The Last Marlin
The Story of a Family at Sea
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The author of Searching for Bobby Fischer tackles his own childhood in this “remarkably ambitious and satisfying memoir” (The New York Times Book Review).
Fred Waitzkin depicted the joys and trials of parenthood with remarkable perception in Searching for Bobby Fischer, the inspiration for the beloved major motion picture. A New York Times Notable Book, The Last Marlin is another sweeping family saga, the tale of an adolescence spent navigating between two very different parents and the discovery of a lifelong passion for deep-sea fishing.
Waitzkin’s father, Abe, is both a prolific salesman—the “Beethoven of fluorescent lighting” in the fifties—and a frail man, driven to succeed despite his declining health, while his mother, Stella, is an eccentric abstract artist, once a student of de Kooning and Hans Hoffman, and a free spirit who resents her husband’s dirty business tactics and conventional notions of success. As their relationship disintegrates, Waitzkin is torn between them.
But soon he finds solace on the ocean. At first, fishing is a way to bond with Abe—and irritate Stella—but over the years it becomes a way of life. From the Long Island Sound to the drug-infested coastline of Bimini and the marlin-rich waters of the Gulf Stream, Waitzkin comes to believe that fishing is the answer to all his problems, even as he starts his own family.
Hailed by Outside magazine as “a graceful father–son memoir that artfully braids rich, disparate strands,” The Last Marlin is a tribute to the open sea, the solitude it provides, and the connections it fosters.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Near the end of this intricate family history, Waitzkin (Searching for Bobby Fischer) sits with his aged mother in a restaurant enjoying a rendition of Horace Silver's "Song for My Father." It's a salient scene considering that the book is largely an homage to Waitzkin's dad, a commercial lighting salesman, and that music was one of the sole points of common ground that the author shared with his aesthete mother. Abe Waitzkin is portrayed as a spindly, ailing man who nonetheless possesses an extraordinary talent for sales, a talent he brings to one of the country's most powerful lighting manufacturers when he marries the owner's daughter, Stella. An aspiring abstract artist, Stella has no enthusiasm for Abe's skills or clients, preferring more bohemian ideals and the company of such peers as Willem de Kooning. There is no doubt as to where the author stands in regard to this tense family divide; even as a boy, Waitzkin is titillated by his father's elan and considerable business connections. In fact, the book is really more about landing big deals than it is about sport fishing. Waitzkin describes his father as brilliant but ruthless. The latter may explain why we read so much about Abe muscling through monumental deals without ever hearing of the machinations behind them, details that might interest those less inclined to be awestruck by fluorescent lighting contracts. Though there are hints of betrayal and revenge, the book's climactic business tension ends predictably. As Waitzkin ponders the eulogy for his father's funeral, he writes, "It seemed as though no one, even the salesmen attending, would understand why I idealized his selling"; readers may appreciate Waitzkin's clear, resonant writing, but they will likely find themselves too often wondering the same thing.
