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Visit the official website of writer Daniel Wallace danielwallace.orgBig Fish Movie Review at Splicedonline Big Fish Movie Movie Freak Review Big Fish Rolling Stone Movie Review Big Fish Movie Review at zboneman.com Tim Burton Movie news, The making of Big Fish - interviews, pictures and much more can be found at the Montgomery Advertiser. Click here to buy Big Fish. Other books by Daniel Wallace: Click here to enter the rest of the Tim Burton Website |
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"When my grandmother turned 80, I interviewed her because I was curious about what her life had been like," Wallace said. "She had an amazing story to tell. But when I tried to do the same thing with my father, he flat-out refused. He assumed he was going to live forever, so there was no hurry in getting to deeper things like this. To him, that's something you do when you're close to the end of your road. To do that would be to admit his own mortality, and he wasn't about to do that." Writer Daniel Wallace. A Big Fish Book Review by Roseanna Lawrence for movie review please click the links above The bond between parent and child is often thought to be the strongest there is, they often spend a huge amount of time together and even share each other’s physical and mental characteristics. And yet there are times when a parent is not there for a child and that bond, that should be so strong, is incredibly weak or even non-existent. Sometimes in these cases all the answers we long for are provided at the time of a parent’s death and at other times we will live with the realisation that we never really knew our parents. Big Fish explores these issues: in this case peace is made between William and his father before he dies but the answers to some of William’s questions are not fully revealed – these questions seem too hard for his father to think through, let alone answer. William’s father had become a myth to his family and all the people that knew him – a figure capable of fantastic feats, who arrives home from his long travels telling his son mythical stories of his adventures including the story of having tea with a two headed Japanese geisha, the old lady with one eye and the little girl he saved from the “hell dog” that terrorised the neighbourhood he lived in. He saves lives, battles with giants and would never forget the name of a person or their favourite colour. William is famous for his humour and the book is filled the jokes that make you smile as you turn the pages. Edward is a restless man – he has a strong need to travel, a need that is never voiced but is totally compelling to him. It is this that causes him not to be there for William at the important times in his life. But as old age creeps up on Edward so does illness, it makes no concessions to the would-be explorer. Edward is forced to stay at home and waste away. It is only when he is dying that William finally has his chance to become close to his father for the first time - in the worst of circumstances.
We witness William’s painful and continued frustration as he reaches out to his father to make the connection that he has wanted for so long. Yet Edward’s strength and bravery shine through the hardest moments even though life no longer holds the enchantment that it once did; the wondrous adventures the energy and enthusiasm that come from surprise and discovery. Now while he lies ill and tired – unable to do the things that really gave him pleasure, feeling the world slip away from him, he could so easily become bitter and unkind or despondent. He is unable to be the person he once was – his solution is his sense of humour and he triumphs in a way that is deeply touching. Death and illness are to difficult for many of us to deal with; sometimes a person facing pain will do it in the way that is least likely to hurt those close to him or her self. They save pain for their moments alone. Perhaps Edward saved his son from seeing his fear as the illness enveloped him, or perhaps the father could not face these things himself. Although William never succeeds in breaking through the barriers that his father has spent his life erecting, he eventually finds a way of letting go and facing his father’s death knowing that he will never hold the key to all that was Edward Bloom. As his father transforms into something new and different leaving his life behind, William himself becomes a greater person and grows from the experience. There is an unspoken sadness that hangs between the lines in the conversations between father and son and yet this is a wonderful book that reaches into your very being and stays for a long time after you have finished reading.
For a great review of the book click here
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In
tender poetic narration we see William tell the tale of his father’s
life through a sequence of stories and tales, handed down to him and from
people who were close to his father. In a poignant scene William asks
his father about his feelings of death and, yet again, Edward avoids the
questions, preferring to tell one more joke. Edward hides beneath layers
of complexity and his humour is his protective body armour - fending off
the difficult situations that are in his life, including the needs of
his son; this is the way he has always lived his life and dealt with problems.