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)

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.

Fave so far

I've read many of Hiaasen's works and this, so far, is my favorite. I just identified too much (scary) with Honey. I understood how close we all are to that nervous breakdown. So, if you want to listen to a tale of crazy-inspired revenge, life altering decisions, and some warm and humorous romance spend the credit on this one!

Just OK

Let's face it - Carl Hiaasen is a very funny writer and a good writer as well and this book starts out both good and funny, with lots of laugh out loud quips.....and then....

well...somewhere in the middle it loses itself and starts to drag and seems to go nowhere.
It's not a bad book, just certainly not up there with his best- "Skinny Dip" !
By the middle of the book I just didn't seem to care much about the characters or how they ended up...but, that being said.....I'd continue to read anything Carl Hiaasen writes because I am a big fan of his wit & writing style.

I love this book

This book speaks to me. I just love it. I've read it several times.

One of Hiaasen's Best

The characters and the story are absurdly perfect and so, so funny. Loved every minute.

Nature girl

I have owned this book for many years but it got damaged and so I ordered the Audible and it gave new perspectives to that story and the performance was great the character studies were wonderful

Couldn't stop laughing

I love Carl Hiaasen (except A DEATH IN CHINA which was probably ALL written by Bill Montalano) and this one was not a disappointment. Highly recommend if you also are a Hiaasen Fan

I love this author

Lets face it I love Carl Hiaasen and will read anything he writes. I will admit these characters weren't as much fun as skink and some of the others but still a great story

Something for Everyone

Pure, relatable fiction that gives depth and motivation to both good and bad Characters. Excellent story line, with surprising twists and turns. I laughed-out-loud.

great story marred by dull narration

I am really enjoying the book but the mechanical narration had me returning the book at chapter 2. I will finish reading on Kindle. She's not a bad narrator, just not right for this kind of writing. Characters are everything in a Hiaasen book and they all sound like the same person, something like an automated translation of a foreign language book. No attempt at natural cadence or differentiating the widely varied accents of Floridians.