The Last Marlin is an unforgettable memoir of growing up in the fifties. Young Fred is a Jewish boy who is stretched between the divergent values of parents who cannot tolerate one another. Fred's father, Abe, is a brilliantly talented salesman whose relentless will drives him to succeed, at any cost. He marries Stella, an abstract artist, the student of de Kooning and Hans Hofmann, but also the daughter of a wealthy industrialist with whom Abe forges an alliance. When the marriage founders, Fred's world is assaulted and he must negotiate the tense family divide.
Scenes range from Long Island synagogues and smoky nights with legendary painters to the boats of drug smugglers in Bimini and the marlin-rich waters of the Gulf Stream, where Fred sinks boats and battles thousand-pounders, believing that fishing is the answer to all of his problems.
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"I love memoirs. This one is good and has some interesting history." — Belinda (4 out of 5 stars)
"I love memoirs. This one is good and has some interesting history."
“Remarkably ambitious and satisfying.”
“This memoir of growing up is passionate, often very tender, and thoroughly engrossing. [Waitzkin] is excruciatingly open about his family’s eccentricities.”
“Waitzkin, who proved with Searching For Bobby Fischer that he could use the particulars of an avocation to illuminate the emotional needs it assuaged, does the same here with wonderfully evocative details about fishing.”
“As Searching for Bobby Fischer used chess as a canvas to portray a father-son relationship, The Last Marlin goes beyond fishing to explore the inner life of Fred and his vibrant yet enigmatic father Abe…This suspenseful book will sweep you away, break your heart, and leave you smiling.”
“A well-done father-son tale.”
“Waizkin’s passionate words will lure you in and stay with you.”
" I read this because I wanted insight in to his mother Stella Waitzkin's life. Stella was a NY artist. "
" Interesting but often left me feeling sad. "
Fred Waitzkin was born in Massachusetts in 1943 and graduated from Kenyon College. He has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Motorboating and Sailing. He lives in New York City and Martha’s Vineyard and fishes regularly in the Bahamas.
Lloyd James (a.k.a. Sean Pratt) has been narrating since 1996 and has recorded over six hundred audiobooks. He is a seven-time winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award and has twice been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award. His critically acclaimed performances include Elvis in the Morning by William F. Buckley Jr. and Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitzkin, among others.
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