March 1, 2009
Carl Hiaasen makes me want to move to Florida and live out of a canoe, traveling around the Ten Thousand Islands and savoring the vast (but last) sprawling wildernesses of southern Florida. He is the sage of the saw palmetto, the bard of the bromeliads, the patron saint of the panther, the defender of the endangered, the troubadour of the deranged, and the banging bell of sanity amidst the insanity that destroys Florida's natural beauty and develops its malls, condos, and golf courses.
Hiaasen is a good and wonderfully original writer, whether he is writing his seriously disturbed, disturbing, and completely entertaining and enlightening novels for adults (my favorites are Lucky You and Basket Case) or his marvelously engaging novels for young readers, Hoot, Flush, and now Scat. I've loved all his books for kids and Scat is another winner, sure to engage any reader over age ten from start to finish. Hiaasen creates normal but exceedingly brave and honest characters as well as nut job characters on a mission, both evil and angelic. He places his characters within a uniquely Floridian landscape and lets the story take off. Scat takes off in a blaze, and kept me fired up straight through to the end. Hiaasen is always able to slip into his stories rock-hard lessons on integrity, respect, sorrow, and bravery, as well as running a line of unquenchable spirit, both human and of nature, that pulses through the chapters. Best of all, he makes every novel one big wonderful ride and read.
If you read everything Hiaasen ever wrote, you'd still be begging for more and I hope he keeps on writing for decades, relying on Seminole wisdom and Florida spirit and whatever else it takes to get the job done.
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