Giant Love: Edna Ferber, Her Best-selling Novel of Texas, and the Making of a Classic American Film

This biography of the monumental book and movie was written by Edna Ferber's great-niece, and it's an utter joy for those of us who devoured Cimarron, So Big, and Giant in their teens. As the author opines regretfully, Ferber does not seem to be read any more, and it's a mystery as to why her mid-twentieth century feminist heroines no longer resonate. At the height of her fame, her novels were fought over by magazines to be serialized and by Hollywood studios. She spent most of her life with her mother, and while always appreciated by many male writers, playwrights, and by their wives, there's little knowledge of any romances. Ferber seems to have enchanted most of the intelligentsia of her time, and was also a champion of equal rights show more for Black people (Showboat) and Mexican-Americans (Giant). The first half of the book is Ferber's origin story, and the second is the saga of the making of the movie, with Ferber, director George Stevens, and producer Henry Ginsberg forming a production company and sharing the profits between them. Studio boss Jack Warner provides the funding and is a major impediment to Stevens' creative vision and meticulous editing. Ferber is swept away by her admiration of James Dean and by her prescient feeling that he would drive himself to an early death, which happened before filming Giant was completed. The stories of the author and her roles, before and during filming, are joined together expertly by Gilbert.

"In the club known as the United States, there's been a tendency on the part of the old members to push would-be new members out of the way, saying, "We don't want new energy, new loyalty. The old is good enough for us. We don't want foreigners". In just a few years of that policy in any organization, dry-rot sets in, and the club dies." show less

I thought this book was pretty good. It was evidently a labour of love, which I can appreciate. The author's love of the subject matter and of key players involved is evident in the storytelling. I also liked the book's structure and inclusion of photos. The notes and index are features in a book that I especially like.

A minor point is that I would have liked to see more images, since those would have added to my positive experience as a reader who likes history.

I am grateful to have received the book through a Goodreads giveaway. Peace be with you.

Marvelous job

Best book i have ever read on the odyssey of a great book transmuted into a great American film. Ferber has much to teach us in these days. Read her. See this film.