Rating: 
Summary: This is the funniest book I have read all year!
Review: Being a big fan of Dave Barry's from his newspaper column, I pre-ordered this book and dove into it as soon as it came. I have never been to Florida, but this book will make you want to go right away, or make you swear you'll never go further south than the Mason-Dixon line. Carefully crafted characters populate Coconut Grove, Florida and when a nuclear bomb hits the streets (packed up in a small suitcase, everyone of them seems to follow suit. Some of these people are not to be believed; a hard drinking homeless guy who carries heavy loads for a living (who is the smartest guy in the book) a smart reporter prostituting himself by writing ads, a couple of bizare hitmen, and a posionous toad who torments Roger the dog by stealing his food day and night. All in all this is a great book, very remeniscent of GET SHORTY (the book) and OUT OF SIGHT (the movie.)
Rating:
Summary: Just like living in the Grove
Review: I spent three years living in Coconut Grove and the only thing stranger than the smell down there was the people stinking it up. Dave Barry seems to have spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the same Cocowalk that he goofs on in his book and his descriptions are perfect. Anyone who has ever had the experience of passing through Miami International Airport will love the commentary at the opening of Chapter 11. Speaking of Chapter 11, Barry's explanation of the City of Miami's business tactics is dead on. It has to be the only city in the country that builds a new basketball arena because the one they have now is too dangerous and then puts the new one 3 blocks away. I hope that Dave bangs out a sequel so he can really cash in!
Rating:
Summary: A Fun read
Review: One unwritten rule of the Cosmos is that it takes nanoseconds for a perfectly normal suburb to go insane. In Coconut Grove, Florida, high school student Matt Arnold accompanied by his classmate Andrew has been assigned to "kill" Jenny Herk, a fellow student at Southeast High, with his Toys-R-Us SquirtMaster Model 9000. At the same time the two teens stalk the Herk home, Jenny watches TV with her mother while Nina the maid rejects the advances of Jenny's obnoxious stepfather, Arthur. Watching the advancing Andrew and Matt is the homeless Puggy who plans to secretly spend the night in the Herk treehouse.As the teens crept closer to their target, Penultimate, Inc. of Miami has "subcontracted" for the specialized services of two New Jersey pros (Henry and Leonard) to really murder Arthur. The company is noted for its strict discipline and Arthur embezzled funds to pay off a gambling debt. In front of a witness, the two pairs of hitmen begin their assault proving once again that chaos theory works faster than the speed of light. This is the opening gamut on headline news. BIG TROUBLE is a very humorous tale that centers on the zany actions and eccentricities of a not so endearing ensemble cast. The satirical story line is fast-paced, but in a Keystone Cops sort of way. Dave Barry Fans and anyone who relishes a jocular twisted tale will want to read BIG TROUBLE. In his first novel, the renowned humorist proves his talent adapts well to a big book format as he writes a very funny thrashing of South Florida. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but what I hoped from Dave
Review: Background: grew up in South Florida reading and loving Dave in the Miami Herald but I live many states away now. I found out after reading the book that it was made into a movie starring Tim Allen. I'm sort of a movie buff but still had never heard of the movie and to date I've never seen it. Pretty good book, but not what I had hoped from Dave Barry. I guess this was his first foray into a full novel. The frog is the best part and it is pretty much what one would expect from a goofy, South Florida tale. It has lots of funny moments, but I really don't know if non-Dave Barry fans could enjoy it because the end story leaves alot to be desired. Nonetheless, if you get if for cheap, it's a quick read and it's funny.
Rating:
Summary: Fast Beach/Airplane Reading and Instantly Forgettable
Review: Dave Barry - Columnist: Awesome. Dave Barry - novelist: so-so.
I began the book with high expectations: to laugh through the 300+ pages; perhaps even with tears in my eyes. What I experienced was an occasional guffaw every 100 pages or so.
Ok, the book does move fast. If you can keep track of the gazillion characters (well, maybe 20) and their motivations, you can have fun with the book. Don't expect deep, thought-provoking, multi-layered characters. These are Florida residents we're dealing with. :-) What you get is a screwball race running on high octane that doesn't slow down until the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Laugh your head off like I did!
Review: Okay - to begin I have to establish my perspective. There is something that Humor and Horror have in common: Different people think that different things are funny or scary. Not everyone loves Monty Python and the Holy Grail.... but for those who do, it is the absolute pinacle of film humor.
I bought this book just before boarding a plane, and I laughed until I cried the whole flight. I could see people turning their heads... craning to see what in the world could be making someone laugh so hard.
If this book were *only* funny - that would be enough. But there is a reasonably plausible thriller-crime story wrapped in there too.
The characters are bizarre. There is a bum who begins the book getting picked up in a van which ferries him around to different polling places in Miami where he casts votes in place of people who have died at 10 dollars a vote. At the end of the day the van deposits him in Coconut Grove where he decides to spend his 35 dollars - the most money he has EVER had - on beer. He finds out that beers in upscale CG are 5 bucks each - "which Puggy thought was way high, even for a guy pulling down ten dollars a vote". We meet renegade Russian arms dealers, crazy cops, poisoned toads and our hero - who amazingly was a Miami newspaperman like Dave Barry!
Unfortunately, Big Trouble was turned into a movie starring some very talented people which was as bland and humorless as the book was brilliant and hilarious. I mention it because if you saw the movie and thought "oh... that stinks" but you thought "hmmmm... I would have thought the book would have been better than that since Dave Barry wrote it" and you were thinking "should I read this book or not....." my recommendation is:
Read it. But only if you're ready to laugh your head off. It helps if you're already familiar with Barry's writing and already think he's the funniest American writer since Samuel Clemens.
Rating:
Summary: still funny after all these years
Review: I read this book when it was first published and laughed my head-off. I purchased this book for my book snob friends (and my extremely finicky brother)and they all laughed until the tears poured. I just reread the book to see how it ages and it is still one of the funniest pieces of pulp to ever grace these hands. Just release your mind, suspend your sense of reality and let go for a few hours with this book. It will make everything going on in your life seem so normal and serene.
One word of caution - empty your bladder before you begin the adventure!!
Rating:
Summary: Funniest book on earth!!!!
Review: This is the funniest book I'd ever read!!!!!! I read it on Metro and I couldn't stop laughing out loud....people thought I was crazy!! This is surely a good book to relax!!!
Rating:
Summary: Miami's slyest booster (sort of)
Review: As the many readers of his column know, Dave Barry has a sideways sort of sense of humor. And, as much as he loves Miami, he's certainly not blind to the failings of his home town, where gun-ownership is a given. His first novel is part Marx Brothers, part Carl Hiaasen, part Goofy-on-dope, all set in the Miami suburb of Coconut Grove. Eliot Arnold is an ex-newsman struggling to make it with his small advertising agency, while his teenaged son, Matt, plays "Killer" with squirt guns. Matt's intended victim, Jenny, is the daughter of Arthur Herk, vice-president and bag man for a thoroughly corrupt and murderous local corporation, whose days may be numbered as a result of his not-bright embezzling. And there's Puggy, a street person living in a tree in the Herk's walled yard, who has a thing for their illegal maid, Nina. Puggy also works (sort of) for two Russian ex-army chislers who own a run-down bar as a front for their arms-dealing operation. And there's Snake and Eddie, small-time grifters who decide to make a big score -- bigger than they know, unfortunately. And there's FBI agents and assorted cops and several overlapping love stories and a very suspicious metal suitcase. (Now I've gotta see the movie!)
Rating:
Summary: Great, fast-paced read
Review: A really good book. I was suprised at how good it was, considering it's Barry's first novel. Nicely done, well-paced, with great dialog.
No, it's not like his columns, although you do see some parallels in the situations his characters enter. And there's the same twisted take on Miami.
I guess a few people got this book and found out that Dave took the liberty of using coarser language for some of his coarser characters. Which is smart, given the premise and setting for the story. Can't recommend this one enough -- if I had to some it up in one analogy, I'd say it's a lighter, funnier "Get Shorty".
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