Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly poignant
Review: When I picked up this little treasure I didn't recognize the author. But it was quckly obvious that Daniel Wallace had known my father for his whole life - my Dad and the rest of my family. And what an acurate obsever he is! His facts, jokes, and myths all circle around and then score direct hits on the fuzzy reality that is the nature of relationships between between fathers and sons (and daughters) in general and the special bond between my father (who is dying) and me.. Read it and weep -- and laugh all at the same time! Wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Incredible Book
Review: Daniel Wallace is a brilliant new voice. I was so moved by the imagery of this book, the eloquence of the narrative, the poignancy of the tale. The book works on so many levels. It's about the relationship between a father and son, the mythic nature of fathers and how we as children tear down and build up our dads. I simply adored this book and am so glad Daniel Wallace's sister recommended it to me. Take my recommendation and buy this book. You will never regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasist tour-de-force
Review: Big Fish. Daniel Wallace. Algonquin Books. $16.95 Nature hates a vacuum and rushes to fill it, but human lives are not as responsive. That is a job we must do for ourselves. When we are confronted with losses and absences, we have the choice of how to replace those lost connections and fill those empty hours. Usually, our choices are good -- drink, drugs, serial relationships, television, the Internet -- we consume and consume and never take enough to fill the longing within our hearts, to soften the rough edges on our shredded souls. The narrator in "Big Fish" is confronted with an absent father who came home only to die. Unlike the implication of his last name, Edward Bloom could only grow when he was traveling, making money. "The very idea of coming home at the same time every single day made him just a little nauseated. Regardless of how much he loved his wife, his son, he could only stand so much love." So to fill the gaps, Edward's son made up stories about his father: where he came from, how he grew up, what he did. They were not just any stories. He was born on the day Alabama's worst drought in 40 years broke. He could converse with the animals. He could run so fast "he could arrive in a place before setting out the get there. He subdued a wild dog, rescued a river nymph, bought a small town and saved his son's life twice. But most of all, Edward Bloom was a teller of jokes, an alcoholic consumer of puns and punch lines. Even in the four chapter scattered among the 25 vignettes (the book is only 180 pages long), Bloom tells jokes to his son ("Doctor, doctor, I've only got 59 seconds to live." "I'll be there in a minute.") who in turn grows increasingly exasperated. "Big Fish" is another of those pocket-sized books that have grown increasingly popular since the best-selling success of "Einstein's Dreams" years ago. Like that book, it's almost impossible to describe except by what it's not. It's not a novel so much as, in effect, a tone poem, a performance piece on paper, a dreamlike tribute to a distant but loved man and the transforming power of story telling and humor.
Rating:
Summary: absolute perfection!
Review: This is a remarkable novel! Rarely have I seen every single story element come together as well as they do in this book. One cannot read this book without smiling at least once on every page (or laughing right out loud). Daniel Wallace is a gifted new novelist, and Big Fish is a welcome gift to readers everywhere. Also read Ray In Reverse, Wallace's newest!
Rating:
Summary: Loved it, cover to cover.
Review: You know, this book was what other books wish they could grow up to become. Loved it. I ran across the galley at a store in Philly, read a page or two, got hooked, bought it, read it, hated for it to end. What more can I say?
Rating:
Summary: Wildly original
Review: Anyone who's watched a parent die -- particularly when it's a long death -- knows how transforming this experience can be. Few writers have tackled the subject head-on, and I've never seen it treated quite this way: through a series of tall tales and humorous death-bed scenes. The final images of the book are especially beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, sly, and perceptive
Review: This is a truly good book. I liked the structure, the wit, the insight, and the style. Unlike so many books dealing with the same subject matter, this novel is fun and evocative without being preachy. A good story, deftly done
Rating:
Summary: Simply magical
Review: BIG FISH is fantastic. I read it a few weeks ago, and it has totally stayed with me. I can't get it out of my mind, and keep picking it up and start rereading it at random, just to be back in its magical world. It's funny, witty, sad, and in the end incredibly moving. It's about learning to come to terms with your parents, with a son writing about his father as myth, a superhuman who seemed like he would live forever (and in a way, he does), and it's really remarkable that so short and light a book could be so incredibly powerful. BIG FISH should become a classic. Whatever you do, don't miss it.
Rating: 
Summary: Big stuff in a small package
Review: I started and finished this little book on Sunday morning, and I've thought about it all day. This is an interesting story that is sure to get you thinking about your relationship with your own dad, whether or not he's still living. Short snippets of the father's life are recalled by his son, intertwined with fun chapters that show dad's insistence that he tell jokes to his dying day. These will draw you in and propel you forward. And there's one scene which is cleverly brought back a few times throughout the book and fine-tuned until the end. The final chapters are wonderful and will fill you up with emotion. What a nice book to read in one sitting...but I recommed you leave time for reflection about your own life with your dad as well.
Rating:
Summary: I want to read it again. Now. (I just finished it.)
Review: This is one of those books that when you finish you feel as if you've lost something very dear and you find yourself patting and holding it because you just don't want to let it go. It's very, very funny. I love the way that myth and the fantastic are embroidered into the language as artfully and comedically as they are by Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Louise Erdrich. The myths (and the relentless jokes) lighten and dance around and contrast the sad yearning of the main character's efforts to become (what he considers to be truly) intimate with his father. It is a wonderful book.
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