Nature Girl

By: Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by: Lee Adams

Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Honey Santana, impassioned, willful, possibly bipolar, self-proclaimed "queen of lost causes", has a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls. She's taking rude, gullible Relentless, Inc., telemarketer Boyd Shreave and his less-than-enthusiastic mistress, Eugenie, into the wilderness of Florida's Ten Thousand Islands for a gentle lesson in civility.

What she doesn't know is that she's being followed by her Honey-obsessed former employer, Piejack. And he doesn't know he's being followed by Honey's still-smitten, former-drug-running ex-husband, Perry, and their wise-and-protective-way-beyond-his-years 12-year-old son, Fry. And when they all pull up on Dismal Key, they don't know they're intruding on Sammy Tigertail, a half white-half Seminole failed alligator wrestler, trying like hell to be a hermit despite the Florida State coed who's dying to be his hostage.

©2006 Carl Hiaasen (P)2006 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Old fans and newcomers alike should delight in Hiaasen's 11th novel, another hilarious Florida romp [with an] engaging and diverse screwball cast...Hiaasen's humorous touches and his all-too-human characters carry the book to its satisfying close." (Publishers Weekly)

Hiaasen does it again!

Listening to "Nature Girl" has been an excellent experience. It had been many years since I last read a Hiaasen novel, but this was a great way to get reacquainted. The plot is intriguing, with many unexpected turns, and all main characters are well described. Hiaasen goes deep into their thoughts, manners (or lack of them), views on life, and habits. The story is very humorous, but also intelligent. Hiaasen highlights "ordinary people" that reach the point of deciding to deal with annoyances, taking control of their lives instead of waiting for things to happen to them.

Narrator Lee Adams is able to give each character its own personality and "voice", which is a huge achievement given the psychological challenges that some of the characters are facing in the book. She has done a splendid job, it is a privilige to listen to her for the many enjoyable hours of this audiobook.

Fun, fun, fun

What can I say it was FUN!
Good for a credit!
No wast of time here
I have nothing to say

A good HiAsen sfop

Hiaasen amuses and informs
He paints a great picture of Florida
Great fun as you watch the interaction
of the characters with the wild fl natural world

Second Least Favorite

I’ve loved everything from Hiaasen except this and Tourist Season. Loved that a woman performed the story, just didn’t like the portrayal of the characters. Story was just meh and stereotypical.

Well worth the wait!

I too am surprised by the negative comments. I laughed out loud as I have while listening to many of Hiaasen's previous books. The characters were creative, and the plot was typically convoluted. The voices created by the narrator were key to my enjoyment of the book. If you like Hiaasen, give this one a try, and make your own decision! I did not want to turn it off.

Zany as usual

I thoroughly enjoyed this book -- but I like the zany aspect of Hiassen's work! As usual, the characters are just at the limit of believable. Their actions are sometimes just past that limit, but enjoyable nonetheless. If you are looking for just plain, fun, this one fits the bill!

Bring your canteen & enjoy the trip

What did you love best about Nature Girl?

The antics of the main character Honey.

What did you like best about this story?

The character Louis Piejack...he's a train wreck you don't want to look but you just can't help yourself!

Any additional comments?

This was a good book. I enjoyed the main character Honey and how she rationalized all the events.

Great reading of a weak story

Forced story. Not that interesting. Not Carl’s best. But the reader was fantastic, thankfully. Otherwise it would have been painful (and shut off early)

Throws an 11..

What makes Hiaasen such a wonderful writer? Absurdity, main characters that are flawed but decent, incongruous minor characters, and entertaining plots are the reason I read him. The problem is that after fifteen years of what started as new bizarre type of writing now sounds almost normal. Hiaasen’s obsession with replacing hands with other objects continues here; but alas, it is weak and never really helps the story. Hiaasen is actually too sane to portray Honey as crazy. Honey acts and reacts rationally through out the book. The plot is very weak with too many characters, none of which are very powerfully drawn.

The book does has its good moments, the fire ants paragraph and the obsessed Lilly. Nonetheless, Hiaasen has fallen victim to his own success. Buy it, and enjoy a few hours of fun; it is well worth some smiles, but contains none of the outright belly laughs of his earlier books. Also remember that Hiaasen at 3 is better than most writers at 5.

Entertaining

I enjoy Carl Hiassen's odd characters and the entertaining way that he alerts readers to the the abuses by money grubbers of nature, but this time, I found it all very predictable (this is my 3rd Hiassen novel). It is clever, well narrated, and gives some food for thought among the absurdity of it all. Good, but not the best.