Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Stormy Weather
Book Review: Continually Funny & Never Disappointing
Summary: 5 Stars
Carl Hiaasen yet again composes a comically, well written tale. Not only was I laughing out loud while reasing, I completely enjoyed the descrptive prose. I simply could not put this down.Book Review: Dark Satire of Thieves, Scam Artists and Ghouls
Summary: 3 Stars
If a hurricane doesn't do enough damage, the human scum that grows on the surface of the resulting troubles will make it infinitely worse. Carl Hiaasen covers his disgust for such low lifes with this offbeat comic novel about what happens after the hurricane of the century roars through Florida just south of Miami.
Storms bring out the best and the worst in people. If that intrigues you, this is your novel. If it disgusts you to think about how low people can stoop to take advantage of one another, skip this book.
I normally love Carl Hiaasen's books, but this one was too dark for me.
The book opens as a young couple is spending their honeymoon at Disney World. Already bored, the husband is excited about seeing the aftermath of the storm and talks his wife into heading to Miami. Once there, he pokes his video camera into everyone's misery and looks forward to sharing what he saw with his friends back in Manhattan. His new wife isn't so sure she's thrilled by what's going on.
Then all of a sudden, it goes wrong. A small creature grabs the camera, the husband follows . . . and the comic tale begins.
The book looks deeply into false sales practices for homes and mobile homes, fraud among building inspectors, crooked roof repairmen, political payoffs, crooked insurance adjusters, scam artists who prey on those who are suffering, robbers and looters. I felt overwhelmed by all of that corruption.
There's a lot of violence in this book, of the most macabre sort. That also darkens the mood.
Fortunately, Mr. Hiaasen leaves a little room for redemption. The new wife begins to see how she could improve her life and takes steps to do so. An environmentalist loves to see the storm's beauty and hopes that it will encourage people to leave Florida (that's a vain hope!). A lonely man finds love in a most unexpected way.
Through satirical slaps at human nature, a few more of the guilty escape their just rewards . . . but do bear a few scars in the process.
If you like to see criminals receive harsh treatment, this book has one of the most unusual punishments you can imagine in it.
After you have finished enjoying the book (if that's how you experience it), I hope you will think about how you can protect your family and yourself from the corrupt practices that may be going on around you.
Book Review: Darkly hysterical!
Summary: 4 Stars
This book.......I don't even know where one would start. It's impossible to even say what style of story this is. Murder, mayhem, escaped exotic animals, an ex-governor, psychos, crazies, losers, criminals........they ALL abound in this absolutely hysterically disturbing book. I loved it, it was like nothing I've ever read before, and now, I can't wait to read the rest of his books! There's nothing else to say, except that, if you're looking for something completely different, Carl Hiaasen has written it! Just read it people!Book Review: Entertaining, a little bit disappointing.
Summary: 3 Stars
Last year, I read Skinny Dip, my first Hiaasen novel. I was really pleasantly surprised. I found it fun, interesting, quirky-- an excellent waste of time. I wanted to read something else by him and several people recommended Stormy Weather. It is meant to be classic Hiaasen, whatever that means.
What classic Hiaasen meant for me, unfortunately, was that it read very much like Skinny Dip. I can't help but think it a good sign when you feel that an author is formulaic after only two books.
A well-meaning woman makes a bad marriage choice to a reasonably icky male. Disaster of one kind or another brings her into contact with a damaged but well-meaning loner who quickly reveals himself to be a better catch than the man that she actually married. Add to that basic plot a whole lot of character-based zaniness and the idea of Florida as a lens which sorts out the good from the bad, and it seems from these two books as though you have Hiassen in a nutshell.
To be clear, there's nothing wrong with a good formula, providing that it delivers the entertainment value. Hiassen certainly does that-- no doubt about it. I enjoyed Stormy Weather, even if the enjoyment was dimmed by the comparison to Skinny Dip.
By the way, it is well possible that I just picked an unfortunate two books with which to begin and that when I read a third I will see that the strong plot similarities were simply coincidence. I hope so. I've already got Nature Girl sitting on my shelf to be read, so I guess that I'm going to find out.
Book Review: Good but Not Really Funny
Summary: 4 Stars
With everyone else raving about how funny this book was I bought it. I was not disappointed with the story, but it really wasn't all that humorous. Dave Barry has a much better feel for humor, especially in Florida. Still, I will read other Hiassen books. I will simply change my expectations to drama rather than humor. That's why I gave it a 4 instead of a 5; false advertising.