Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece by a master
Review: I really do not understand all the reviewers below complaining about Carl writing "the same old thing" again. I guess they expect he should write a Gothic romance or an episode of Star Trek. Eco-comedies about Florida ARE what the man writes, but Sick Puppy finally transcends the genre and becomes great literature. Great American literature. For those who haven't figured it out, Skink and Jim Tile are Hiassen's Huck Finn and runaway slave Jim, the Everglades is their Mississippi, the cons they encounter their Duke and Dauphin. Skink is a Christ-figure (in an earlier novel where Skink steals the electronic tracking collar from an endangered Florida panther, Jim says Skink wears the collar "like a sacred obligation"). Yes, there are elements from Hiaasen's previous work here. The same bogus complaint could be charged against Hemingway, Shakespeare or the Beatles. Carl has taken those elements and recombined them here into the greatest American novel since The World According to Garp. (Hey, complainers, did you catch the allusions to Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros"? I didn't think so! Carl's critics need to learn a little bit more about literature and about how to read. No living American writer -- well, maybe John Irving -- is creating greater art, being more honest with us, or saying anything more important. Melville, Twain, Faulkner, Hemingway, Heller and now Hiaasen. Philip Roth, EAT YOUR HEART OUT!
Rating: 
Summary: At last, Florida explained!
Review: Carl Hiaasen's "Sick Puppy" is a fun, funny read, just perfect for taking to the beach of Toad Island, Florida, the pivotal plot locale around which the looniness of eco-terrorist Twilly Spree unfolds...or maybe "explodes" is the better verb. Be prepared to suspend your disbelief as the tussles begin. Or maybe this is how things truly are in The Sunshine State; it would go a long ways toward explaining Election 2000....and Elian for that matter. Both episodes would have blended seamlessly in this novel. As it is, Hiaasen has populated his pages with a high-roller lobbyist and his trophy wife, a golf resort developer with a pair of Barbie doll wannabes, old state pols, hit men, and a contractor who's been at war with chipmunks (and their habitats) his whole life. Oh, and besides Twilly, there actually is a "sick puppy" romping through the tale. Just don't be upset that all the plot elements -- whether funny, torturous, murderous, legal or illegal, sexy, or scary -- are told in the same light way. It's madcap mayhem and merriment, all underscoring a main thesis: Stop trashing Florida by overbuilding its delicate wetlands and coastal regions.
Rating:
Summary: This book has it all!
Review: This is one of those books that is infectous, compelling and completely zany all at the same time. A fast read, a page turner it is one that you'll never want to end! I enjoyed the raucous, oddball characters that kept getting more and more outlandish with every page. One word to describe this book; motion. This book is constantly moving, it never stops. You will not be bored for one second when you read this. How can you be? This book has it all: sardonic wit, intrigue, backstabbing, perversion, sex, drugs and fun characters that you'll never forget. Couldn't have been better. I recommend this highly!
Rating:
Summary: Witty diversion...fun to read
Review: Sick Puppy was my first contact with Carl Hiaasen, so I'll leave it to others to decide how this rates among his works. Obviously, the Florida background links this with Dave Barry, but the styles are complementary rather than repetitive. I've read Barry's Big Trouble and other books, but still found Hiaasen fun to read for itself (as opposed to feeling it was simply stealing style from Barry). The dialogue is usually witty, although it sometimes became slightly tiresome after a while. Overall, it's a good 'airplane book' or beach reading for when you want some pleasant diversion.
Rating:
Summary: Clever, wacky and utterly charming!
Review: As insane as the storylines are in this book (and trust me, they are WHACKED!), they all work together to form a story that not only entertains but somehow worms its way into your heart as well. It is a laugh-out-loud, eye-opening, and even romantic paean to environmentalism and karmic retribution. When I finished and closed the book this morning, my eyes were slightly teary and I was giggling in pure joy. It probably isn't a book for everyone, but if you can appreciate its zanyness and be touched by its heart, you will not likely forget it for some time to come.
Rating:
Summary: Another Hilarious Hiaasen
Review: Hiaasen did it once more. How he manages to come up with completely beleivable characters who are so far out is amazing. with Boodle the Lab who is so lovable and will eat anything, he added a new dimention to his other wacky lovable characters. If you've never enjoyed a Hiaasen book, kick off your shoes, grab your favorite soft drink, lean back, and be prepared to get throughly entertained. Find out what the former governor of Fl. eats for lunch, how the rich and not so famous battle to divide what's left of Florida with only truth and justice in the form of a vigilante rich kid, a Florida x-governor, a big state trooper,the wife of a litter bug, and a Lab with a name change, to save the world one island, one beach at a time. Don't expect to put this book down after you pick it up, and be ready now to order the rest of Hiaasen's books, one book you're hooked!
Rating: 
Summary: Sick Puppy
Review: This book is far too long and too repetitive in dialogue (513 pages in paper back). I started to "scan" about half way through. I enjoy reading Carl Hiaasen, but not this much at one time.
Rating:
Summary: I think I heard this before...
Review: I've always been a pretty good Hiaasen fan, but the last few novels of his I've read (Native Tongue and this one, Sick Puppy) pretty much pound the nail in the coffin. The plot is essentially lifted from his earlier works; the characters are just a bit nutty in a different kind of way. And, as always, there's a preachy anti-business drone througout the book. There isn't a single good businessman or bad enivronmentalist in Hiaasen's world. I could care less about politics, but *of course* the GOP hooker goes to a *Quayle*-for-prez rally! How original! It's a dumb Republican--as are all Republicans, right?--so it *must* be Quayle. Hiassen can write whatever he wants, of course, but the whole preachy mess gets tiresome quickly. And, of course, there's Skink. He's just rehashing the same weirdo junk from earlier; I swear the dialogue is exaclty the same in both this book and Native Tongue. And the main character's backgrond is almost the same as from Native Tongue--a child of an EVIL EVIL DEVELOPER (BWAH HAH HAH) going through pangs of guilt and trying to make the world right. There's an alt-sex pair of women who are a near carbon copy from the alt-sex women of his other books. Hiassen, at this point, isn't creating new characters, he's just shuffling the characters from his other books around a bit and pretending it's new. The few highlights of the books are few but treasurable (uh...if that's a word), which is why this gets two stars instead of one. The dog is a hoot, though he seems to lift some of the passages from Dave Barry's dumb-dog routines. The backgrounds of relationships between Twilly and Desi are pretty funny, too, and quite creative. And the subplot with the rhino horn, while sophomoric, fits well enough into the plot to be endearingly funny. Given all this disappointment, I'm willing to say that Hiassen's still a better and more creative writer than most out there. My thoughts, now, though, are that if you want to get into Hiassen, skip this load of trash and go for one of his earlier books. Don't get lulled, though, into thinking that one is good/two is better. It's hit or miss with this guy.
Rating:
Summary: like Chuck Palahniuk with humor
Review: This book was absolutly hilarious. I was a little skeptical - I had picked it up... at a library book fair - but once I got a few pages in I was hooked. I definitly plan to read more of Carl Hiaasen because of this book. The twisted characters and odd events that occur in this book are very like Chuck Palahniuk's (of Fight Club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, and soon, Choke fame). The humor does not seem forced at all, and does not take away from the storyline, neither do the aforementioned twisted characters and plotlines. I highly suggest you read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Getting tiresome
Review: When I first read Hiassen's early stuff, I thought he was brilliant. Double Whammy and Tourist Season are inspired bits of lunacy and absolute must-reads. Skin Tight and Native Tongue are okay, and Strip Tease had its moments, but since that time the formula has worn thin. Stormy Weather and Lucky You start to strain the reader's patience for the same old patter. Sick Puppy may be my last Hiassen novel. The formula basically involves a cast of loathsome characters, who are delighted to despoil Florida's environment in pursuit of a dollar. The hero is generally a little whacky as well, but in a caring sort of way. The driving force for each novel is an effort to come up with wildly bizarre behavior. This made for very entertaining reading through a few novels, but with each succeeding effort the general zaniness has become a bit more tired and a bit more strained, so that it now reminds me of Martin and Ackyroid proclaiming themselves "wild and crazy guys." It's time for Hiassen to move on. His earlier stuff is highly recommended. You'll probably want to miss this one altogether.
|
