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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Good laughs and a relaxing read. A great vacation novel.
Book on CD read by Lee Adams
Once again, Hiaasen takes readers to the Florida wilderness – this time to the Ten Thousand Islands, of Southwestern Florida. Honey Santana is righteous in her indignation, smart, resourceful and possibly bipolar. She’s had it with people’s lack of civility and decides to take a stand when telemarketer Boyd Shreave calls her a “dried up old skank.” She tracks him down and tricks him in to believing he’s won a trip to a lovely eco-resort. Now she’s taken him and his mistress, Eugenie, on a kayak trip into the mangrove thickets. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s being followed by her former boss, the lecherous and obsessed Piejack, who is, in turn, being followed by Honey’s ex-husband, Perry, and their 12-year-old son, Fry. And all of them find they are intruding on the half-Seminole, half-white Sammy Tigertail, who just wants to be a hermit, despite the college coed who’s more than willing to be his hostage.
This is typical Hiaasen: zany antics, colorful phrases, quirky characters, and women who always outsmart the bad guys (or the good guys, for that matter). The plots are full of twists and turns, and imaginative coincidental meetings that bring these disparate people together. As unbelievable as the story is, it’s all great fun. A fast, enjoyable read.
Lee Adams does a fine job reading the audio version. She has great pacing and sufficient skill as a voice artist to differentiate the various characters; I particularly loved her Piejack and Gillian.
Once again, Hiaasen takes readers to the Florida wilderness – this time to the Ten Thousand Islands, of Southwestern Florida. Honey Santana is righteous in her indignation, smart, resourceful and possibly bipolar. She’s had it with people’s lack of civility and decides to take a stand when telemarketer Boyd Shreave calls her a “dried up old skank.” She tracks him down and tricks him in to believing he’s won a trip to a lovely eco-resort. Now she’s taken him and his mistress, Eugenie, on a kayak trip into the mangrove thickets. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s being followed by her former boss, the lecherous and obsessed Piejack, who is, in turn, being followed by Honey’s ex-husband, Perry, and their 12-year-old son, Fry. And all of them find they are intruding on the half-Seminole, half-white Sammy Tigertail, who just wants to be a hermit, despite the college coed who’s more than willing to be his hostage.
This is typical Hiaasen: zany antics, colorful phrases, quirky characters, and women who always outsmart the bad guys (or the good guys, for that matter). The plots are full of twists and turns, and imaginative coincidental meetings that bring these disparate people together. As unbelievable as the story is, it’s all great fun. A fast, enjoyable read.
Lee Adams does a fine job reading the audio version. She has great pacing and sufficient skill as a voice artist to differentiate the various characters; I particularly loved her Piejack and Gillian.
For the majority of the book I didn't like it. Every person is another level of crazy. It's a pretty insane plot that I didn't care for. On the up side the ending of the story is very enjoyable.
I enjoyed this book because I somewhat identify with the main character, Honey Santana, of which is at times, manic. She gets her mind set on these projects for which she may not come to her senses early on in assessing the risk verses the reward. I have found myself in situations like this many times in life. However, how can I say this is a bad thing? Perhaps some of my mania has brought about fruition whereas I had not considered following through with something. It was nice that Honey got back together with her ex-husband of whom originally divorced her because of her character. I always like a happy ending of reuniting, especially when there is a kid involved as in this story. This was not a great piece of literature alluding to something akin to the Road by Cormac McCarthy or the Gold Finch by Donna Tart. However, it was a nice read, or I should say, listen to pass the time with an audio book downloaded from the Dayton Public Library's digital collection to my phone.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4 stars for a hilarious book about some truly wacky people in South Florida. The book starts with a telemarketing call to Honey Santana, a possibly bipolar woman who has stopped taking her medication. When Boyd Shreave calls her "a dried up old skank," she vows to take revenge. This begins a wild and laugh out loud tale of dysfunctional people causing mayhem.
Some of the characters:
Honey Santana, divorced single mother, still friends with her husband
Perry Skinner, Honey's ex husband and father of her twelve year old son
Fry, Honey's son, who is aware of his mother's erratic behavior and tries to prevent her from getting into trouble.
Sammy Tigertail, a half Seminole Indian who has decided to return to the wilderness of his Seminole ancestors
Gillian, a college coed who likes Sammy, despite his efforts to get her to leave him alone
Mr. Piejack, who was Honey's employer, until he grabbed her breast, and she whacked him in the family jewels before quitting
A Private investigator named Dealey, hired by Boyd Shreave's wife to find proof that Boyd is cheating on her.
I read this library book in 3 days. If you like Dave Barry's humor, you will like this book.
Some of the characters:
Honey Santana, divorced single mother, still friends with her husband
Perry Skinner, Honey's ex husband and father of her twelve year old son
Fry, Honey's son, who is aware of his mother's erratic behavior and tries to prevent her from getting into trouble.
Sammy Tigertail, a half Seminole Indian who has decided to return to the wilderness of his Seminole ancestors
Gillian, a college coed who likes Sammy, despite his efforts to get her to leave him alone
Mr. Piejack, who was Honey's employer, until he grabbed her breast, and she whacked him in the family jewels before quitting
A Private investigator named Dealey, hired by Boyd Shreave's wife to find proof that Boyd is cheating on her.
I read this library book in 3 days. If you like Dave Barry's humor, you will like this book.
My first and potentially last Carl Hiassen book. Relatively entertaining in a wacky way, but just could not get into the plot and I disliked most of the characters. Sorry Carl, looks like you are not my cup of tea.
3.5 stars! This is my first "adult" title from Hiaasen, and Lee Adams narration work helped ensure that I will listen to/read others from him. Strong characters make a fiction title memorable and enjoyable for me, and this one has a slew. The main character, Honey Santana, is a strong-willed bipolar single mother that is just not going to accept telemarketers calling her at dinner anymore. Boyd is the telemarketer, and we also get to know his rich, voyeuristic wife a bit. We learn more about Eugenie, his mistress. Honey's son and ex-husband play a large part in this twisted eco-adventure (complete with murder!), as does Sammy Tigertail, his love interest, and a creepy stalker. Whew!
The story takes a lot of twists and turns, plus there are many characters to keep track of---so it took me a bit of time to get into. Kudos to Lee Adams. I am stunned at her extreme range of voices. She nails a 12-year old boy's voice one minute, the next does a half Seminole young adult male, then does a southern adulteress, and caps it off with doing a perfect rendition of a creepy lusting stalker with a festering hand. *bow*
The story takes a lot of twists and turns, plus there are many characters to keep track of---so it took me a bit of time to get into. Kudos to Lee Adams. I am stunned at her extreme range of voices. She nails a 12-year old boy's voice one minute, the next does a half Seminole young adult male, then does a southern adulteress, and caps it off with doing a perfect rendition of a creepy lusting stalker with a festering hand. *bow*