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Title: Kick Ass: Selected Columns of Carl Hiaasen by Carl Hiaasen, Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0-425-17824-2 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: I Wonder What Happened to that Jeb Bush guy?
Comment: There was a brief stage in my college career when I hoped to get into newspapers. Unfortunately, I'm a very slow writer. I would sweat bullets over remarkably simple stories, and my editorial prowess was equally dubious. It was at that time I discovered Carl Hiaasen and his remarkably subversive novel, TOURIST SEASON. His author's bio indicated that his newspaper setting was drawn from authentic experience -- he was a columnist for the Miami Herald.
Unfortunately, the web was just in its infancy, and access to Hiaasen's newspaper writing was apparently one of the few exclusive benefits of living in South Florida. KICK ASS turns out to be just the sort of collection that I had been craving for many years.
KICK ASS does not disappoint. It begins with a nifty introduction that provides a smattering of biographical information on Hiaasen, as well as a context for the subjects and tone of his columns. Hiaasen clearly resides in a longstanding tradition of muckraking American journalism, and I mean that in the best possible way.
This is no mere sampling of his work -- there are more than 200 columns here, organized by topic, and just about every one of them meets the mandate stated in the title of the collection. Hiaasen has a passion for the environment, consumer protection, crime control, and good government. His portrait of a Florida reeling after the flood of growth and development of the last three decades is even starker than the one in his novels. Speaking of the novels, it is also fun to see where he "lifts" some of his ideas for the things that happen in his books. The overamorous dolphin of NATIVE TONGUE appears in KICK ASS as well.
If there is anything to regret about this book, it is that the topical organization often generates confusion for the reader when certain figures re-occur. Some of them almost develop a roguish charm. After all, us non-Floridians don't have to live with the direct consequences of local corruption. A little wrap-up to let us know how some of the notorious figures and controversies ended up would have been nice. I always hated that device at the end of his novels, but it would be perfect for a collection like this.
Rating: 5
Summary: Another Must-Read from Hiiasen
Comment: As a lifelong resident of Florida (albeit a ninetten-year-old one), I have seen Florida at its best and worst. Hiiasen's columns represented in this book illustrate the "politics" and people of a great but confused state. If you live in Florida, have visited, or even have heard of it, this book will both amuse and depress you, as is the nature of the state. Everyone will identify with the outrage Hiiasen evokes over the disregard of the envirnment, the sham of politics, and the overall life in Miami, and indeed, all of Florida. This book will remind readers of what Marjorie Kinnan-Rawlings and Marjorie Douglass once experienced in Florida, and tells both the good and the bad of what has happened after a hundred years of exploitation If you want a non-stop laugh and a big dose of reality, read this collection - it's one of the best books in print right now.
Rating: 5
Summary: Essential. Yes, for you, too.
Comment: I know what you are thinking: I'm not a Florida resident. Why should I care about what some newspaper columnist wrote about a local scandal in the Miami Herald in 1987?
There's a lot more reasons for buying this book than you'd expect.
If you appreciate Hiaasen's "fiction," you'll love to read about the fountain of avarice and corruption from which it came.
If you are at all interested in the reality of politics and society in this country, this book will give you an eyeful.
And if you do happen to be a Florida citizen--or even a Florida visitor--you'll be well-served to get a synopsis of South Florida history as witnessed by Carl Hiaasen in the 15 years (and counting) that he's served as one of the Herald's most acerbic, witty, and controversial voices.
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Title: Paradise Screwed: Selected Columns of Carl Hiaasen by Carl Hiaasen, Diane Stevenson ISBN: 0425186067 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Team Rodent : How Disney Devours the World by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0345422805 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 05 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Naked Came the Manatee by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0449001245 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 20 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446343455 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446603422 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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