Nature Girl
by Carl Hiaasen
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Book Reviews of Nature Girl
Book Review: Much ado about nothing!
Summary: 4 Stars
If someone told me that there was such a thing as Seminole peyote buds and then went on to suggest that Carl Hiassen was chewing a few too many of them when he dreamed up the screwball plot of "Nature Girl" ... well, there's no doubt in my mind. I'd believe it for gospel!
Let's think about this for a second!
Could anything other than a zany off-the-wall black comedy bring together such an eclectic cast of wild and wonderful characters - Honey Santana, a manic-depressive who wants nothing more than to find some basic decency in the world but can't seem to get past the music that constantly plays in her head; Sammy Tigertail, a half-breed Seminole Indian who is convinced that the white world will charge him with murder if they ever discover the body of the obnoxious, fat tourist who died of a heart attack on his airboat; a demented fish-monger who, on a good day, smells worse than his product on a bad, bad, hot Florida day with no refrigeration in sight; Eugenie Fonda, an over-sexed six foot luscious Amazon whose sole claim to fame is having written a book about the man who murdered his wife to be with her; a private investigator who proudly saves his best (that is to say, raunchiest) video material as reminders of his professional achievements; Boyd Shreave, a wimpy no-life telemarketer whose voice is smooth as silk but whose personal presence is unfailingly grating and irritating; and an exceptionally bright and totally endearing young university co-ed who plays the California girl and thinks her dream is to be a television weather personality.
Having a little trouble imagining the story that would pull this motley crew together? Well, I won't spoil your enjoyment by even attempting a synopsis.
Suffice it to say that there IS a story; there IS a real plot; there ARE non-stop laughs that would rival the best of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series or Bill Bryson's hilarious travelogues; and, there are definitely some very human, very heart-warming moments that will overlay a smile of pleasure and gratification on top of the one you're already sporting from all the chuckles.
Definitely recommended.
Paul Weiss
Book Review: What was all the fuss about?
Summary: 1 Stars
For years I have been told to read Carl Hiaasen because his books are SO funny and SO good. Finding this one on a remainder table should have been a clue, but sometimes you find good things there. Not this time. The cover promised, "A hilarious Florida romp" and "Fun...shouldn't be missed..."colorful characters." NOT. Nothing was funny about this. A few light-hearted lines, but nothing more. I get more laughs from cozy mysteries.
Not to spoil what he calls a plot, this book involves a woman---who is suggested to have a mental illness, which is later described as a problem with her heart ("felt things too deeply and acted upon them"), not her brain--getting a call from a telemarketer: a hapless, opportunistic adulterer, who calls her a skank when she rebukes his call during her dinner. She sets out to find him after the call ends to teach him a lesson. This during one of her "manic" phases. The "screwball cast" that the jacket touts includes the woman's ex-husband and young son; a tormented man of mixed Seminole heritage; a horny teen-aged girl; a horny, demented old man; a reluctant, unassertive private investigator; a ghost; and some supporting cast to round it out.
I kept reading because I could not believe the book was as bad as it was. Be sure: I'll walk pass books by Carl Hiaasen, no matter how cheap they are. I read a variety of books and enjoy many genres from the classics to cozys (no offense cozy writers), but this was just dull, boring, and pointless. Life is too short to read a bad book. Move along, nothing to see here.
Book Review: Hiaasen near the peak of his form
Summary: 4 Stars
Less than optimal Hiaasen is better than no Hiaasen, and 4 stars is not a bad review either. Nature Girl gets off to an excellent and very promising start. It sets up a classic premise of identifiable character types set in motion either with or against each other. Somehow Hiaasen really has it in for the typical dull-witted, materialistic type of man who thinks little of cheating on others and only of himself - the type so excellently brought to life here as Boyd Shreave - and we can all join hands condemning this guy. He's a lot like slimeball Chaz Perrone in the great Skinny Dip, my favorite Hiaasen so far. There's other great character development in Nature Girl herself, Honey Santana, whose compulsive need for justice is matched only by her beauty, and in Sammy Tigertail, the half-breed Seminole who feels caught between two worlds and, Greta Garbo style, just needs to be left alone awhile.
The only drawback in Nature Girl is the action. It's a little less credible than in Skinny Dip. In that book, the various strands of the plot came together quite naturally, since they actually had the same origin. In Nature Girl, the action is more haphazard and therefore feels just a little bit forced. It's also not believable when the chief villain, Louis Piejack, needs his fingers sewn back on and the doctors botch the job, putting his pinkie where his thumb should be, that sort of thing.
Still this book is loads of fun. I particularly enjoyed the bittersweet ending, it makes slogging through some of the slower parts worthwhile.
Book Review: HEED NATURE'S CALL
Summary: 3 Stars
Murphy's Law defines the perceived perversity of the universe by observing "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". Almost every offering scripted by Carl Hiaasen over the years is a tribute to Mr. Murphy's law and Mr. Hiaasen's ability to identify subjects for his slyly caustic commentaries on the absurdity of life in general and certain folks in particular.
With Nature Girl, Hiaasen continues with his foray into the outrageous with the creation of Honey Santana, a bi-polar ex-wife and mother who listens attentively to the voices in her head and feels compelled make the world a better place by ridding it of the scourges of society like pesky telemarketers who call at dinnertime and lewd bosses who engage in sexual harassment.
Honey's portion of this unconventional yarn is only the tip of the iceberg. Lying hidden just beneath the surface are a profusion of absurd characters that come together on one of Florida's swampy pieces of island real estate called Dismal Key. The circumstances that lead each of them to the island and the ensuing events are a bizarre concoction that I'm sure it's creator would view as a slightly unorthodox morality tale. Think of a movie combining the writing styles of Dean Koontz and Dave Barry and starring Larry, Moe and Curly and you will get some idea of Hiaasen's off-beat brand of humor. While not his best it is definitely good for a few laughs.
Book Review: Hiaasen's Nadir... By A Lot!
Summary: 1 Stars
First off, let me tell you how much I like Carl Hiaasen and how much I like his writing and anticipate his every newest release (I bought the higher-priced hardcover but had to let it "age" before reading). Well the answer is a whole helluva lot and a whole helluva lot! This of course, leaves me here scratching my head wondering what the hell has happened and just what exactly I've just been through??!! "Nature Girl" smells BAD, worse, in fact, than "Striptease" which says a lot! It's hard to believe the same humorist genius who wrote "Skinny Dip", "Lucky You", "Sick Puppy" and "Double Whammy" (amongst others) wrote this THING! "Nature Girl" is so patently un-funny it beggars belief! Instead, it is puerile, angry, mean-spirited rant and is peopled by a cast which is so entirely un-sympathetic, so devoid of any dimension, it was a rigorous trial ploughing to the ho-hum denouement, reading of the collective fate of a cast of characters I cared NOTHING about! Finishing this book was more a chore or obligation, to what I don't know; probably to be a completist, now I've read 'em all, too bad I can't say "except 'Nature Girl"! Oh well, at least it has a cool Charles Burns cover illustration, it's ONLY redeeming point! Get it together Carl Hiaasen, I'd hate to have this be the last book of yours I "enjoyed", or at the very least, read!