A Young Adult novel featuring our favorite ex-governor Clayton Tyree, now better known as Skink? Just how does Carl Hiaasen think his going to accomplish this??
Surprising well, in fact.
Some concessions have to be made from the typical Hiaasen novel aimed at the adult set. For starters, no swearing. (OK, actually, there is PLENTY of swearing just off-screen. We know this because our narrator advises us on multiple occasions that both Skink and the various supporting characters apparently have quite the potty mouths.) Secondly, no subplots; the reader doesn't have to invest the time in trying to figure out how the various plot threads are going to tie together when there's only one to track. And sex? C'mon the most intense we get in this novel is the recognition of middle/high school crushes. (There ARE some questions raised about what the villain of the piece may have done off-camera, but these turn out to be groundless.)
So, should an adult even bother with this book? OF COURSE!! This is the rare novel that appears aimed at BOTH YA and adult audiences, and successfully reaches both. (Think Rocky and Bullwinkle or The Simpsons, where your kids see humor on one level, and you catch an entirely different layer.) Hiaasen DOES invoke the first-person narrative common to YA novels, which is not something he traditionally does in his Florida satires. AND (perhaps the one concession to the YA reader that did not appeal to me), Hiaasen doesn't hint around with his messages of Florida history and natural conservation; they're clearly stated by our hero / narrator.
RATING: 5 stars. Well done, and it will stick with me long after I've read subsequent books.
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Surprising well, in fact.
Some concessions have to be made from the typical Hiaasen novel aimed at the adult set. For starters, no swearing. (OK, actually, there is PLENTY of swearing just off-screen. We know this because our narrator advises us on multiple occasions that both Skink and the various supporting characters apparently have quite the potty mouths.) Secondly, no subplots; the reader doesn't have to invest the time in trying to figure out how the various plot threads are going to tie together when there's only one to track. And sex? C'mon the most intense we get in this novel is the recognition of middle/high school crushes. (There ARE some questions raised about what the villain of the piece may have done off-camera, but these turn out to be groundless.)
So, should an adult even bother with this book? OF COURSE!! This is the rare novel that appears aimed at BOTH YA and adult audiences, and successfully reaches both. (Think Rocky and Bullwinkle or The Simpsons, where your kids see humor on one level, and you catch an entirely different layer.) Hiaasen DOES invoke the first-person narrative common to YA novels, which is not something he traditionally does in his Florida satires. AND (perhaps the one concession to the YA reader that did not appeal to me), Hiaasen doesn't hint around with his messages of Florida history and natural conservation; they're clearly stated by our hero / narrator.
RATING: 5 stars. Well done, and it will stick with me long after I've read subsequent books.
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I hadn't read a Hiaasen novel for several years and enjoyed this one. It lives up to his standard to excellent writing and a convulted plot that takes place in Florida, a state with many unique residents if Hiaasen is to be believed.
Sample of his prose: "The highways of this state are teeming with mental defectives(93)."
I even went one stop too far on the light rail line with my nose in this book--high praise!
Sample of his prose: "The highways of this state are teeming with mental defectives(93)."
I even went one stop too far on the light rail line with my nose in this book--high praise!
