Dear
Readers,
I know I
should be writing a short story for my next book. I know I could be cleaning
the garage or walking Nigel. There is so much I should be doing, planting the
impatiens that I bought two weeks ago. Paying the P.G. & E. bill could be
high on my agenda, if I looked at it. I would probably enjoy preparing a
presentation on Raphael for my art appreciation group. But no, I am not and
have not done any of these things. Instead I read Bad Monkey by Carl Hiassen. It was great and I have written a
review for anyone who might like to read it.
“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and
tragedy, humor and hurt.”—Erma Bombeck
I might add
to Erma Bombeck’s quote; there’s a thin line between funny and ghastly. Carl
Hiaasen doesn’t carefully balance between satire and black humor in the opening
paragraphs of this book, he jumps feet first into a situational comedy. The
character of James Mayberry is so well crafted by the author that his
arrogance, and shamelessness, combine with a bold audacity to leave no doubt in
the readers mind as to his true nature.
What should
be shockingly abhorrent to the reader, is rendered skillfully by Hiaasen into a
macabre, cynical sort of humor. The reader is left to experience both laughter
and discomfort simultaneously.
The writing
is first rate; however, I did find it distracting when every reference to the
Mayberry character included both his first and last name. I think after the
character was introduced, further reference could have been with his first name
only. This is a very small criticism on the whole.
I liked that
the protagonist, Andrew Yancy isn’t perfect, in fact far from it. For me that
makes the character more believable, and I found him colorful besides.
I thoroughly
enjoyed this book and I will be looking for another book by this author, in
fact I just might fire up Google and search out his newspaper column.
I end this
review with another quote. “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”—E.E. Cummings
The time I spent reading Bad Monkey was not
time misspent.
***
I’ll be back to the 2013 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re
In” Challenge Series in the next blog post.
On another note that’s important to me, the memoir is
being picked by more book clubs and I am having a great deal of fun being
included in their meetings.
Take care,
Shelley Riley
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