(As a side note, it is interesting how the different personality types think about to-do lists. If you are familiar with the Myer-Briggs test, `J' types see to do lists as an agenda, `P' types see to do lists as a reminder of things they have to do in the future. Guess which I am.)
I think I've been putting it off because I don't really know what to say about this book except to say that it is about myth and myth-making. This guy (see I can't even remember the guy's name!) makes his dad into this giant of a hero to compensate for the lack of communication between them.
Myth-making is not something that comes to me easily. When I tell a story, it is usually fairly factual like this: "Never cycle over bougainvillea because you will puncture your tyres," rather than something fantastic like this: "Man, you should see those thorns on that bougainvillea that ripped a huge gash in my tyres.. they were longer than my index finger and sharper than a steak knife.." You get the idea.
I had a wonderfully eccentric friend in school who was like that. She told a damn good story because of her ability to make a myth out of real life. Of course you never know how much is true and how much is exaggeration, but does it matter?
That's what `Big Fish' suggests, that life is a blend of story and fact.
Remember that friend who tells a great story? She now works in Chicago as a journalist.
And now I have blogged big fish. :)
6 comments:
you're the P type? geez... i dunno about these personality test thingys and how much weight you should place on them... they can be "tricked"... just like IQ tests... if one knows what the prescribed answers are, one can really screw around with the outcome...
and after reading your review of big fish... do mythmakers and non-fiction people conveniently fall into the personality types as demarcated in the Myer-Briggs test as well?
me, i love to tell a good story... make it interesting, embellish if necessary, the audience demands entertainment and it's my duty to provide it... i think i'd make a good bard or court jester... don't you? and leave the dry as bones facts to the historians... ;-)
I agree, it is possible to fix the outcome, but why should anyone want to be anything apart from what they are? (I'm feeling very cheem this Monday morning.)
I can't tell a good story for the life of me. I get hung up by the facts.. :)
Here's to a good week, C. :)
re: I agree, it is possible to fix the outcome, but why should anyone want to be anything apart from what they are? because some companies use these tests as a screen when they recruit new employees... and discriminates against certain "types" which don't fit their idea of THE perfect clone... if you know what they are looking for, you can then fit your answer to match theirs... and beat them at their game i suppose...
re: hung up with the facts... lol... don't worry about it... just as there's more than one way to skin a cat, you can tell a story in a million different ways.... and it can be equally gripping despite the factual content...
hope your week is going well too...
Companies who require their employees to be a certain personality type are fairly short-sighted, no? Gosh, I can't imagine working in a company where all my colleagues are ENTJ or somethin'.
Michael Crichton. Factual and Gripping. Sorta factual anyway. :)
I wanted to read this book. I think I'll put it on my reading list.
Yes, I knew a girl like your friend once. Problem was, sometimes I stopped her and tried to catch her when she's "at it" you know. For example, she once told me a story about her boyfriend and herself on a boat. She started out like it was an imaginative scenario and before the end, she said "oh, this really happened". I was stumped. A raconteur she was.
I'm kinda like the 'J' type. I do lists. :\
Post a Comment