Rating: 
Summary: Sounds awfully familiar
Review: Dave Barry's attempt at a novel isn't bad...but it's not that great, either. Carl Hiaasen (I'm sure he's sick of hearing that name) gets old after two of his carbon-copy novels, but I had the vague feeling that Barry used one of them as a virtual step-by-step how-to-write-a-novel guide. The same types of characters exist, the same plot lines are generally followed, etc. Why can't these guys get out of Miami? The city's not *that* interesting, and it's difficult to come up with new jokes when you've exhausted all the everybody-has-a-gun lines you can dream up.Anyway, the plot isn't bad--it's actually quite interesting, if not terribly original or deep. Yet something doesn't quite fit right in the whole mess. Barry's a good writer, both for his columns and this fiction (Naked Came the Manitee is surprisingly good, too), but I can't shake the feeling that he was just going through the motions on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is awesome
Review: Very few things that I read make me want to laugh out loud. This did - again and again and again. Dave Barry's always been a great humor columnist, but with this novel of his, I kind of wish that he'd have already written a whole lot more novels. This book is light, fun, and very funny.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: If you're a Dave Barry fan, this book may disappoint you as it did me. The characters are an off-beat collection of humanity, and the setting is something Mr. Barry knows: Miami. He just can't sustain the story. Reading any part of the book is like reading a column; funny, at times hilarious, but putting it all together into a novel length shows the weakness of the plot and what works as terrific humor in a Sunday column gets old and really wordy. You can sum this book up in twenty pages, and he takes over 300 to write it. The best part of the book is the total SKEWERING he gives Miami! Other than that, it's not worth it. Read a collection instead: it's sustainable and infinitely funnier.
Rating: 
Summary: An Amusing Must-Read!
Review: Dave Barry's BIG TROUBLE is imaginative, entertaining, pretty ridiculous(!), and even thrilling! Every time I think about how to summarize this novel, I come up with a different angle .... but that's the fun of it! Suffice it to say that a unique drifter named Puggy, a man of simple needs with low expectations in life, suddenly finds himself not only gainfully employed, but living in a tree in a high-class Miami, Florida neighborhood. Puggy soon becomes an unwitting participant in an urban adventure he never bargained for as character after extraordinary character pops into the story, each with his/her own interesting personality, agenda, and surprising association with "big trouble" (hence, the title of this novel!). I truly enjoyed this book! It's fun and fast adult reading, though definitely not for children or sensitive adults because of vulgar language and explicit sexual situations. I found I really did care about Barry's wacky characters (e.g., Roger the dog whom I worried was never going to get a decent meal, thanks to the crafty, poisonous toad!). I felt compelled to read just to find out how the story turned out (or, maybe I should say, to find out if there was an ending!). Actually, reading this novel with its intermittent assortment of characters and subplots is a little like watching a fictionalized version of the evening news. In fact, I imagine Dave Barry's tongue-in-cheek social commentary is noted and appreciated by most fans of this book! Readers who can suspend their sense of disbelief in order to flow with the crazy plot will enjoy this book. I hope Dave Barry is writing us another splendid adventure!
Rating:
Summary: A Good First Novel
Review: I'm not a Dave Barry fan, but I have read parts of one of his collections, since my husband is a big fan. I did enjoy what I read previously. I wasn't sure I would like this novel, and had a hard time getting into it. It wasn't til I had read past the first few chapters of the book that I could understand where the plot line was going. Once I started figuring out what was going on, i found that although there wasn't much of a plot, I enjoyed the individual characters: Roger the dog (and his nemesis the toad); Puggy, a homeless man that works part time for two russian transplants who use a bar as their cover; and a half dozen other miscellaneous characters that add to this crazy story that takes place in Miami. Don't expect a detective novel. Expect some amusing scenes that only Dave Barry could write. I think that fact that I wasn't a true fan of Dave Barry's helped me enjoy this novel more, because I realy had no expectations. If you are a fan, go in knowing this is NOT the best Dave Barry book you will read.
Rating:
Summary: Dave Barry's Hiaasen Homage - Works ok, though not great
Review: This is a quick read, not only can it be read in one sitting, but it begs to be read this way. The very clever plot gets going right from the beginning, and it is extremely well woven, so you kind of need to see it through to the end right away. Dave Barry being who he is, the characters are beautifully drawn, and the story is told with relish and humor. The writing is of course very good. So, why only three stars? Well, for starters, Carl Hiaasen could have written this story, it is really tough to tell their styles apart. Since Dave ackowledges this at the beginning, one is left wondering through the book whether or not Dave is actually spoofing, or paying homage to, the "South Florida wacko" style. Derivative work, even when done by pros, is still not as fun as the original. Also, Dave Barry borrows heavily from his columns in the telling of the story. A lot of situations and color were lifted directly from columns I have read before in the Miami Herald. Dave Barry does Dave Barry, too. I live in Miami. What must seem outlandish, almost "magical realism", to readers from, say, Cincinnati, is pretty much normal to those of us who live down here. So when what you see is pretty much on the 11 pm news every night, it is somewhat less funny. Finally, there was an annoying mistake throughout the book, where the author used "should of" instead of "should have" in every instance. Pros SHOULD HAVE have better editors! Still, the book is definitely worth a read while on a plane or at the beach. Just don't expect anything original.
Rating:
Summary: Zany and just plain fun!
Review: If anyone can make a story work involving a poisonous toad, a dog with the IQ of celery, former Soviet gunrunners, loose goats, a python, and a nuclear bomb in the unwitting hands of two of the dumbest bad guys ever to grace the pages of a novel, it's Dave Barry. Barry's enormous cast of goofball characters bounce off each other like pinballs in this fast-paced, completely irreverent story that had me laughing out loud every other paragraph. Yes, the Bad Guys use Bad Language, and there are some scenes that might make some readers uncomfortable, but it all works as part of the whole, in this reader's opinion. If you like Janet Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum books, or movies like ANALYZE THIS, you'll probably love BIG TROUBLE.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall a disappointment
Review: Reading the covers, you'd think this was DB's funniest work. There are indeed some funny scenes, and more than once I was crying with laughter, but his other books are more consistently humorous. The plot is intentionally whacky, but is neither intelligent nor believable. The characters are instantly forgettable. There is a scene of (mild) sexual cruelty that seems completely out of place in an otherwise lighthearted farce (imagine a rugrats cartoon with a molestation scene)...Where was the editor? I love Dave's column and non-fiction, but the best thing about this book was that I only wasted 1 1/2 hours reading it.
Rating: 
Summary: Stick with column-writing Dave
Review: Dear Dave - You shouldn't have listened to whoever it was that encouraged you to write a novel. Big Trouble is a big mess. I should've guessed that (as with most books that include giant acknowledgement sections, particularly where the author admits to not having any idea what the plot of the book was going to be) this would be a really stupid, juvenile book. The problem with this book, even as a comedy, is that there are too many implausibilities. You might as well have included a Martian invasion or two. Thanks for wasting several hours of my time.
Rating:
Summary: Failed to "move me"...
Review: I did NOT laugh until I cried, I did NOT fall out of my chair (Mr. King !) and I was only slightly impressed with the story line. I love Dave Barry, and I will be the first to admit it; but I did not appreciate his attempt at producing a novel. On a side note, I also did not appreciate the ridiculous amount of vulgar language throught the entire novel (on EVERY page. Maybe that's why Mr. King loved it so much :-) Hey, relax! I read Stephen King as well!!! At one point, I counted over 10 uses of a combination of the "F" word and other ungentlemanly (if that is such a word)terms. I'm not trying to tell Dave how to write, but after 75 times of using the "F" word, I began to wonder if he was writing for me, or trying to impress a bunch of thirteen year olds who giggle when their little buddies say "naughty words". Give me a break Dave!!! Please go back to writing your commentaries; I enjoy them MUCH more (and I do laugh at those until I cry ).
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