I discovered him quite early. In a shor time he wrote some really good stories - funny, provocative smart and full of suspense. The books were:
Tourist Season, Double Whammy, Skin Tight and Native Tongue. Just the thought of doing a crime story around bass fishing is enough to mark him as an interesting writer.
Then came Strip Tease, which still was fun, but made into a terrible movie, starring Demi Moore. The Stormy Weather (remake of his own Tourist Season), Lucky You, Sick Puppy and Basket Case. From Strip Tease and on, it’s just gone downhill. I didn’t even finsish Sick Puppy, 'cause it was so incredibly bad. I didn’t buy Basket Case.
Points against him: How he, like a certain gentleman from La Mancha, uses more and more of his books to argue against tourism in Florida, to the point where I’m certain that ethnic cleansing will be his next proposal (prove that your familiy has been here for four generations, or else…). Story/plot is all but gone.
Also, the hero/protagonist is a very thinly disguised Hiaasen, and I don’t care for that kind of ego trip.
His first books made me think about what damage tourism is doing. His later books want me to build strip malls all over the Everglades with him as part of the pavement.
Probably. Who doesn’t go downhill after a while? There can only be one Evelyn Waugh. Tom Sharpe got half way there a couple of times (Riotous Assembly/Indecent Exposure) and then lapsed into fomulaic stuff. Much of it very funny. Hiaasen has done well to equal Sharpe. Humor and satire are hard work. (Movie versions never work - don’t blame the authors.)
I think Strip Tease was his best by far. The fact that it was made into a POS film is irrelevant. Same with Bonfire of the Vanities (Tom Wolfe). He has a narrow field of view, it’s only about Florida and eccentric characters, anything that narrows gets old after a while.
I Like Native Tongue most. I shouldn’t have brought up the movie, but I think it plays a part. Having landed a big movie deal, starring a Big Movie Star, might have gone to his head.
It’s not only that “it’s only about Florida and eccentric characters, anything that narrows gets old after a while”.
Stephen King has been writing about smal town Maine for 28 years and he writes some good books, and some bad. Norman Mailer has been writing books for over 50 years. Some don’t even deserve to be called books, and yet, a few years ago, he came out with the absolutely brilliant Harlot’s Ghost.
Hiaasen is going downhill. And fast.
Well, I guess this makes me lucky-I just discovered him.
I was waiting for Mr. Singular, roaming thru a used bookstore. “Sick Puppy” caught my eye, so I bought it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I went back to the store and bought “Strip Tease”, “Tourist Season”, “Skin Tight” and “Native Tongue”. I haven’t had a chance to read them yet, although Mr. Singular has read two more. From his description (and Lamar Mundane’s), I can see how you could beat the Florida environmental terrorist horse to death real quick, but I’m looking forward to reading them-especially if “Sick Puppy” is the worst one, I think I’m in for a treat!
If you want to see some real Hiaasen horse-beating, read Kick Ass and Paradise Screwed, collections of his columns from the Miami Herald. I was able to swallow a lot of more of Hiaasen’s eco-critique from his novels than from his editorials. I do, however, want to read Team Rodent, about the Disney Corporation. I don’t think Hiaasen’s going downhill, since I liked Basket Case and Sick Puppy and thought they were pretty strong novels, but I think his best work that combines social satire, political agendas, and black humor is Stormy Weather.
I thought “Sick Puppy” got him back on track. I haven’t read “Basket Case” yet. I started reading him fairly recently, after hearing him interviewed on “Fresh Air” - the section he read out of “Native Tongue”, IIRC, convinced me to start going through his stuff.
When I decide to read an author that has been around for awhile, I often make a concerted effort to read the books in order, possibly after having read one out of order and figuring out I want to read the rest of their work. I did this with Hiaasen, reading “Native Tongue” first, then picking up the rest in order.
I would definitely rate “Strip Tease” his weakest book. “Stormy Weather” doesn’t rate all that highly with me either. “Skin Tight” and “Native Tongue” are probably the best. I thought “Sick Puppy” was much more entertaining than I expected it to be, worthy of being included with his first ones.
One wonders how many more novels he can crank out about the despoiling of Florida, performing new twists on the cast of lowlives, corrupt politicians and general idiots he gets his laughs from. I would say that he hasn’t mined the vein out completely yet, to use a very inappropriate metaphor for an eco-author.
I adore him. The characters are so out-there and original, like the man who lost his arm and had a weed-whacker grafted onto his stump (forget which book, I think it was the one with the plastic surgeon in it). Anyway, I heard he is good friends with Warren Zevon, another original soul, and that they have been writing some music together.
Now I’m gonna have to dig out his books, dust them off and start to re-read a few. I remember Stormy Weather as being one of my favorites. Maybe I’ll start there and work my way forward.
Chemo was the character with the facial skin problems and the weedwhacker on his arm. That was one partially set out on Stiltsville, the houses on stilts out in the salt flats. Can’t remember the name of the book.
I love his stuff, but have to admit that sometimes the details all blur together. The plots are fairly interchangable, all the books have one freakish character, one hero/heroine, damsel with a heart of gold, and a real villian. Fun to read, especially the little epilogues, but after 5 or 6 books I’ve stopped reading them.
One good addition to the list is “Naked Came the Manatee” a group novel written by Hiaasen, Dave Barry, and a collection of Florida writers.
I dig Hiaasen, top to bottom, though I’ll agree (of course) that some books are better than others. Lucky You seemed tailor-made for a movie adaptation starring Pam Grier, and while Basket Case is a lot of fun (his never-before use of first-person perspective gives the story some extra energy), the story’s kind of thin. Still, a scene in which an intruder is beaten about the head with a frozen lizard tells you Hiaasen’s still “got it.”
But for my money, these days, I prefer Randy Wayne White for Florida adventuring. What? You don’t know White? Go find Sanibel Flats and prepare to be blown out of your shoes.
Chemo was in “Skin Tight”. A particularly inspired Hiaasen freakish character, and an example of his ability with names.
“Basket Case” is in first person? Hmmm, I don’t know if I like that idea. A lot of Hiaasen’s appeal comes from his wryly detached viewpoint as a third-person omniscient narrator describing the ongoing mayhem. The comparison to Tom Sharpe is apt, in this regard, though Hiaasen’s style is completely different - Hiaasen writes unornamentally, like the journalist he is, and not like the polished and serpentine Sharpe. I can’t see the humor working in first person. I’ll probably find out, though.
i find his books a treat. an amazing authour that combines horrific accidents with wild humour.
i just have one burning question regarding all of his books… are there emergency rooms in florida? none of his characters seem to be able to locate an er.
my fav. of his editorials is the one about the amazing shrinking trees. i posted that one on the board at work.
CH and Zevon collaborated on Zevon’s most recent album, “My Ride is Here,” along with Hunter S. Thompson and some others. It’s offbeat even for Zevon, and just purely brilliant.
Do the world a favor and buy a copy before Friday. Zevon’s trying to stay alive until the new Bond flick opens, and I think it would be way cooler (and easier) to pick up the album before he dies.
I remember trying to find a Zappa CD in the month after he died. Damn near impossible. As of this weekend, mMost stores I’ve been in have a least one copy of “Ride” on the shelves still, though.
Let me get my least nagging voice, Homer, Hooomer, Homer, that’s it; send him in
Carl also co wrote with Warren on the album Mutineer. They wrote Seminole Bingo.
I got a giggle reading John Sanford’s, I think it was Certain Prey, & he mentions a woman wanting to meet Carl, should she maybe send him a pic of her naked bosom??