Native Tongue | Carl Hiaasen | preposterous fun

Native Tongue | Carl Hiaasen | Great Summer Read!

books:

Native Tongue

	Native Tongue Carl Hiaasen Grand Central Publishing, 2005 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 58 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Who let the voles out? The precious, blue-tongued mango voles have been stolen from the Amazing Kingdom theme park on North Key Largo by ruthless thugs who have much bigger-and deadlier-things in mind. On the hunt for the rare rodents is Joe Winder, a burned-out ex-muckraking reporter who now works for the park as their PR man. Even as a scandal breaks out over the theft, Winder finds himself trailing an eco-terrorist geriatric, a certain former-governor-turned-swamp rat, and sleazy land developer Francis X. Kingsbury. Determined to uncover the true nature of the Kingdom, Winder must survive this harrowing wilderness-before the natives get to him....

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preposterous fun

When I retire from a life of journalism, I aspire to write books as silly, as environmental, and with plots as catchy as Hiaasen's--assuming there will still be books 10 years from now and that I actually have the chance to retire, oh, and that there will still be an environment.

Great Summer Read!

I love all Carl Hiaasen's books but this one is one of my favorites. Each one of Hiaasen's books about Florida have one native that is fighting to try to save some of Florida's natural habitat/animals. Native Tongue is about 'saving the endangered Blue-tongued Voles'. As the story unfolds we discover - there aren't any Blue-tongued Voles -- only regular Voles with their tongues dyed blue with food coloring! Just another scam to lure clueless tourists to Florida.

In the end, the good guys win, and the bad guys meet an uncomfortable end. If you need a laugh - pick up Native Tongue.

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I smell a rat!

Mickey Rat that is. Carl Hiaasen does it again with an imaginative poke at the big boys in Orlando with Native Tongue. As you can expect there are environmental undertones to the story, but that's what makes this one so lovable with an ensemble of screwball characters that are all too believable. Hiaasen does a fantastic job of painting a picture that reveals more of Florida's odd residents as well as its fragile beauty.

James A. Forrest - Eye of the Storm

Preserving the environment

This is one of the author's earlier novels, and has the anti-development theme found in some other novels. It has the usual cast of characters found in Hiaasen's novels, a little off the wall. An entertainment park claims to have the last pair of a rare species of animal, or are they? The story starts with a theft, and events go forward from there. The owner (with a shady psst) will destroy the environment for profit. Various people oppose him, including one of his PR writers, a save-the-environment group composed of older retirees, and a strange man who lives in the woods. Some people on both sides seem willing to steal, burn, and kill.

The action takes place over a relatively short period of time as various people become involved, are battered, shot, killed, etc. The novel contains violence, language, and some sexual content (not graphic) with some scenes that are obscene (but funny), e.g., the incident with the porpoise and the chief of security (be very careful swimming with a male porpoise). The novel is for adults only.

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Not bad but Hiaasen can do better

The amusement theme park "Amazing Kingdom" in Florida houses the last living species of blue-tongued mango voles. Their robbery and their tragic death is the beginning of a series of murder and mayhem. Former newspaper reporter Joe Winder works as a PR man in the park. When he starts digging for the truth he soon finds himself entangled with a group of eco-terrorists, former criminals and all kinds of strange characters.

As usual Hiaasen gathers a strange bunch of characters unparalleled to other authors. Be prepared to meet...
- third class thieves Bud Schwartz and Danny Pogue
- retiree and radical environmentalist Molly McNamara
- theme park owner Francis X. Kingsbury and his manager Charles Chelsea
- former reporter and now Kindom's PR man Joe Winder
- chief of security and bodybuilding fanatic Pedro Luz
- former world class golfer Jake Harp
- Skink - hermit in the woods and former Senator
- theme park character Robbie Racoon aka Carrie Lanier
- probably the best trooper in all over Florida Jim Tile
(I think that Tile and Skink featured in "Double Whammy" as well.)

Form the plot side you can expect the following: kidnapped mango voles, a dead scientist, a dead orca, a nearly dead golf pro, flaming bulldozers, phony snake invasions, exploding cement trucks - an irresistible convergence of violence, mayhem and mortality. And that probably only covers half of what you have to be ready for.

As usual it is crazy, gruesome and you will have your share of laughs - even if some of the fun is pretty violent. Readers not acquainted with Hiaasen might be in for an unpleasant surprise. (Sometimes a bit like laughing in zombie movies.)

The basic subject of tourists invading Florida and they being the reason for its demise is something I read in "Tourist Season" already. (And the book was pretty good.) Therefore the story in this book could not really grip me that much and was a bit boring sometimes.
The book is nice to read but not among the best Hiaasen wrote so far. I liked "Double Whammy" and "Striptease" a lot better.

I was not sure if I should rate the book with 2 or 3 stars. I decided to rate it with 3 because Hiaasen's writing skills can always improve my English. And of course you will find no other author who will come up with such crazy characters, twists and freakish ideas.

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