Rating: 
Summary: What A Great Author!!!!
Review: I love CARL HIAASEN. This is by far his best book. It even tops STRIPTEASE, and I loved that too. I would definatley recomend CARL HIAASEN to anyone who has a sense of humor. CARL HIAASEN, and also ELMORE ELONARD (who had nothing to do with the book, but i love anyway) are the greatest authors ever!
Rating: 
Summary: Stormy Weather strings you along for a wacky wild ride.
Review: You are forced to watch as normal everyday people are suddenly transformed by the aftermath of a tremendous (although not transcendent) hurricane. The plot is however a little more transparent than one might hope as most of the sequences occur in a very predictable fashion. This book does however make you think, about your life, and what would happen if... There are several scenes which will take you out of your seat, a characteristic more common today on screens than in books, but it happens here. It is an excellent read, and is quite difficult to put down, but most will see how the plots are interwoven quite quickly
Rating:
Summary: Unable to put the book down! Great reading until the end!
Review: Keep em' coming Carl! I believe I've been in a hurricane. The characters are so real and Florida is as you describe it. I think Skink should surface again in another wild adventure in the future. I can't wait for the next one. Great work
Rating:
Summary: Fear, loathing and humor in the aftermath of a hurricane
Review: If humor noir were art, this would be a Rembrandt. The book recounts the fictional exploits of the depraved and zany in the aftermath of South Florida's worst recent hurricane. Hiaasen is able to capure the utter shambles that one's life becomes in the wake of the storm, but does so with incredible artistry and and humor that has become a Hiaasen trademark. The character development is subpurb as is the yarn he weaves around the tale of those opportunists who attempt to profit by the advent of the hurricane at the expense of the victims. A terribly funny and well written book. The best Hiaasen Yet
Rating: 
Summary: Snippets of his other books, but watered down.
Review: Certainly readable and entertaining, but falls below the usual standard - not crazy enough, and too predictable. Plus, the hurricane itself barely makes an appearance. I hope that Hiassen puts a little more meat into the next pot-boiler.
Rating:
Summary: Hiaasen at his best.
Review: If you've read any other Hiaasen crime novel then you know roughly what to expect - except that this is one of his best and funniest.
Stormy Weather features the Hiaasen standards: despite getting in the first punch, Mother Nature and her
beautiful daughter Florida are being abused by
ignorant and wilful tourists. The Captain, Officer Jim Tile and his "deputies" are required to effect a sort of vengeance. Meanwhile, back at ground zero, a hurricane has lifted the lid on the can
of worms that passes for civilisation in Hiaasen's satire of the sunshine
state. Of the beasts unleashed, the humans distinguish
themselves as being the most predatory and comical. Stormy Weather's new characters - especially the women - combine extravagent avarice, self-interest and imagination in a way that's worryingly plausible and familiar - likeable even. Wet weather,
dry humour.
Rating:
Summary: Andrew's aftermath
Review: For those readers who are unfamiliar with Carl Hiaasen's novels, the opening scene with the two Miami honeymooners, Bonnie & Max, might read like a contemporary novel on a bored and restless couple. But add the 1992 Hurricane Andrew, the corruption in Florida, and several con artists, and Hiaasen has given us a virtual witch's brew of wickedly funny characters, each unique in their own way. Fans of Hiaasen's prior stories will be glad to learn that the infamous Skink will make his appearance and force his "wildlife" culture on Max Lamb, a pompous ad man who has the gall to videotape the hurricane victims in all of their misery. His bride of only one night, Bonnie, quickly reinforces her initial impression of him (disgust), but finds herself in the midst of a great adventure in the process of rescuing him. Augustine, the unfortunate owner of several escaped wild animals (including rhesus monkeys and buffaloes!) gets caught up in the rescue mission with Bonnie. The animals alone take on the starring roles when it comes to the "just desserts" that Hiaasen so fondly dishes out to his most deserving characters. And THESE are the true stars of his story: Edie Marsh is a tough cookie who, failing to "get" one of the Kennedys on a rape charge, settles for scoring money on an insurance fraud scheme. Her rapid, sparring repartee alone is worth the price of the book; she fears no one and uses everyone, including her hapless partners in crime. "Snapper" is one of these partners, the stock "low-class stupid Southern bigot" character, but he also occasionally displays some cynical wit. His come-uppance is custom-made for him. Ditto for the other "slime" such as Avila, the crooked housing inspector who does his best work speeding by houses at 40 miles an hour. Tony Torres, the unscrupulous mobile home salesman, also gets more than he bargained for. The more vile the character, the more creative Hiaasen gets with the revenge tactics; if revenge is usually considered to be best served cold, Hiaasen prefers to toss in hot peppers and loads of fireworks. This is easily as entertaining a novel as "Strip Tease" (and PLEASE try to find a copy of "Strip Tease" without Ms. Demi on the cover, so as not to be reminded of the horrible movie version that blasphemed the book). Thankfully, it seems that a Miami hurricane would be far too expensive to reconstruct, even for a movie, so there is no danger of Mr. Hiaasen's wonderfully over-the-top satire getting the hatchet treatment by a conventional, "by-the-numbers" Hollywood producer. I was surprised to learn that there was an epilogue with this story, since my copy didn't have one; it didn't seem necessary. My only beef was with the money (I won't get too specific and spoil the plot). Why wasn't it used to help the victims? Even a radically non-materialistic jungle fighter like Skink would want to help poor families get back on their feet, wouldn't he? Then again, given his former-governor status and bufo-toad mind trips, maybe not. His dream is probably for everyone to get back to their "roots". Other than this minor quibble, the intertwining plots come together in an inspiring finale, and it's hard to resist a book in which Skink finally "gets lucky". Definitely a must-read.
Rating:
Summary: Absurd, fun, on target
Review: I guess Hiaasen's works do seem to sound alike; this one even appears to be a sort of sequel to "Strip Tease" as it includes the eccentric ex-governor Skink and his devoted State trouper pal Jim Tile, who are featured in that novel. Knowing this, however, I was looking for something with some bite to make me laugh and once again Hiaasen didn't disappoint me. The plot of "Stormy Weather" thoroughly lambasts developers, real estate and mobile home salesmen, and the governmental agencies that exist to "regulate" them. Hiassen is entirely cynical and savage in his depiction, which spares no group in its scathing satire. Ex-governor "Skink" again serves as the noble savage committed to a Quixotic effort to avenge trepidations against nature and basic human decency. Once you have read a few of Hiaasen's works, the initial shock value is diminished. Nonetheless this made me repeatedly laugh out loud, at one point in uncontrollable giggles. This isn't great literature, but if you have a sardonic sense of humor and want to be entertained, this is ideal. A perfect plane, beach, single dining in a restaurant book.
Rating:
Summary: One of Hiaasen's best early books
Review: If you believe that there's a little good in everyone, then Stormy Weather and Carl Hiaasen are not for you.
Stormy Weather is classic Hiaasen. His writing is so sarcastic and unrestrained by reality that it reminds me a little of Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) or Neil Stevenson (Snow Crash). Interestingly, these are science fiction authors and Hiaasen doesn't write science fiction, but, like these science fiction writers, Hiaasen's writing is modern and clever and his imagination knows no limits. His books are parodies of human nature, especially greed and stupidity, sort of like Voltaire's Candide. After painting such surreal pictures of a cast of very selfish characters, often criminals, Hiaasen then draws upon some Dante as he assigns the characters to their inevitable and well-earned unique circles of hell (that's usually in Florida involving water, alligators, or at least a storm). It says something about a writer when his best known hero is a one-eyed crazy man who lives in the everglades but used to be the governor of the great state of Florida.
If you like the sarcastic social comedy of George Carlin, the ironic wit of Steven Wright, and the slapstick of Peter Sellers, then you will love Carol Hiaasen's Stormy Weather. If you find Carlin offensive, Wright unfunny, and Sellers overrated, then you're going to hate Carol Hiaasen.
If you're new to Hiaasen's books, Stormy Weather is a good place to start. My favorite Hiaasen books are: Strip Tease, 1993; Stormy Weather, 1995; Lucky You, 1997; Sick Puppy, 2000; and Skinny Dip, 2004.
Rating:
Summary: Trashed Trailers and Skull-"Jugglery"
Review: Carl Hiaasen has delighted readers by skewering Florida institutions ranging from trophy bass tournaments to televangelism to cosmetic surgery. It is a killer hurricane that is the unlikely backdrop for "Stormy Weather". A host of talented writers - Dave Barry and Tim Dorsey among the best - feast on the seemingly endless stream of absurdity provided by Florida's uniquely bizarre mix of rednecks, lowlifes, shysters, snowbirds, and corrupt politicians. But none succeed in capturing Florida with the biting irony and black humor that Carl Hiaasen brings to the pages. "Stormy Weather" is another outstanding example of social satire at its best: the insufferably shallow New York advertising man, the terminally corrupt Miami code inspector, the low-life con artist and her criminal sidekick, the sleazy mobile-home salesman and his cheating wife. Back from Hiaasen's "Double Whammy" is the aberrant but lovable road-kill eating, swamp-loving "Skink", and black state trooper Jim Tile, as close to normal as one will find in a Hiaasen novel. Even the "hero" is wacky - a human skull-juggling proprietor of an exotic wildlife exhibit. In the wake of a massively destructive hurricane, "Stormy Weather" chronicles the fictional - but highly plausible - descent of the swindlers, scammers, and criminals to prey on the victims of the storm. If Hiaasen's usual complement of oddball characters is not enough, the cast is supplemented with packs of storm-liberated wild animals prowling the Miami suburbia. Hiaasen's brilliant expose of the dark side of human nature is never preachy, but whose caustic humor leaves the reader alternating between knowing grins and out-loud guffaws. In anticipation of the author's inevitably unique forms of justice that will be meted out to the miscreants, the pages fly. In part poignant, biting, bawdy but always funny, "Stormy Weather" is another fine example of Hiaasen's literary wit.
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