Beth

This book was unbelievable. I'm sure it's wonderful to read, but listening to it was magical. The voices completely jibe with how your imagine the characters really are, which makes this book so compelling I never wanted it to end. The story is gripping, the characters are wonderful, and your allegiance to, and empathy for, certain characters is so natural that finishing the book felt like I should be hugging them each goodbye.

I listen to audiobooks while I'm swimming laps (with my underwater kit!), and my 30-minute swims turned into 45 and 60 minutes for the last 4 hours of this book

While I found the book enjoyable, my frustration grew as the level of abuse endured by Nanny increased throughout. The problem is, she was so abused by the Xs that it was no longer funny, and toward the end, I went from finding her to be a loving, amusing character to a downright pathetic individual who could really benefit from some counseling. In fact, her evident self-loathing-- who else would put up with this kind of abuse?-- got in the way of my enjoyment of what was otherwise a fun "listen."

What a fun book to listen to! I have been a Carl Hiaasen fan for years and can't tell if this is one of his better books, or perhaps his work was just meant to be read aloud. Nevertheless, this one was laugh-out-loud funny, due largely in part to the clever choices the narrator made with respect to intonations, accents, affectations, puases, etc. Treat yurself!