Plot Synopsis
As his father dies, William listens and remembers his father's many stories of a life lived big, and through these stories, he comes to terms with a father with a big imagination.

My Thoughts
Many children see their parents as being larger than life, but in William Bloom's case, this is true. His stories ring of myth, confrontations with giants and possessive lovers, beautiful maidens and hidden love, witchy women with glass eyes. Between his stories, his absence, and his jokes, Edward has not been a normal father. And yet the legacy of storytelling has clearly been passed down as William revisits and revises the myth of his father's death.

Stories are powerful, and Edward clearly understands this. He suggests that truth is not about fact, that stories are metaphors which reveal a greater truth than the reality of a situation can translate. I discuss this with my students quite often. How focused on fact are we? And is truth actually better transmitted through story?

Memorable Scene: I am very creeped out by the story of how Edward left Ashland. In the story, Edward decides to leave his hometown, knowing that to do so he would have to pass through a shadow version of Ashland like all others who had tried to leave before. Those who were meant to leave were allowed to pass, but those who should not have left, stayed forever in the ghost-town. As Edward goes through the town, the scary dog-guardian clearly permits Edward to leave, but the sad inhabitants want him to stay. All in all, I was horrified by the despair within the townspeople.

Memorable Quote: This is how we talk. In the land of the dying, sentences go unfinished, you know how they're going to end. ( )

William Bloom's father, Edward Bloom has always been bigger than life. At least that's how the legends of Edward Bloom's depictions of saving lives, saving towns, being a great lover of animals, friend to all who knew him and great visionary as well as reputation of joke-teller extraordinaire would have everyone believe. The truth is that William doesn't know Edward very well and now that his end is near, there's little time to fix this. This is the story of Big Fish - a father who tells stories of his life in an effort to get to know, reconcile and say goodbye all at the same time.

Big Fish is a quick and unencumbered read. Edward's stories are fantastic, running the gambit from suspense to romance to action and are often found with a heavy dose of humor. At the same time, the tale does pause for the reality of a family losing a patriarch that may not have always been perfect from an insider view, but at the end is clearly loved by his family. This is an excellent light weekend read. ( )

first line: "One one of our last car trips, near the end of my father's life as a man, we stopped by a river, and we took a walk to its banks, where we sat in the shade of an old oak tree."

I have a hard time separating this book from the movie adaptation, which I saw first, so that strongly colors my review. I enjoyed the book, though this is one of those rare cases in which I'm fonder of the movie. Granted, I'm a sucker for Tim Burton's aesthetic. But it's more than that.

The book left me a little cold...possibly because I found the written Ed Bloom less charming...less sympathetic...than the one on the screen; the movie focuses more on the mythologized man, while the book insists on showing you the man behind the curtain. And while I guess that makes for better literature, I have to admit to missing that magic. ( )

I thought the book had some very poignant ideas about nature of myth and the death of legends, or what we consider to be legends. I had to trudge a little in the middle, to be honest, and I don't think I'll ever read it again. ( )

Big Fish tells the story of a father and a son. Edward Bloom is dying and his son William is trying to say his goodbyes to him, a father he feels he barely knows. Edward has always seemed hidden from him behind his never ending stories and jokes. He was away a lot and was not always faithful to his wife. William is struggling to understand the man who has been his father and form a bond with him before it is too late.

Many of Edward's mini stories and it seems he is something of a legend. He has bought a town, saved his sons life twice, commmunicated with animals and nearly caught a giant catfish swimming in the lake. You spend time wondering which tales are fact, which are fiction and which are a mixture of the two and wondering whether ultimately it really matters. It ends with William telling his story of his fathers death and how it transformed him. Here he has learnt what his father has been trying to teach him: persevernce, ambition, personailty, optimism, strength, intelligence and imagination. Much of it looks at Edward feeling like abig fish in a very small pond and wanting to escape and make thebest of himself. This is also something he wants to pass on to his son.

I have not seen the film so I cannot say if was adapted well. The novel though was well written in short, seemingly easy to digest chapters. It is one that stays in the mind and the different stories within it chase each others tails. It was very surreal in places and I think this is one that will grow on me with a second and third reading. It is a very difficult book to describe and summarise in all honesty, but like I said it is one that stays in the mind long after the last page has been finished which can only be a good thing. ( )