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Title: Lucky You: A Novel by Carl Hiaasen, Edward Asner ISBN: 067946039X Publisher: Bantam Books-Audio Pub. Date: November, 1997 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 2 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.65
Rating: 4
Summary: Better than the Reviews Here Would Indicate
Comment: Reading a Carl Hiaasen novel is somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me, as I am indirectly a target of many of Carl's jokes being a South Florida lawyer. However, whenever I am temporarily tired of heavy prose or detailed non-fiction and in the mood for a "quick fix", a page turner written with humor and a little suspense by an author who doesn't take himself too seriously , I pick up a novel by someone like Hiaasen or Kinky Friedman. You will not find the "young handsome hero gets chased by the CIA and/or FBI as he falls in love with the beautiful Supreme Court law clerk" nonsense of thrillers by Baldacci and Grisham, just some goofball characters giving Florida a bad name who ultimately get what's coming to them.
In Lucky You, the plot centers around a Lotto ticket stolen from a female African American veterinary assistant by two bizarre rascists, who envision forming a neo-Nazi militia with the extra 14 million bucks. The two hapless crooks, Bode Gazzer and Chub, have one 14 million dollar winning ticket of their own, but with taxes and extended payouts they assume 14 million will be insufficient for their grandiose plans, and thus they pilfer the other winning ticket.
Our heroine, ridiculously named JoLayne Lucks, is everything a character should be in Hiaasen's world - she loves nature, is kind to animals, and wants to use her winnings to buy a pristine plot of land and prevent some Mafia developers from bulldozing the whole thing for a tax-shelter shopping mall. She lives in tiny Grange, Florida, a city known for its religious "miracles" including the self-mutilated "stigmata" man, a lady who thinks a road stain of brake fluid depicts the face of Christ, and a shrine to the Blessed Virgin which, on command, emits tears. These tears, scented with cheap perfume, are operated surreptitiously through a hidden hydraulic pump. All of these scandalous gags are meant to fleece tourists, on holy pilgrimages, out of their modest earnings. The straight man in the novel, features writer Tom Krome, goes to Grange to write a story on the lottery winner Ms. Lucks and is inexplicably drawn into her efforts to get the ticket back from Chub and Gazzer.
As in all Hiaasen books, the slimy characters get what is coming to them, and for the most part the author keeps most of the balls in the air effectively, keeping the reader mildly interested in the sensational plot even though you knowingly suspend belief from page one. The book has its faults to be sure- I wish Hiaasen would not be so over the top with his names, like a lottery winner named "Lucks", and a neo-Nazi named "Gazzer." Also, I thought the actions of Sinclair, Krome's boss at the paper, should have been deleted by a sympathetic editor. Sinclair, trying his best to catch up with Tom Krome, heads to Grange where he proceeds to sit in a moat full of turtles (painted like religious figures) and utters nonsense babble in rapturous delirium. These passages, unlike most of the book, were difficult to read.
All in all, while Hiaasen will never be confused with F. Scott Fitzgerald or Henry James, he has written a very entertaining novel here with passages that were downright hilarious. Some here... have insisted that Lucky You is his worst novel, which still would not be that bad in my opinion. As for my own "ranking order," I certainly feel Lucky You was every bit as good as Strip Tease and Stormy Weather, maybe a spot below Native Tongue and Tourist Season, but who cares? Ranking them is like comparing different types of melon. If you like his style, you'll enjoy this novel. I give it 4 stars, and am glad I picked it up.
Rating: 3
Summary: Funny is not enough
Comment: A few years ago when I first read a novel by Carl Hiaasen I laughed so hard that I immediately went out and bought another and another and another until I read everything Hiassen had published. I then took a break from the humorous and started reading the more serious "mysteries". When "Lucky You" came out I thought I was ready for a few laughs again. I was wrong. Although Hiaasen does have a great sense of humor and the things he pokes fun at are contemporary and relevant, I just didn't feel like humor was enough to carry the plot. If it's strictly "laughs" you're after then this book will not disappoint you. If you want something more substantial in the areas of plot and character development, then I'm afraid it's not here. I absolutely could not identify with any of the characters and therefore couldn't care less about what happened to them. Something has changed in either my taste for the Hiaasen style or in this book in particular. Whatever the case may be, this just wasn't a "must read" for me.
Rating: 4
Summary: a predictably funny Hiaasen novel ... lucky us!
Comment: Carl Hiaasen's books are very predictable. His "baddies" are crooked politicians, corrupt businessmen, rascists, polluters and the media. His good guys are invariably simple, easy-going folks just trying to live a happy life but are being thwarted by the baddies. In the end the good guys win. I should add that his stories are always set in Florida, most often in wild Miami. Most importantly, Hiaasen has a very wicked satiric sense of humour; it's this laugh-out-loud quality that makes his books bestsellers.
In Lucky You we have a couple of baddies (rascist rednecks), owners of a winning lottery ticket, out to double their earnings by stealing the other winning ticket. Their criminal intent is enhanced when they learn the owner of the other ticket is a black woman. Of course this woman, with help of her friends, becomes a formidable opponent. The story is enhanced with some very bizarre and hilarious vignettes of Florida weirdness: a corrupt judge, religious fanatics who see the image of Christ (and apostles) in the most curious places (eg, in an oil stain on a major highway), and a Hooter's waitress with brains to match her looks.
Bottom line: among Hiaasen's better efforts. A true giggle-rama.
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Title: Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0449221180 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: November, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446343455 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: May, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446603422 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: August, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446352764 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: March, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Strip Tease by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446600660 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: July, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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