I recently checked out four Elmore Leonard novels from the library, as I had read a couple of his books before and really liked them. Reading several in a row made the similarities between them very obvious, and I’m realizing he follows a formula about as closely as Dean Koontz does (although it’s a good formula and I still enjoy the books). Most Elmore Leonard novels have a spunky woman in a career related to law enforcement, often Latina, though she’s not usually an actual cop. She usually seems like she is going to be the love interest but the focus shifts away from her within a few chapters. They also have a very easy-going divorced protagonist who has lots of criminal friends and often a past in the military or law enforcement, but they work for themselves or are retired now. Said protagonist usually falls for a blonde in her thirties who is in or was in a bad marriage, who is in trouble somehow. There is usually a hot-headed businessman who is the cause of whatever problem the story is about, but he is not the prime villain - there is instead two criminals, one a fairly dumb though cunning low-life, the other considerably smarter and more manipulative, second criminal is often homosexual or in some way associated with homosexuals. It is mentioned that one of the criminals abstains from a particular drug or vice, and the criminals hatch a plan that looks like a typical crime of it’s sort but has a twist that isn’t revealed until later that confuses the police. Throw in a bookie (they all have bookies) and you have an Elmore Leonard novel. There are some that leave out a few of these elements (i.e. Get Shorty and Maximum Bob) but they all include at least a few.
As I started putting this together I realized that Big Trouble has a lot of these elements, though twisted in some cases. The protagonist has the typical attitude of a Elmore Leonard hero, but instead of a past in law enforcement he was a journalist - clearly Barry writing himself into the story. You also have the Latina cop, the hotheaded businessman, the older blonde love interest, the slimey dumb criminals (although in this case both are dumb and neither shows homosexual tendencies), and of course it’s set in Florida but I’ll let that slide because both Barry and Leonard are from Florida.
So, has anyone else noticed this?
I like to think that Barry’s Big Trouble (a bad book and a worse movie) is a wacky take on Carl Hiassen’s novels (another Miami Herald columnist turned novelist) which are a wacky take on Elmore Leonard.
I don’t have BT in front of me, but I think Barry mentions both Leonard and Hiassen (or at least one of them) in his introduction to the book. If I’m right (about a 50% chance of that), the answer is probably ‘yes.’
Aw, c’mon. Big Trouble was a fine book. Haven’t seen the movie, but the book was pretty funny.
Also, Barry, Hiassen and Leonard all wrote a chapter of a book titled Naked Came the Manatee which was a 12 chapter “novel” the Miami Herald ran a few years ago. They found 12 Florida writers and each had to write a chapter. The thing got progressively sillier as it went on since everyone was trying to outdo the writer before them.
The final plot involved the frozen head of Fidel Castro and a manatee named “Booger”. Don’t ask.
I was struck by the similarities to Hiaasen (it’s two a’s and one s, by the way) myself.
Big Trouble was much more enjoyable as a book than I expected. I am not a huge Dave Barry fan but the book, I liked. Then again, I really like Hiaasen’s stuff, so no surprise.
Sigh. Hope this doesn’t double post.
I was struck by the similarities to Hiaasen (it’s two a’s and one s, by the way) myself.
Big Trouble was much more enjoyable as a book than I expected. I am not a huge Dave Barry fan but the book, I liked. Then again, I really like Hiaasen’s stuff, so no surprise.
Personally, I am a big fan of Barry’s columns/books, but Big Trouble really did feel like a freshman effort at prose fiction. It seemed like Barry was too concerned with moving the plot forward (regardless of what he may have said in the intro), and didn’t seem comfortable interjecting his usual brand of humor into the narrative.
I thought it worked better as a movie because of this, actually. It’s been a while since stupid comedy has been done well, IMHO.
tanstaafl beat me to referencing Naked Came the Manatee, which I think supports the position that all of these writers know one another and read each others’ work, and that Barry therefore had lots of source material from which to draw inspiration.
(By the way, for what it’s worth, Dave Barry wrote the first chapter of the book, introducing Booger the Manatee, and Carl Hiaasen had the thankless task of writing the final chapter and wrapping up all the story threads. Quite an entertaining read, if not particularly satisfying from a narrative perspective, for obvious reasons.)
I received Big Trouble in a package mailed by my sister. A note was included that said: “Prepare to laugh your ass off”. I prepared, and I did.
I also enjoy Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, and I thought Naked Came the Manatee was a blast to read.
I’m not too sure this type of writing lends itself to clinical analysis. If you like it, laugh your ass off and enjoy the characters!
That bar in Coconut Grove that was fearured in Manatee? Next time through Miami, I’m stoppin’ there for a beer! :eek:
I read Big Trouble and enjoyed it. It was fast and funny-- exactly what I was expecting. And then I read Hiaasen’s (2 a’s 1 s? Hope so!) Lucky You and I realized how much better a madcap Floridian crime story could be.
I’ve read plenty of Elmore Leonard’s books, but never compared the two writers. Leonard’s books seemed to me to be more dense, more “dead serious” funny, much more character driven. Kinda like comparing Nora Roberts to Belva Plain-- if you know what I mean.
I’ll have to look Hiaasen up.
I’ve considered writing a semi-autobiographical story set in Greenville, TX, where I lived for about 15 years. It could be interesting, Greenville is a vile little county seat of 23,000 people, older than Dallas, had the highest per capita murder rate in Texas several years in the last decade, amazingly corrupt and stupid police force (are there other towns that hire police who don’t have high school diplomas?), and full of bizarre people and stories. When I think about it Elmore Leonards voice and writing style would be perfect, but maybe that’s just because he nails some things so dead on that they remind me of my own experiences.