Bigfoot Dreams

Vera makes up feature stories for a tabloid about Bigfoot stealing cigarettes and discovering the fountain of youth in a suburban lemonade stand. But when she gets fired, she must deal with the unresolved problems of her own life – her relationships with a possibly ex-husband, her daughter, her parents and her oldest friend. This leads her on a quest for her own personal Bigfoot and her own personal happiness.

Vera Perl is an unhappy thirty-something reporter with a troublesome ex, overwhelming parents and a precocious ten year old daughter. She works for a tabloid which carries stories on the stranger side of life – Loch Ness monsters, living dinosaurs, conspiracy theories, cancer cures and of course, Vera’s favourite subject – Bigfoot. After being shown a photo of two children at a Lemonade stand, Vera invents a tap water fountain of youth at a suburban family’s home which somehow seems to come true, and she finds herself in trouble. So begins a frenetic cross country journey where Vera attempts to converge reality with imagination.

Prose is an exhilarating writer. Her impressive imagination is evident on every page. There are show more laugh-aloud moments in this book which are nicely balanced with sympathetic passages and exciting action. show less

I enjoyed this novel, whose central character writes imaginative fiction for a tabloid newspaper. She writes about Bigfoot, about appliances that have suddenly gone berserk, about boys raised by cats, and about magical things that probably won’t ever happen. Only occasionally they do happen. What’s up with that? This book is also about friendship, New York City, living with a pre-teen daughter, and bottoming out.

Possibly one of the worse books I have ever had the displeasure to read.

Recommended by Maryka.