Strip Tease

By: Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by: George Wilson

Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

No matter what you heard or thought about the movie version of Strip Tease, forget it. Film simply can’t catch the layers of humor, satire, and imagination that author Carl Hiaasen creates in each of his novels.

When a deranged Florida congressman falls for a gorgeous but virtuous stripper, he dedicates himself to pursuing this tasselled princess. Not only is she a real beauty, she’s a damsel in distress. The effects of his quest will ripple through the spotlights of the strip joint, the sugar cane fields of south Florida, and some powerful political careers.

Fueled by innocent lust and dizzy miscalculations, this story will keep you howling with surprise. George Wilson’s colorful narration is the perfect vehicle for Carl Hiaasen’s twisted fairy tale.

©1993 Carl Hiaasen (P)1998 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic Reviews

“Rough, raucous, and filled with lovable losers, Strip Tease is a caper novel for readers not afraid to laugh out loud.” ( People)

“Reading a Hiaasen book is always a high-speed boat ride where laughter can turn to horror and disaster at any moment. Hearing the story aloud adds a dose of realism and sensation; these characters really could be driving around the streets …” ( AudioFile)

Hilarious drama

Carl Hiaasen is one of a kind. Kept me laughing, as people were getting knocked off right and left. How is that possible? It's all in the slap stick writing that is so enjoyable. This tale starts out with a young mother forced to strip tease so she can afford a good attorney, in order to regain custody of her daughter. Her ex, is a lowly drugged out thief, who just happens to be a snitch for the local police. In pops an oversexed Congressman that gets himself in a compromising predicament at the strip club. The whole story is trying to cover up this Congressman's indiscretion, while Erin just wants to get her daughter back.
It's crazy and zany with lovable and hateable characters, that keep you in stitches throughout. Highly recommend this one.

A total delightr

What did you love best about Strip Tease?

This has it all--humor, gore, great dialogue, characters, and plot.

Any additional comments?

The reader is fabulous. He is clearly an actor as well, and gets each character's individual voice spot-on.

Way Better Than the Movie

If you're old enough to remember the 1990s, you surely remember the movie Strip Tease starring Demi Moore. And you surely remember how bad it was. You probably never associated it with Carl Hiaasen's Florida-based comic crime capers, but yes, it was adapted from his novel of the same name -- one of the few of his many books that have made it onto the big screen, a head scratcher since they seem natural material for film. But don't let any of that deter you -- as bad as the movie was (it was the big winner of the 1996 Raspberry Awards for worst movie), the novel is that good.

One big difference is the vast array of characters in the book, typical of Hiaasen -- his plots are far less important than his characters. Some are over the top, like the Congressman and Darrell Grant, but most are engaging and funny. Hiaasen occasionally shifts point of view to previously unknown characters who hardly if ever reappear in order to show a different perspective on what happens to the more central characters, like the Montana locals who discover the body of Jerry Killian -- a device that adds to the depth and charm of the story. The entire affair is quite humorous -- the movie, if it evoked any laughs, were of derision.

Shad is a stand out supporting character, the tough guy with a heart of gold whom Hiaasen and narrator George Wilson elevate far above that seeming cliche. Although I've blocked the movie version out of mind for good reason, I do recall Ving Rhames being well cast in the role of Shad. Perhaps that positive visualization made this character come to life for me a little more than others. By contrast, the novel's version of Erin, to its credit, is nothing like Demi Moore, the opposite of how she was promoted and portrayed in the film.

Florida itself acts as a major character, especially its corrupt local politics and Hiaasen's omnipresent environmental awareness, all quite typical of his body of work. I'm not from Florida nor, despite numerous visits, am I a Florida-phile, but there is something about its unique landscape and people-scape that makes for good books, especially in the hands of people who know it so well, like Hiaasen (and Tim Dorsey and others).

Wilson's deep gravelly voice is perfectly suited to this material. He captures the right touch of irony as well as enthusiasm in his reading. He is a frequent narrator of Hiaasen books in audio and always acquits himself well.

Hiaasen KNOWS Florida!

Carl Hiaasen has a hilariously objective way of observing the absurdities that exist in my former state. He calmly and painstakingly dispels all dreamy palm tree hype of movies and commercials. Florida has a particularly seedy underbelly, and he describes in to a "t". The narrator is absolutely perfect, as usual, and the females are usually the brighter lights in the tree, even if the tree is a strip club.

I do wish, though, that an audible editing could be done for pronunciation of Florida places and things. Since this book should appeal in a special way to Floridians, the mispronunciation of one of its former biggest store chains (before it was swallowed by Macy's) should be pronounced properly--very distracting when "Burdines" (long "i") is pronounced "Burdeens". Also, although it is probably a Florida foible that the original road from Tampa to Miami, called the Tamiami Trail (US 41), it is never pronounced "Ta-miami", but "Ta-meeami". Everyone in south Florida knows that and pronounces it that way, so the narrator should as well.

A great and hilarious read!

much better than the movie

Would you consider the audio edition of Strip Tease to be better than the print version?

Yes, the narration is one of the best I have heard.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The congressman because he was so outlandish and over the top.

What does George Wilson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

One of the best narrations i Have heard in audible books.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Keeping Florida Weird

The main plot revolves around a white powder that is worth billions of dollars, enriches a few magnates at the expense of the underpaid migrant workers who harvest and process it, and for which powerful men will kill anyone who threatens profits. Sugar, of course.

Erin is a former FBI agent who now works at a strip club. She has a crazy meth-head ex-husband who managed to get custody of their daughter after he brought the Bible-thumping judge to her place of employment. Hizzoner declared Erin an unfit mother, and is now a regular at the club.

One night, a libidinous Congressman goes into a blackout-drunk rage onstage with Erin, nearly clubs another patron to death, and has to be dragged out by long-suffering "fixer," who then spends the rest of the book trying to cover up the Congressman's infelicities before an important vote on sugar subsidies.

The Congressman falls in love with Erin (a phenomenon she's not unused to, working at a strip club), but his exposing himself to her (literally and figuratively) puts his political career in danger, and the men who have bought and paid for him can't have that. Erin is smart enough to take care of herself, but also smart enough to realize she's in danger and just being smart and competent isn't enough against the power of Washington lobbyists who are willing to erase inconvenient little people. Fortunately, she also has her biker bouncer buddy, Chad, and a police sergeant who takes an interest in the case after his fishing vacation is spoiled by his son discovering a "floater" who happens to be one of the inconvenient little people.

Like Hiaasen's other novels, Strip Tease tucks trenchant social criticism and cynical political commentary into a colorful cast of weirdos, crazies, working class folks, conniving villains, lecherous creeps, smart chicks, decent cops, corrupt politicians, scheming ex-cons with hearts of gold, and half a dozen subplots that all somehow manage to drive the main plot forward in clever ways. There is the bouncer who is perpetually foiled in his schemes to retire on the proceedings of a lawsuit from a cockroach found in his yogurt, the strip club owner perpetually in labor disputes with his dancers, who range from empty-headed bimbos to very smart women trying to get by; there are shysters and fixers and dirty politics galore. And it's very funny. Erin herself never falls into any kind of stereotype as a stripper, and while the villains are a little bit out of Central Casting, who doesn't love a dimwitted, lecherous Congressman getting what's coming to him?

It's a book and a movie

What made the experience of listening to Strip Tease the most enjoyable?

I really liked the main character Erin, a woman with a purpose. This book had a lot of good characters and several of Hiaasens staple characters make appearances in this book.

Have you listened to any of George Wilson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

George Wilson always delivers good audio

Saw the Movie, The Book is Better

This is just a fun and funny romp through the darker side of Florida politics, judicial system and the always seedy world of strip clubs, If you are looking for 5 star entertainment until the next great detective series, Strip Tease is the book for you.

This Time He Takes on the Sugar Barons of Florida

Once again, Carl Hiaasen takes on the evils of south Florida as only he can. From the drunken Congressman who shouts, “GOD I LOVE NAKED WOMEN!” to the stripper named Ubana Sprawl (subtle, eh?) who is rumored to have once accidently suffocated a man with her pendulous breasts, all characters are what we expect from Carl’s twisted mind.
I anyone here suffers from depression, I suggest you throw away your med’s and read all of the Carl Hiaasen books. You will never be depressed again. “Strip Tease” is side-splitting humor at its best.
If this review was helpful, please let me know. Cheers.

Surprisingly funny and entertaining

The book was lighthearted and funny, despite the "serious nature of content". It was just fun, simple entertainment.