I had originally chosen Tourist Season by Carl Hiassen as one of my Ten Books of Summer. But after a few chapters I realized Tourist Season was not for me and so I decided to go with another bestselling Florida writer, Dave Barry. His latest novel Swamp Story (2023) is set in the Florida Everglades and focuses on a number of characters who have hit a rough patch and are hoping for something better.
There is Jesse Braddock, her baby daughter Willa and Willa's father, Slater. They all live in a cabin in the Everglades where Slater is dreaming of producing a reality TV show called Glades Man but in the meantime he is doing nothing but getting wasted. Jesse knows that she and Willa need a way back to civilization.
Then there is Phil Teagler, an alcoholic ex-newspaperman. Phil is looking for a way to make money, stop drinking and repair his relationship with his daughter Stella. And we have Ken and Brad owners of Bortle Brothers Bait and Beer who are trying to attract tourists to their failing business. Ken at least is trying, Brad thinks it's hopeless.
And so the future is not looking bright when Swamp Story begins. But then things begin to change. Jesse discovers a fortune in gold bars buried in swamp land near her home. She decides to hide the gold until she can figure out what to do. But bad guys are also after the gold and they know that Jesse has it hidden
Meanwhile Phil is in a bar in Miami when Ken from Bortle Brothers approaches him. Phil has become semi-famous due to an internet video where he and his friend Stu dressed up as Disney characters for a children's birthday party and the event went viral. Ken sits down next to Phil with a proposal.
The plan involves Phil disguising himself as a character Ken has thought up called The Everglades Melon Monster. They'll film a few videos near Bortle Brothers Bait and Beer and post them online. People will flock to the Everglades looking for the melon monster and Phil and Ken will split the profits from all the melon monster t-shirts and paraphernalia they'll be selling.
Phil is skeptical but agrees to go along and the plan works very well. Thousands of tourists descend on the Everglades looking for the monster and the problems for Jesse Phil, Ken and Brad continue from there. Swamp Story also includes a separate plot in which a US Secretary of the Interior Witt Chastain, who hates going outdoors, heads down to the Everglades to launch the annual Python Challenge. And all of these stories link up as we get to the end of the book.
Swamp Story has been receiving alot of critical praise, including a starred review from Publisher's Weekly, and I wish I could be on board because I like Dave Barry. Many of us came down years ago to a very different Florida than exists now and the fact that Barry is still living in Miami and still chronicling the weirdness here is comforting to those of us who would like to leave but can't.
And so I wanted to recommend Swamp Story and certainly the characters, Jesse, Phil, Brad and Ken are well drawn and realistic. I was rooting for them. But Swamp Story began to drag for me the deeper I got into it. Jesse's dilemna with the gold bars and her blossoming relationship with Brad I enjoyed. But the melon monster storyline takes up a significant part of the novel and did not hold my interest.
But that's just me and Swamp Story is funny and Dave Barry is certainly someone to read, a reminder of the loveable weirdness that made Florida a fun place as opposed to what we have now.
I've read some of Dave Barry's work, and I generally like it. This one sounds like it might be a little over the top, but Barry's humor usually makes it worth it for me. Hiassen, on the other hand, has never much appealed to me, and it's been years and years since I've picked up one of his books. Maybe I need to revisit him, because I can't even remember anymore which of his novels turned me off him to that degree.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam, it was over the top possibly to highlight Florida wackiness. But the melon monster storyline needed to be toned down a bit and the python challenge just seemed tacked on. And humorous novels where humor is a big point don't usually work for me. But that said Dave Barry did not sacrifice character development to humor and eccentricity which was a problem I had with Tourist Season.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason this type of humor has never appealed to me. I suppose I ought to give it a try sometime, regardless. I have never read anything by Hiaasen either, and Tourist Season has been on my shelves many, many years.
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy, I agree a novel for me has to have a serious core to it and the humor should be there but not overwhelming the story or the characters. To Barry's credit the outrageous did not affect the characters. I found the characters realistic but the story itself became too far-fetched.
DeleteDave Barry's essays always make me laugh, but I've never read any of his novels. I'm not even sure I knew he wrote fictional stories. ;D
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't write many novels. This is his third and his prior novel was written 10 years ago and his essays make me laugh too and he's talented.
DeleteI used to love Barry's humorous columns but I don't think the book's plotlines would sustain my interest either. It is too bad DeSantis and others have really dumped on FLA ... it's a good place otherwise
ReplyDeleteFlorida had alot going for it pre-DeSantis but it's a different place now and it's become an angry place. Dave Barry is great but agree, the plot lines in Swamp Story were too out there.
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