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)

Fun story

Always love the Miami area stories. can relate after living there in the 80s and 90s.

VERY disappointing -- don't bother

This is not merely below Hiaasen's usual standards, but genuinely bad. I don't understand what happened -- his other work is so consistently entertaining. Read Skinny Dip, or Skin Deep, or Stormy Weather....just not this!

don't listen to this book

this is the most stupid book I've ever listened to. I'm not sure how it got to the end

A Huge Disappointment

I'm a giant fan of Carl Hiasson, have enjoyed all his prior books, and looked forward to this one.

I'm sad to say: This book was quite a disappointment. The humour and satire seemed forced; the characters were, in my view, boring. Seems to me like Hiasson is in a rut, and that this one was just churned out.

I couldn't wait to finish the book and had to force myself to do so.

I hope this is just a slight rut in Carl Hiaason's otherwise brilliant career. In all, I cannot recommend this book to anyone.

Slow, slow, slow

Maybe this book would have gone faster if I had actually been reading it, but listening to it was painful. After more than an hour, there was still no clear indication of where the story was going. The characters were unsympathetic and the story itself wasn't as funny as most of Hiassen's work.

Story almost totally ruined by an awful narration

I have listened to almost all of Hiaasen's adult books, as ludicrous as most of them have been I have loved them all. I can't tell yet if this story just doesn't work as well as his other works, or if it is just the terrible narration that has me flustered. I have a used copy of the book, it may be time to switch to it to finish the book, I do want to know how it ends.

Not up to par

Having rated 5 other Hiaasen books with 5 stars, I am disappointed to give this one only 2. As I listened, I began to wonder if this was perhaps a very early book written before he learned how to create those really wonderfully outrageous characters. Had this been my first Hiaasen, I might have been more favorably impressed. But he has set a very high standard prior to this book. I suspect the lackluster narration didn't go the book any favors. I still look forward to the next book, but it better improve over Nature Girl or I will have to search for a new favorite comedic author.

Don't do it!

I often read reviews that lament the poor quality of the narrator and how they "ruined" the book. Until I listened to this book I thought those people were overly picky, but now I understand. Her attempts to give the characters unique voices is pathetic, and by the middle of the book they all sound the same. The book itself is marginal at best, but add the narrator's inadequacy, and you have many wasted hours.

As I stated, I found the book to be less than average. This is the third title I have read by this author and found it way over the top. I understand he wants to be sarcastic, and it is fiction, but unfortunately he carries it way too far. The author spends a lot of time in his books putting down tourists (even killing them), yet like most people who live in resort areas he tends to forget who pays the bills. I think the author has the same attitude towards his readers as the crusty old man at the gas station who complains about all the tourists ruining his town while he fills up their tanks.

If you are looking for a slow moving, unbelieveable, poorly narrated book, then look no further.

Insipid, Inane, and Infantile

Would you be willing to try another one of Lee Adams’s performances?

Never.

What character would you cut from Nature Girl?

The author.

Any additional comments?

This book was unlistenable. Like a bad Dave Barry column being read by a novice kindergaten teacher.

Narration

Really awful choice of narrators
I couldn’t get into this one at all
Want refund