Bigfoot Dreams

by Francine Prose

An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here

Vera Perl, the bright, edgy heroine of "Bigfoot Dreams, " is the star reporter of a sleazy supermarket tabloid. At work, she conjures up stories about UFO sightings, miracle cures in garden vegetables, evidence of life after death, and the ever-popular Bigfoot. At home, she contends with a precocious daughter, and errant husband, and her own fantasies. It all works well enough it she doesn't think too deeply. But then one day Vera discovers that one of the stories she's invented has turned out to be true in ways she never could have dreamed...

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels

280 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1986

About the author

Francine Prose is the author of twenty works of fiction. Her novel A Changed Man won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Blue Angel was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director's Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book is Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932. She lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My feelings toward this book are complicated.
I didn't hate it. But I never really looked forward to picking it up. When I did actually pick up the book and start reading, sometimes I'd become wrapped up in the character's inner thoughts as she tries to make sense of her life, and other times, my thoughts would wander as my eyes roamed over the words on the page.
So I guess I can say that I liked the book.
Vera writes for This Week, one of those ridiculous magazines you find in the checkout line that are full of stories about aliens and Elvis and all kinds of nonsense. Vera sees things that inspire a headline and she then writes a story to fit the headline. One day, her coworker/friend/sometimes lover gives her a photograph he snapped of a couple of children with a lemonade stand in their front yard. Vera writes a story about two young children who discover the fountain of youth when their lemonade begins curing people. The photograph is included with the story. Unfortunately, when Vera made up this story, she happened to use the actual names of the children (first and last) and even gave the father in her story the same profession as the actual father of the children. The family then sues the paper for ruining them.
Vera goes on to analyze her life and whether it was all coincidence or some sort of cosmic alignment that caused her to write this story.
And it goes on and on and on.

[Karen Armo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has stuck with me all these years. It's both lighthearted fun, and deeply moving. Our heroine, who works for an Enquirer-type rag, is an independent, strong woman who takes life by the horns - or is she? For everyone who feels fiercely independent just to find out how interconnected and dependent we can be, this is for you. It's also for anyone who has a friend that would buy Pour-a-Pie 'just because'.

[Rebecca]

Not sure if I am going to make it through this one. The description is hyperbolic in a way that feels tedious and untrustworthy. It was lent to me by a friend who likes to read 80s fiction as a way of remembering the recent past. While the cuckoo clocks, telephones and typewriters are endearing I am not sure they make up for the unfocused voice of the author.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. I think I enjoyed the premise (what happens when a manic pixie dream girl grows up, has a kid, gets a bit tired of her uber quirky job, and realizes the wild + crazy lover she wasted her youth on is just a fuckin' scrub?) more than the experience of actually reading it. This is because our protagonist is a thoughtful and introspective woman who tends to ruminate, and we spend a lot of our time in her head with her thoughtful thoughts. The problem is that my brain works pretty similarly to hers, and I often like reading fiction books partly to get out of my own head. I found myself dreading picking up this book because I was going to be forced to think about problems in the same labyrinthine, obsessive way I already do, except they weren't even my problems. I was sympathetic to Vera's plight, sure, and I found her likable (I also had a thing for Solomon). But not very much actually happened, and what DID happen was overanalyzed to such an extent that I felt on the brink of insanity. Like, I just did not really need to read a book which is essentially a delivery system for what I already experience on the regular.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vera Perl is an unhappy thirty-something reporter with a troublesome ex, overwhelming parents and a precocious ten year old daughter. She works for a tabloid which carries stories on the stranger side of life – Loch Ness monsters, living dinosaurs, conspiracy theories, cancer cures and of course, Vera’s favourite subject – Bigfoot. After being shown a photo of two children at a Lemonade stand, Vera invents a tap water fountain of youth at a suburban family’s home which somehow seems to come true, and she finds herself in trouble. So begins a frenetic cross country journey where Vera attempts to converge reality with imagination.

Prose is an exhilarating writer. Her impressive imagination is evident on every page. There are laugh-aloud moments in this book which are nicely balanced with sympathetic passages and exciting action.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given as a suggestion to "what's your favourite book as a writer?" - from the blurb it made me think "oh wow, what have I gotten myself into" but it's a surprisingly good snapshot of a few weeks of someones life. All of the emotion, fantasies, hopes and dreams of one person who just wants to see bigfoot.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read and enjoyed one other Francine Prose novel, but, despite her wonderful gifts as a writer, I just didn't feel this one worked as well.

It is built around a gimmick that is only partially successful. Vera Perl works for This Week, a supermarket tabloid whose internal motto is to make sure that no story it writes comes close to the truth. It features lots of stories about werewolves, yeti, Bigfoot and Elvis sightings, and Vera, despite her early dreams of being a legitimate journalist, has become one of the paper's mainstays.

One day, the paper's photographer brings in a picture of kids selling lemonade in Brooklyn. Vera makes up a story to go with it. She invents names for the children and parents and says the water from their house is the fountain of youth and has created a sensation in the neighborhood. The next thing she knows, she is being summoned to a meeting with the editor and lawyers because it turns out every item she made up matches the facts -- the names of the kids and parents, their address and even the father's occupation as a cardiologist. When she goes to visit the family (without telling the lawyers), their home's yard is nothing but dirt because of the crowds of people who have begged water from them ever since the story appeared.

I won't tell you what happens to Vera as a result of this visit, but it's not really the point of the book, and that's where I think this noble effort failed. Vera's feckless husband, Lowell, shows up in her life again, and her 10 year old daughter Rosalie, fascinated by dancing and Dungeons and Dragons, seems to barely tolerate her. Her retired father, a lefty who fought in the Spanish Civil War, wants her after all these years to get a real job, and her best friend Louise turns out not to be the lifeline she had hoped.

It all ends up with Vera attending a meeting of the cryptobiologists -- scientists who study mythical creatures using the inductive method -- on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

I think Prose intended to create a poignant story about life's unexpected surprises and how to find real love and hope in the midst of often depressing events, all built on this obviously fantastical premise, and in the end, it didn't quite work.

[Bryan Whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again Francine Prose works her typical blend of magic and tedium. The story here is terrific, a tale of a woman who writes “news” stories for a tabloid. Vera gets fired after one of her stories turns out to be true, a twist that gives Prose plenty of chances to keep the plot moving. And when she’s telling her tale, this is one of the best books I’ve read in months. Unfortunately, it frequently gets bogged down with a seemingly endless supply of characters who contribute little or nothing to the central drama. Indeed, considering the relatively low page count readers might be well advised to try to finish the entire thing in one or two sittings. Otherwise it’s occasionally hard to remember which of Vera’s gaggle of neurotic friends has which neurosis. With a little judicious editing, this could have been an excellent novella with an intriguing plot and fascinating characters. As it is, there’s a great trip here. You just have to put up with a lot of side tracks along the way.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did the dumbest thing! I was going to Costco intending for the Photo Dept. to transfer photos from my camera to a thumb drive so I could use them in a document I had to prepare. It's always at least an hour for Costco to do anything like that, so I brought this book with me so I could sit and read to while away the time. But ... they could only print out the photos, not transfer them to me by email, or transfer them to my thumb drive. So I left, and went to the camera store.

And somewhere along the way, I lost the book. I've been back to Costco, & it wasn't turned it. So I guess it's gone to its new forever home & I was at least halfway through and wondering how the story ends.

[Poptartk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the premise of this book—the whole idea that a tabloid story made up of whole cloth actually becomes reality really appealed to me. And I enjoyed the writing in general—it was just kitschy enough to fit the premise like a glove. What I didn't like was the conclusion—although with a premise like that, it's kind of hard to figure out a way to wrap it up satisfactorily. Even so, this was the first book of Prose's I read, long ago, and I've enjoyed her writing many times since then. She's quite a good writer. If only she could have finished this one with the bang it deserved. Although I'm damned if I can think of what that might have been!

[courtney puidk · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars… i found this story amusing - fun and endearing. The characters are hopelessly romantic dreamers, and i related to a lot of Vera’s sentiments. A clever comedy, I laughed out loud several times.

At the same time, i wasn’t always excited to pick up this book - it shouldn’t have taken me three weeks to read this relatively short novel. The story rambled a bit too much and i didn’t feel like the ending was enough closure.

[Ahmad Zaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book in a box in the street, "free books" it said. It is always exciting to read unknown books and discover them. The book is okay, the protagonist's character is well written. Crafting an imperfect character that acts as an asshole from time to time add complexity to the writing structure and it defines a good writer.

[Deborah Lagutaris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Francine Prose is a treasure

Just read everything she has written. You will not be wasting your time. She wry, insightful, erudite, and delightful. I need one more word, so here it is. Smile.

[Kassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting, i was able to pick up on some themes and patterns, so that was cool

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very long winded, stream-of-consciousness kind of thing. Couldn't wait to finish it.

[Philip Stouffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK 80s NYC. Tried to blend goofiness and angst. NUST library!

[Wentworth Boughn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neurotic New Yorker Vera writes wild, fake stories for a super market tabloid. When one of her made up stories seems to be actually true, Vera wonders if there are real miracle moments in this mundane world.

[Christine Whittington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some years ago, a national magazine (maybe Smithsonian? maybe not?) published a photo of writers for the tabloid "The National Enquirer" wearing t-shirts from the colleges from which they had graduated. There were some Ivies (I remember Penn) and other prestigious schools. The protagonist of Francine Prose's "Bigfoot Dreams" could be one of those writers. Vera, who writes for the fictional "This Week" tabloid, is smart and imaginative. She thinks in tabloid headlines ("91-Year-Old Mo Bears Bouncing Babe!" "Howdy Doody Victim of Bizarre Kiddie Cult!"), especially headlines involving Bigfoot, her fantasy creature: "I Married Bigfoot." She might also be psychic. Her photographers share photos with her and she makes up stories about them--until one of her stories turns out to be true. Chaos and lawsuits follow, and Vera loses her job. She follows her Bigfoot dreams to a convention of cryptobiologists, hoping to further her writing career. Vera's life is complicated by a sometimes-husband, the hot and dreamy Arkansas native Lowell, her 10-going-on-20-year-old daughter, and a variety of quirky friends and colleagues. Bigfoot Dreams, one of Prose's earlier novels, was published in 1986; drugs, leftover hippiness, and pre-web celebrity culture abound. "Bigfoot Dreams" is a riot of a novel about wanting to believe. Prose went on to receive numerous awards and her brave and edgy Blue Angel (a satire about sexual harassment in academe). Her novel Household Saints--an interesting theme for a Jewish writer--was made into a film with Traci Ullman and Lili Taylor, which I saw in a graduate course on religion and film. She is also a diverse essayist and writer of nonfiction and children's literature. Her essay on religious food taboos and ways around them, "Faith and Bacon" appeared in Saveur magazine.

[Flo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by Francine Prose and I am ready to read all her others--that's how much I enjoyed it. This was a good, funny, intelligent read.

Vera Perl, single mother of precocious 10 year old Rosie, has been working for years at a sleazy tabloid newspaper, inventing stories for people who read the paper while waiting on line at the supermarket since Vera cannot imagine anyone shelling out actual money to read about Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and various other ridiculous myths and urban legends. Vera has written a story based on a photograph given to her by her on-again-off-again lover, Solomon, the photographer at the paper showing 2 children selling lemonade on a city street. Vera's makes up the names of the children and their parents as well as their professions, they live in Brooklyn and the lemonade acts as a fountain of youth. All hell breaks loose at her paper when it appears that these people really exist, lawyers are suing the paper for invasion of privacy and no one believes Vera made it up. Vera's life changes, her ex shows up, she visits her best friend in Seattle and attends a convention of people who really do believe in Bigfoot. So funny and intriguing, I finished it in 4 days.

[Maryka · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a favorite! A jaded tabloid reporter sees plenty of freaks every morning on the subway as she rides to work. She decides to save herself the trouble of research and begins to make up stories about these characters. She finds she can complete a day's worth of stories on her
way to work, leaving her at loose ends once she in the office.

One day she realizes it's about time for the annual Bigfoot story-AGAIN. What to do with him this time? He hasn't been showing up on the subway.

She and a staff photographer spend a day tooling around Long Island, he snapping photos, she praying for inspiration. Her prayers are answered in a photo of two little kids running a lemonade stand in front of their house. The story this writer creates around their image becomes a case of life imitating art.

Are the stories in the tabloids true? Maybe not until after they're written. This one's like the twilight zone with a sense of humor.

[Cerealflakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read lots of articles by Francine Prose in food and gardening magazines, but this was the first novel I have read by her. I enjoyed the premise of the novel - a woman who writes for a National Enquirer type magazine - but it just wasn't enough to carry the novel. The novel felt both too long and not well developed. Aside from the main character, the characters weren't fully fleshed out and there wasn't much of a plot. This was more of a year in the life type of book.

Also, Prose did something very annoying for those of us from Seattle. She had her character go to the "Pike Street Market." There is no such place in Seattle, even though you see it written and hear it all the time. It's the Pike Place Market.

[Polina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel from the 1980's by Francine Prose. It seems to be semi-autobiographical, or at least based on closely observed experiences. The point of view character is a single mother of a 10 year old who writes for a tabloid. Though this book remains fairly light in its content and narrative, it has a certain intellectual depth and emotional complexity. The reflections about relationships and the core experiences of adulthood seem open and genuine without being self-involved. The conceits about the supernatural aren't all that successful, but Prose is a talented storyteller and the book is readable and interesting despite an occasional sense of artifice.

[Elizabeth Desole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character in this writes for an (80's) National Enquirer-type paper.The good part is that she is constantly coming up with these fantasy scenarios from everything she sees. They tend towards the neurotic, but I feel that anyone with a child can at least somewhat relate to the always imagining the worst case scenario when worrying about your child. Unfortunately, too much of the book deals with how unrelated this writer is to anyone. She's a very frustrating character and I just found myself getting bored with her. It's a shame because the premise isn't boring but the main character is. It ruined the flow for me

[Jenny Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel, whose central character writes imaginative fiction for a tabloid newspaper. She writes about Bigfoot, about appliances that have suddenly gone berserk, about boys raised by cats, and about magical things that probably won’t ever happen. Only occasionally they do happen. What’s up with that? This book is also about friendship, New York City, living with a pre-teen daughter, and bottoming out.

[Jrobertus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a funny book, about a woman who writes for a sensational tabloid. Under deadline pressure she comes up with a story that big foot has been breaking into rural convenience stores to steal cigarettes. Well there you go.

[Cher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny, very relatable to my world view, enjoyed every minute though was disappointed Bigfoot did not make the ultimate appearance.... but then like many things maybe the myth is better than the reality...

[Rebecca]

odd. and I'm not sure if it's because it was written in 1986, or I am just not a fan of the author. but I don't like Vera at all. she has a kid and she's doing drugs and smoking and drinking and writing trashy stories for a "newspaper" and her daughter seems much older than 10.

[Donna]

i love finding a new author that has tons of new books to discover. this is about vera, who writes for a newspaper like the enquirer and publishes a fantastic story that turns out to be true.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happen when you make up a story and it turns out to be true?

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not F.P.'s best. Read Blue Angel instead.