Play Book Tag discussion

I'm now reading a book about a giant human being born to an Amish woman in a farming community. It is Life, and Death, and Giants . Everything about the book is realistic, except for his gargantuan size. Now, at age 17, he is over 8 feet tall and he is continuing to grow.

The book's tags indicate that most readers feel this is magical realism. Is it? Or, is it Fantasy? To me, this is a blurry line.

What are your thoughts?

No, it sounds like magical realism. It consider magical realism as reality with fantasical elements breaking through. Many times these fantastical elements are considered normal. When you consider fantasy as wholy fantasy world populated by fantasical creatures, the work you are discussing would not be consider fantasy.

I agree with John. This would be Magical Realism, should I read and tag it.

I thought so, but wanted to be sure. Thanks!

But is it either?

I grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan. Maybe an hour away was another town called Willow Bunch.

Historically, there was a man referred to as the "Willow Bunch Giant". His real name was Edouard Beaupre, and when he died in his early 20s in 1904, he was over 8 feet tall.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89d...

Wow, Cindy. I'm curious now to see how tall the character will grow. At every age so far, he has towered over his peers. At this point in the book, he's over 8 feet tall and he is 17 years old. I'm not even at the halfway mark in the book. We'll see...

Thanks for including the Wikipedia article. Seeing the man's picture helped me visualize the character in the book better.

Gigantism is a real medical condition. Andre the Giant [from the movie The Princess Bride] and Ghita Muresan [from NBA] are the two examples I am most familiar with . Muresan is also a Romanian.

Even discounting this, would not shelve this novel as fantasy.

I agree that it is not fantasy, in large part because as Algernon says, Gigantism is a real medical condition. However, I would likely put it into magical realism depending on its role in the plot.

I define magical realism as a fairly narrow category. John has defined it the way I understand it, but I do see it applied more broadly to my confusion.

I just finished The Garden. It has fantasy and magical realism tags that I would never apply. In this book the characters seem to be talking to the dead, something that would happen with magical realism. But it becomes clear that there's nothing magical, just severe mental illness. It's a definitely dystopian, post apocalyptic novel, but I also don't necessarily see that as being science fiction.

Does that make me a tagging curmudgeon?

Jgrace wrote: "Does that make me a tagging curmudgeon?."

🤣 Maybe just an idiosyncratic shelver!

Dystopian is a subgenre of SciFi which is also a subgenre of Fantasy. Since I refuse to have shelves for a whole bunch of subgenres, I put dystopian on my SciFi shelf. It works for me. I also put Time Travel on both Fantasy and SciFi and often Historical Fiction. Shelving for me is based on my idiosyncracies.

One of the panels I attended at NYComicCon was about the 'new' category of romantasy - and the conclusion is that it's always expected, the 'new name' is a marketing tool to make it more 'acceptable' to a broader market as romance alone, even though the highest selling genre in the world, is looked down upon. For some reason, it's less of a problem to call your fantasy or scifi novel that has a romantic co- or sub- plot than to have it slapped with a 'romance' genre tag. Publishers are letting the writer add those elements and not editing them out if they want to get it published because they are now 'cool'.

Theresa wrote: "I agree that it is not fantasy, in large part because as Algernon says, Gigantism is a real medical condition. However, I would likely put it into magical realism depending on its role in the plot."

Yes, the plot may make a difference. And how does the author promote the book?

I'd also love to promote a book about Edouard Beaupre (the Willow Bunch Giant), but I expect it's not easy to find. It might be a local thing. I have the ebook, but can't recall where I found it.

The Anatomy of Edouard Beaupre by Sarah Kathryn York.

I have a similar issues with The Bear. There is no Science fiction as I would define it, but it has lots of science fiction, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, and magical realism tags. The post apocalyptic tag fits, but we don’t know why these two people seem to be the last humans left on a (clean) earth. There is also a helpful bear who can talk, which could be fantasy, or magical realism. Otherwise it’s a very realistic tale about a father and daughter living on a mountain, living completely off the land. I guess people assumed there must be a Sci-fi explanation for the fact that all the other humans are gone. There are also a lot of healthy fish, which seems like fantasy now.

NancyJ wrote: "I have a similar issues with The Bear. There is no Science fiction as I would define it, but it has lots of science fiction, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, and magical realism tags. The..."

I would think the talking bear would make that one count.

NancyJ wrote: "I have a similar issues with The Bear. There is no Science fiction as I would define it, but it has lots of science fiction, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, and magical realism tags. The..."

I tagged that one literary fiction, post apocalyptic, and magical realism. For me The Bear is more of a fable or myth, where something bad has happened (post-apocalyptic) and the natural world has retaken over the earth, as will very likely happen once all the humans are gone and before the sun's death. The last two humans have reverted to what ancient humans would have to do - hunt, forage, and make do with the resources available to them. To me, it is not dystopian, since there is no longer any government nor any need for it since "civilization" no longer exists.

A good writer would not care so much about tags, he would take the story in any direction it may fit. I am reading now a murder mystery that checks at least three boxes: supernatural horror, whodunit, science-fiction. It's The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle about a murder at a spooky manor, a Groundhog Day timeline, with the same events repeated every day in the very same manner and a detective that transfers his conscience each day into the body and mind of one of the witnesses.
I think I will include it in this month's fantasy/science fiction tag, but I'm still in the first 30% so probably before the end the story will veer again , maybe into a game of Clue territory.

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "A good writer would not care so much about tags, he would take the story in any direction it may fit. I am reading now a murder mystery that checks at least three boxes: supernatural horror, whodun..."

I loved that book and it definitely defies easy categorization. Which for me added to the appeal.

LibraryCin wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I have a similar issues with The Bear. There is no Science fiction as I would define it, but it has lots of science fiction, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, and magical re..."

I picked the book to match the tag, so I’m going to count the bear as fantasy. I’m guessing that it has so many science fiction tags because it show a view of the future. This earth fares a lot better than the one in The Road, which also features a father and child. It’s so clean and natural.

Joy D wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I have a similar issues with The Bear. There is no Science fiction as I would define it, but it has lots of science fiction, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, and magical re..."

That makes sense to me too. I liked the way it ended.

I'm nearing the end of the book Life, and Death, and Giants, which prompted me to ask "Is it Magical Realism or Fantasy?" I asked the question prematurely.

As it turns out, Cindy, Theresa and Algernon were correct. The character in the book grew to be just under 9 feet tall. His weight was about 600 pounds. He did suffer from Gigantism, although it was not named. I had never heard of this disorder.

The Magical Realism tags referred to the character's gift of having animals of all kinds trust him. He had a special way of being with animals.

Yes to what others have said about people passing 8 feet in height. Robert Wadlow died at 8 feet 11.1 inches at the age of 22. Nowadays there are ways to treat acromegaly which include surgery, medication and radiation therapy.