Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Stormy Weather
Book Review: The BEST Hiaasen Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read sooo many of his books, as he is my FAVORITE author. I am from the Florida Keys, which I am sure has a lot to do with my love of his writing. This is the one that ALWAYS stands out as the BEST. Its a MUST READ for Hiaasen lovers and newcomers alike. I have had to purchase this book more than once because I keep lending it out and that person lends it out to the next and poof! it's gone! I can read this book over and over still laugh out loud!Book Review: This just didn't work for me...
Summary: 3 Stars
This is the second Hiaasen novel I've read, and based on the word-of-mouth about him in general and the reviews for this book in particular, I felt especially let down. My giving it 3 stars is actually generous.
Perhaps the book was just built up too much, or maybe I'm just jaded, but this novel never really engaged me. I could have put it down after 100 pages and not felt bad or any lack of "closure" for not knowing what happens. Then again, I enjoy "quirky" and "off-beat" literature, and this struck me as a mainstream book **trying** to be off-beat for mainstream readers. Maybe I just have a higher threshold for such stuff.
There are several reasons why this didn't click with me. First and foremost, almost every character in here annoyed me. Let me be clear and clarify/contrast that: a well-written book designs antagonists that we are obviously not supposed to like and secretly hope they get a "come-uppance". That isn't what happened here: everyone (heroes and villains) were simply irritating--without actually being **interesting**, and I simply wished they'd go away so someone more interessting would come along.
Going hand-in-hand with that, the antagonists consistently suffered from "willful stupidity" -- they would do dumb things that were obviously dumb and served no purpose except plot convenience, because if they had a few more brain cells to rub together they wouldn't be in whatever situation there was and the book would grind to a halt. That may or may not be lazy writing, but to me it's certainly frustrating: I enjoy my villains to have a mind and a master plan that's interesting.
Lastly, the book is about 100 pages longer than it needs to be, and since it had already worn out its welcome by that point it seemed especially tedious to me. Again, I could have walked away from this by then with a clean conscience, but the only thing preventing me from doing so was that there wasn't anything else handy for me to read at the time.
I can see why mainstream readers might think Hiaasen in general and this book in particular are funny and off-beat, but since I read a lot of that type of stuff anyway, this is a sub-par offering. For instance, Tim Dorsey does the same type of thing, but much, much better.
Book Review: Tops among over the top Hiassen satires
Summary: 4 Stars
I've read almost every Hiassen book I could get my hands on, after my initiation with what I still think is Hiassen's top masterpiece of satire: "Skin Tight"Skin Tight and not one has disappointed.
But in "Stormy Weather" Hiassen absolutely outdid himself with 1. his villain Snapper, and Snapper's fate in the end. 2. The relentless hilarity of the scenes at the hurricane site featuring Snapper and Edie, and 3. in the way he painted his female protagonist Edie...She is top contender for 1st prize in Hiassen's gallery of the 'lovable "bad girl" Her "type" is very effectively delivered to us in many of his other tales--this girl IS bad...she'll do just about anything it takes to get rich and famous..BUT she draws some lines in selling her soul, and when she joins the ranks of female vigilantes, and turns on her villain pals, look out! In this book's cool ex of this Hiassen signature plot twist, Edie's pal Snapper makes the huge mistake of trying to ride THIS vamp! Cause the designing girl may forgive and collude with the crooks for money, but cuts them into little pieces and feeds them to the crocodiles when they foolishly try to con her in a pathetic male predator sally driven by their grandiose ego! (another fave ex of this female 'antiheroine' is found in Skinny Dip"Skinny Dip) Edie is the Queen of these designing babes turned heroines! This book is a very good Hiassen meal!
Book Review: Typical funny Hiaasen Outing -- quirky cast amuses throughout
Summary: 3 Stars
Hiaasen is known for witty comedic tales, so indeed "Weather" fits right in! A bad hurricane hits southern Florida, blowing away whole trailer parks and all manner of people's roofs, accompanied by widespread devastation, even a few deaths. We then meet quite a quirky cast of characters: newlyweds Bonnie and Max, with Max abandoning all the honeymoon plans to go south and videotape the damages; "Snapper" and Edie, whose goal is to scam missing homeowners out of their insurance money; Augustine, who has inherited his uncle's wildlife collection, all of which is set loose during the storm; ex-governor "Skink", who kidnaps Max for fun; a bunch of roofer scammers, and so on and so on! The hi-jinks soon follow: will the "roofers" get caught; will Max get back to Bonnie; will Edie get her insurance check?
It's not easy to summarize a book with like six concurrent long-running gag lines comprising some 388 pages, but suffice to say that hilarity prevails throughout, with a dollop of romance and sex thrown in here and there for good measure. Enjoy !
Book Review: Wacky and Captive
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my first Hiaasen novel and won't be my last. The story moves fast and the characters are difficult to keep up with at first. Finally it clicked in for me and I was able to identify the main characters, ancillary characters and settings. Very descriptive scenery and good character development. More of an adventure although impossible in real life (mine, anyway)and I am sure the characters resemble real people living somewhere even as wacky as they were, but not in my unexciting suburban area. The humor comes from imagining the scenes as described and the predicaments each main character gets him/herself into as well as the thinking processes they exhibit. It was eating road kill that clouded the overall ambience...