Summary

The novel opens with a brief prologue in which William Bloom recalls one of the last car rides he took with his father, Edward Bloom. Edward stopped the car by a river to soak his feet in the water. He smiled and said that the river reminded him of his boyhood. William states in narration that over the course of Edward’s life, Edward seem to become similar to a mythical figure. Part I of the novel begins with Edward’s birth. Edward was born in the small town of Ashland, Alabama during a drought, but on the day of Edward’s birth, the drought supposedly broke and rain arrived. Edward was said to have an affinity for animals since his boyhood; animals always like him, and he always liked animals. When Edward was nine years old, it snowed in Alabama for the first...