The Last Marlin: The Story of a Father and Son

Rating:
Summary: The Last Marlin
Review: As an ardent sport fisherman, I did not expect to find the great read that I did when I picked up "The Last Marlin" in the sportfishing section of our local library. A great autobiography of Waitzkin's growing up within a rather dysfunctional family, with a sportsman's love of his favorite sport (biggame fishing) told first hand from years spent growing up in Bimini on his father's and then later his own boat. Easy read, reads like a novel. I highly recommend for both the fisherman and non-fisherman.

Rating:
Summary: The Last Marlin
Review: As an ardent sport fisherman, I did not expect to find the great read that I did when I picked up "The Last Marlin" in the sportfishing section of our local library. A great autobiography of Waitzkin's growing up within a rather dysfunctional family, with a sportsman's love of his favorite sport (biggame fishing) told first hand from years spent growing up in Bimini on his father's and then later his own boat. Easy read, reads like a novel. I highly recommend for both the fisherman and non-fisherman.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written - reads like a novel
Review: I started the book on Friday and finished reading it on Saturday evening. I couldn't put it down. I loved it. I think it is a great book, in the genre of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and Tis, but with more depth. It read well, read easy. And yet, it wasn't just about another fictional disfunctional family. It wasn't formulaic. It didn't manifest a protagonist hero overcoming of a difficult history. There wasn't even a clear hero or antihero. It showed a family, a history, that, to some extent or another is a common family, a common history, especially for Jews in America. It's a generational story, a fishing adventure, a history of sportfishing and Bimini and life in the 50s and 60s in New York Jewish society. It's a history of art and jazz and poetry. There is a lot of stuff going on in The Last Marlin. It's an interesting book, not easily put into a classification. It reads like a novel, though it brings to light the oft-quoted phrase that "truth is stranger than fiction." Because it's not fiction, because it's real, the reader will be able to identify with the characters either within us or within our families. Character development, especially of the four leading characters is terrific. Abe, Stella, Bill and Fred are unique characters and all of them, Fred included, are portrayed as seriously neurotic. Each has attractive qualities but each is, to various degrees, self-centered and awful. There is a lot of rage in this book, just like in most families. But most novels don't deal with rage like this, like most people in real life deal with rage. In a novel there would be a murder or rape. In the book, people cope or don't cope as best as they can. They survive, or maybe not, like Bill. I think that is how life is. I would have like to seen Bonnie's character developed more fully. Most readers are going to wonder what the hell she is doing putting up with Fred and the eccentric lifestyle he imposes. A MUST READ!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written - reads like a novel
Review: I started the book on Friday and finished reading it on Saturday evening. I couldn't put it down. I loved it. I think it is a great book, in the genre of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and Tis, but with more depth. It read well, read easy. And yet, it wasn't just about another fictional disfunctional family. It wasn't formulaic. It didn't manifest a protagonist hero overcoming of a difficult history. There wasn't even a clear hero or antihero. It showed a family, a history, that, to some extent or another is a common family, a common history, especially for Jews in America. It's a generational story, a fishing adventure, a history of sportfishing and Bimini and life in the 50s and 60s in New York Jewish society. It's a history of art and jazz and poetry. There is a lot of stuff going on in The Last Marlin. It's an interesting book, not easily put into a classification. It reads like a novel, though it brings to light the oft-quoted phrase that "truth is stranger than fiction." Because it's not fiction, because it's real, the reader will be able to identify with the characters either within us or within our families. Character development, especially of the four leading characters is terrific. Abe, Stella, Bill and Fred are unique characters and all of them, Fred included, are portrayed as seriously neurotic. Each has attractive qualities but each is, to various degrees, self-centered and awful. There is a lot of rage in this book, just like in most families. But most novels don't deal with rage like this, like most people in real life deal with rage. In a novel there would be a murder or rape. In the book, people cope or don't cope as best as they can. They survive, or maybe not, like Bill. I think that is how life is. I would have like to seen Bonnie's character developed more fully. Most readers are going to wonder what the hell she is doing putting up with Fred and the eccentric lifestyle he imposes. A MUST READ!

Rating:
Summary: A Fish Story
Review: When I first heard of THE LAST MARLIN I thought it was like most fishing books, long and drawn out with no real point. Then I found out it was written by Fred Waitzkin, who also wrote SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISHER, I thought it must be good. How wrong I was. This book has very little to do with fishing and alot to do with Fred Waitzkin telling the story of his (not so) troubled youth. Although the title is somewhat misleading, and this is not the text I imagined it is written well, and has a few pages that will interest fishing enthusiasts. If you want a book on fishing try FISHING'S BEST SHORT STORIES edited by Paul D. Saudohar, or THE HUNGRY OCEAN BY Linda Greenlaw. If a memoir is more to your liking then THE LAST MARLIN might be for you.