Rating: 
Summary: Fun, but excessive
Review: Any book recommended by Jimmy Buffett shouldn't be bad, should it? The follies of Norman Paperman, a New York PR guy running a hotel and bar in the Carribean, captures the dangers of chasing an obsessive dream. The writing is solid, if stretched, but you find youself hoping everything works out for the best.
The book is at it's strongest when Wouk describes interpersonal relations. He colorfully describes New York society at it's finest (at worst) as well as the society life down on the islands. Capturing the protagonist at his failings makes for a deeper novel.
The downside of the book is the extended existance of Murphy's Law. After the first hundred pages or so, each mistake or folly becomes predictable. In that sense, I really wish the book had been shorter.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic From 1965 Still Best of the Beach Books
Review: You'll be humming "Carn-nee-val is very sweet, Please don't stop de Car-nee-Val" as you eagerly read this most enjoyable Herman Wouk novel. The amusing tale of New York public relations man Norman Paperman centers on a universal dream---quitting the rat race, escaping to the sunny Caribbean to loll about in the sunshine amidst scantily-clad beauties, and be the King of one's own alcohol-induced domain. Norman is swept into the realization of his mid-life crisis when exuberant Lester Atlas presents him with a fait accompli---money to become an island innkeeper, supervising one of the most charming money-makers on the fictional island of Amerigo. Norman soon discovers being an innkeeper is fraught with peril, but his misadventures will leave you laughing and longing for a quick trip to sunny Paradise. Many characters propel this book, each charmingly depicted as only a great storyteller like Wouk can. From the reclusive Iris Tramm, to the all-forgiving Henny Paperman and her nubile daughter Hazel, to the outrageous Hippolyte, and most especially the native Kinjans who give this novel a charm most realistic yet alarming, the reader is swept into life on an island paradise that is at once heaven and hell. Can Norman forget his successful New York career and make the transition to a change in latitude and attitude? Will phrases like "We be jammin', mon" erase the bitter cold of a New York winter and the thousand indignities a pr man must suffer? Will his penchant for extra-marital affairs be his undoing? Will a long-ago girlfriend's dark secret shock him? Put on the suntan oil and read while you bake for an experience everyone should have at least once. By the way, the book is not complete until you also listen to the CD from the musical that Jimmy Buffett and Herman Wouk collaborated on. It may not have been the toast of Broadway but it is the perfect accompaniment to a reading of this book.
Rating:
Summary: "Don't Stop The Carnival" - Comedy With A Message
Review: I read this book as a teenager when it first came out in 1965, and then picked up a copy of it a while ago and reread it. Amazing what a few decades can do to one's perspective. How many mid-life crises have many of us gone through in which we dreamed of leaving big city stress to find the perfect, ideal life in some remote, exotic place? (This book, if you will, turns up the lights at closing time and lets you see what people really look like!) So, Carnival's Norman Paperman goes though his mid-life fantasy on a Caribbean island, and, predictably, things are not as perfect or as ideal as expected. That's why this book holds up so well after 40 years: it's entertaining and has a message. At nearly 400 pages, it moves amazingly fast, thanks to Herman Wouk's skill as a writer. Definitely worth the time, especially if you harbor any of the main character's desires for the perfect escape.
Rating:
Summary: Margaritaville Is Real
Review: Outstanding book for any Jimmy Buffet fan or simply a fan of the carribean. Wouk uses his own brand of humor to keep your interest level up through out this book. One of the BEST fictional reads available!
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Author
Review: For a book that had its first printing about 40 years ago, DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL remains both fresh and plausible. The premise of a harried New Yorker dropping out of life in the Big Apple to take up inn-keeping on a tiny Caribbean island is virtually a universal fantasy in Manhattan, where everyone seems to want to do exactly that--if they're not heading up to the Berkshires instead. As hilarious as the adventures here are, they never actually cross that fine line into the implausible, quite a balance when writing fiction. DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL is a change of pace for Mr. Wouk, who usually writes more serious books. He probably is best known for MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR, but his versatility is evident in works ranging from THE CAINE MUTINY to THIS IS MY GOD, as well as the important Holocaust work, THE WINDS OF WAR and its sequel, WAR AND REMEMBRANCE. It is this versatility, combined with his elegant prose, that makes him my favorite author. For years now, it's been rumored that Herman Wouk and Jimmy Buffet are working together on a Broadway musical based on DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL. Personally, I can't wait!
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: Don't stop the Carnival is a vacation without the travel. Although some of the language is dated, the story is great and the characters seem so real. It really allows the reader to escape their current place and take a trip with Norman to the tropics. Fans of fiction and fun should enjoy this wonderful novel.
Rating:
Summary: Required reading for Caribbean life
Review: Despite the fact that this book was set in 1960's Caribbean, its elements are essentially true and startlingly current. I live and work in and around the Caribbean and have read this book at least twice over the years. Have also read it in parts as it suits me or as it suits my mood. It is almost required reading for any expatriate who is lured to the laid back nature of the Caribbean during a vacation trip and who ventures to think that (s)he might like to carve out a piece of it for peaceful retirement and "do some survival business" at the same time. Have often mused that travel planners and agents should offer a copy to those would-be paradise seekers. It's timeless Caribbean with all of its subtleties and raucousness! Don't think anyone has done a better job since...except perhaps Margaret Atwood's Bodily Harm.
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