Big Trouble

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".

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: 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: a great humor/crime novel!!!
Review: I found Dave Barry's novel, Big Trouble, a very entertaining story down to the last page. The book is filled with action and witty humor throughout. The book is a light-hearted crime novel - a storyline of a robbery, with comic relief where it is needed.

Dave Barry creates a wall of characters in the story, which makes the book read a little faster, as he is jumping from character through character throughout the book. The only problem with this is that although the large amount of people in the story adds to the plot's depth, it is easy to get lost between the character's names and what's happening to whom.

Even with this mild flaw, though, the story still reads well and the plot flows brilliantly. Dave Barry takes completely different characters who have nothing to do with each other and then pulls them together through a series of events. At first, no plot seemed evident to me, but as you read on, everything begins to fit in, and then the adventure starts!

The story is a very original one involving a nuclear bomb, a game called killer, a large toad, a homeless man, a bar that's purpose is not to sell drinks, and two hitmen, two police officers, two high schoolers, two FBI agents, and two "veterans". It seems like it would be impossible to write a book incorporating such a wide variety of ideas and thoughts and yet still keeping it an interesting story, but somehow, Dave Barry manages to pull it off.

I find this story very hard to describe in a few short sentences, as there is just SO much that goes on in it. It takes place in Miami, where a victim of attempted murder tries to buy a bomb to get the attention of the feds in some crazy plan of his. It just so happens that two amateur robbers were about to commit their crime in the place where the bomb was being illegally purchased. When the robbers see all of his money they assume him to be a drug kingpin and take him hostage. As the story goes on more characters get involved, until they are all in one big dangerous mess.

I found the ending a little weak, though. Without giving anything away, I think Dave Barry could have added a couple more pages to sum it up just a little better, but my overall impression was still excellent, despite the short ending.

If you're the kind of person who looks for a moral, or the kind of person who wants to "get something out of a book", I think you DEFINITELY need to approach this book with a different attitude. This is the type of book involving hallucinogenic toads and squirt guns-you'll find no moral here, this book was written to make you laugh! Besides, too many books are too serious anyway, it's good to take a break from that.

I have read his newer novel also,(Tricky Business) and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this book. I have also noticed they made a movie from this book, but I have not seen it yet, so I'm not sure how accurately it really follows the book. I highly recommend this book to people who would enjoy a fun-to-read crime story. The only reason why I gave this book "4 stars" out of five, was for the confusing amounts of characters and the abrupt ending. Don't let that discourage you though, if this book sounds appealing to you, give it a chance, I'm almost certain you'll love it!!!

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: Okay, but what I hoped from Dave
Review: May I first say that I am a fan of Barry's? I love his columns and his comedy books. I didn't like this in the least.

It reaks of rookieness. The characters are so flat and predictable that you will not be able to attach to them. The plot is empty and very, very boring.

And, worst of all, he seems to try and make up for it with distasteful humor. I'm no prude, but this is pretty vulgar stuff, and the payoff in humour is lacking.

Barry is a great columnist, but his fiction is bottom of the barrell, please don't bother.

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: The trouble is you'll miss a good book if you don't buy this
Review: Set in Miami, Florida mostly in the suburb of Coconut Grove this book is a simple quick tale of different unrelated interesting characters whose paths cross at one time or another. You have your bumbling idiot criminals, slow witted homeless man named Puggy, dumb Roger the pet dog and his arch enemy the evil, evil cane toad. Combine this with the young lust of a boy playing a game called Killer who is trying to squirt Jenny the beautiful daughter of wife beating and money stealing Arthur with a water pistol. There is Elliot a pathetic wimpy ad man who encourages his son Matt to stalk Jenny by lending his Kia for him to drive and you have a very different and interesting novel.

This is not the funniest novel ever written but it will not bore you at any time either. Granted it is not very realistic especially the airport chapters but I will definitely be checking out other books by Dave Barry as I rather enjoyed this one.

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!!!