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Title: Lucky You by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0-446-60465-8 Publisher: Warner Vision Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.64 (104 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: My favorite Carl Hiaasen book to date
Comment: Maybe its because this is the book that introduced me to Carl Hiaasen and universe of quirky, mixed-up characters, but this is my very favorite book by one of my very favorite authors. The story is one that readers of Mr. Hiaasen are familiar with.
JoLayne Lucks is the protagonist of the story. She's a young lady who buys a winning lottery ticket and plans to use the money for humanitarian purposes (it's a bit of a secret in the book, so I won't spoil it). Bode Gazzer and his friend Chub play the bumbling thugs who buy the other winning lottery ticket. They intend to spend the money on starting a White Militant group, and can't stand the idea that they'll get only 1/2 of the total lottery. So they hunt down JoLayne to take her ticket. Of course, in every Carl Hiaasen story is the cynical reporter, this time played by Tom Krone. Krone is sent to report on the story and ends up helping JoLayne in her attempt to recover her stolen lottery ticket.
While this description may not sound particularly humorous, the misadventures of Chub and Bode are some of the funniest scenes you're likely to read. I had to put the book down several times to laugh out loud. These guys are just so dumb, and they continually blame their predicaments on the fact that they're white males that are being repressed. It was fantastic. And to add to the humor, JoLayne lives in a small town that specializes in religious miracles. The entire town earns its livelihood from the 'religious manifestations' that occur there (all of them shams, of course). There's the statue of Mary that cries, the picture of Jesus in a stain on the highway, and my favorite, a guy who has the same wounds that Jesus had on the cross. To make sure the wounds never heal, he wears socks filled with Crisco to keep the wounds fresh (sick huh?).
At any rate, if you're looking for a very slanted picture of Florida and the people who live there, this is the book for you. If you're looking for an easy book to read on vacation, this is the book for you. And most of all, if you're looking for a book to make you laugh out loud over and over, this is definitely the book for you.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Nice intro to Hiaasen
Comment: As an Elmore Leonard fan, I was recommended Carl Hiaasen as a writer that I might enjoy. I can see why, both write in a similar genre that includes interesting, sometimes offbeat, criminals and heroes. They are often characterized as writers of crime fiction.
Lucky You is the first novel by Hiaasen that I have read. Unlike the majority of Leonard's novels, Lucky You seems to follow the more traditional approach to novel writing. Hiaasen tends to tie up loose ends and answer more questions at the end of Lucky You than Leonard, who tends to leave things hanging after he has hit the "punch line" of his novels. That being said, I enjoy the work of both writers immensely.
Lucky You tells the story of Tom Krome, a newspaper columnist, that can't get his wife to divorce him. It is also the story of JoLayne Lucks, who has won half of the $28 million Florida State Lottery. The problem is, the winners of the other half are a pair of red-neck thugs that want to start their own militia. They can't stomach the thought of sharing the winnings with a black woman, and steal her ticket from her. After being assigned to write a story on JoLayne, Krome gets caught up in helping her retrieve her ticket, while at the same time evading the wrath of a judge, whose wife Krome had an affair with. Add a kidnapping of a blond waitress from Hooters that one of the milita members has a crush on, and the story takes off on several entertaining plot lines.
Some of the best humor in the novel comes from the ineptness of the wannabe militia men. Bo Gazer, the brains of the militia, has concocted theory after theory as to how the United States Government has fallen into the hands of Jews, Blacks, and homosexuals, bent on the fall of the Christian White Man. The deliberate absurdness of the theories, which include a consipiracy in which the United Nations will conquer America from the Bahamas, and his partners reaction is some of the most entertaining bickering I have read in a long time.
In addition to the satire of militias, Hiaasen hits religious zealots over the head with jokes and parodies. Road stains images of Jesus, crying statues of the Virgin Mother, and image of the disciples on turtle shells attract 'pilgrims' from far and wide to the city of Grange (JoLayne's home town). The owner of each attraction diligently stakes out their territory in an attempt to secure the largest chunk of the donations shelled out by the pilgrims. Hiaasen treats these practices with about as much absurdity as he does the militia.
By the end of the novel, the various plot lines reach their satisfactory conclusions. You feel happy for the good guys, and content that the bad guys got what they deserved, and there isn't much of a question as to who was who (unlike many Leonard novels). Lucky You is a great "crime" adventure with plenty of laughs, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the crime fiction genre.
Rating: 3
Summary: Pretty Good
Comment: I found this book to be very good, considering one of the only reason I read it was because two of my friends tried it, and did not like it. It was a wee bit excessive with the swearing (about five swears per page, including the f-, s-, b-, and d- word), but the plot made up for that. By the end of the book, all the loose ends had been tied up, so one is not left hanging. The only problem would be if the reader was sensitive to racist words. Of course, the two "bad guys" are white supremacists and they use racist words, so it must be done to get the correct redneck vibe. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good fiction novel, and does not mind a handful of cussing. Enjoy!
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Title: Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446352764 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1989 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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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: Strip Tease by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446600660 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen ISBN: 0446611514 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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