice telling her "they're just clothes" more often than she is comfortable with. Moreover, she finds herself absolutely smitten with her 3 year old niece, whom she affectionately refers to as "The Pickle." Ellen desperately longs for a Pickle of her own, but her Pickle-producing-profile is not promising. Malcolm, The man in her life is a compassionate and funny companion. The best one Ellen's ever had. Except he's a Prozac-induced impotent. Oh yeah, and her doesn't want kids. His life's is your basic tragedy: his only son died of leukemia, he became an alcoholic and his wife left him. He's frozen, unable to escape the dark shadows of his past. And yet Ellen loves him.She just doesn't know if she can get a baby out of him. I had trouble putting down this funny, lively book. Zigman does a wonderful job navigating Ellen's emotional roller coaster as she tries to determine how to become a mother, and who to include on her journey. It is a satisfying, feel-good read.

What she did for a baby!

As she did in her first book, Animal Husbandry, Laura Zigman entertains her readers with both a witty and poignant read in her new book Dating Big Bird. The plot of this book is not a new one, but in this skilled writer's hands we really come to care about Ellen Franck, a 35 year old single woman who hears her biological clock ticking away. Ellen has a good job, a nice apartment and one lovely 4 year old niece who suggests she takes Big Bird to bed with her to keep her compnay. And then Ellen, in one of the more humorous chapters of the book contemplates what it would be like to have a child with Big Bird. But being a bit more realistic Ellen thinks about her choices for parenting which include Malcom, her present lover who is emotionally frozen since his young son died several years before. As Ellen struggles to make sense out of her relationship and the passage of time, Ellen's sister and boss give birth to their second children leaving Ellen totally desparate to have a child even if she's alone.I did enjoy this book and it will most likely provide readers with a light summer offering but every reader must also be prepared for some serious moments which offset the humor and wit. And while today there are other novels and many magazine articles about this subject, Dating Big Bird is one of the better fiction reads one can experience on this topic.

A MUST for the baby obsessed!

I just finished reading Dating Big Bird and cannot think of a book I've read recently that I've enjoyed half as much! Just like the main character Ellen, I am among the ranks of the "reproductively challenged" and was delighted to find a book that seems to have been custom written for me! Those of us bitten by the baby bug often feel that we are alone - Ellen's trials and mishaps along the road to motherhood demonstrate that baby-lust is much more common that one might expect. Two thumbs way up on this one!

Charming and witty

Dating Big Bird is one of the funniest novels I have recently read. The heroine's desire to become a mother is hilarious. The interaction between Ellen (the heroine) and Malcolm (her boyfriend) moved me; the author illustrates a more human and vulnerable side of relationships.With funny lines and witty characters, Dating Big Bird is a must-read!

Great Piece of Fiction

It's been awhile since a fiction novel has really pulled me in like this one. I read it in ONE night, (I was late for work the next day too) and just loved every word and page of it. The language is just great and it's a wonderful work of fiction. Great GREAT book.