SOME QUICK BACKGROUND
The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice was written by Nathan Leslie and published in 2012 by Atticus Books.
PLOT and STYLE
This novel combines non-realistic elements that turn up in Fabulist Fiction with realistic detail and a riveting storyline. The very title of the novel invites us to compare the story to a tall tale, so we are not surprised to find exaggeration and folkloric elements in it.
For most of the book, the episodes are clearly delineated (indeed, in an increasing fast pace and an always engaging way). Qualities of Metafiction, including Meta-reference, are seamlessly fused with the main storyline. In the powerful opening, Tommy, who is parentless, describes the mysterious images of his parents as they appear to him in a photograph, which is the only artifact of them that he has. Tommy's story as it unfolds involves his search for family, and for a place where he can belong.
The story, a faux memoir, is narrated by Tommy himself. Some dreamy and surreal happenings or perceptions may be read as child-like interpretations or mis-readings. Leslie sometimes cues the careful reader that the story is entering a mythic or “tall tale” place by his deft use of description. For example, when Tommy’s Uncle Rusty takes Tommy and his cousins to an eerie cave, the natural surroundings spookily change—Tommy is in a new dimension.
One of the meta-fictional components of The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice involves the ending, which allows for multiple interpretations. Tommy’s child’s (or child-like) voice, with its wise, matter of fact, and genuine tone, draws us into his world. We trust what he says. We trust what he sees. Ultimately, we as readers become tangled up in determining what in Tommy’s world is or may be real, unreal, magic, made-up, strange, or almost plausible.
Written by Valerie Fox