Big Trouble in Miami (Big Trouble - Dave Barry)

Member Name: freediveheaven

Product:	Big Trouble - Dave Barry
Date:	18/05/07 (159 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny and fast paced

Disadvantages: Lacks depth which leaves you feeling hungry still

The work of Dave Barry was recommended to me by a fellow review writer after I wrote a review about Native Tongue a book by Carl Hiaasen. Indeed Hiaasen gets a mention in the forward of this book and certainly the pair share both a similar background and a funny writing style with the emphasis on using subject matter which focuses on corruption and big business. There are other similarities in their style however a comparison is not the purpose of this review and indeed the book Big Trouble deserves to be reviewed on its own merits.

Based in Miami the story unfolds through the eyes of a number of disparate characters with no one main hero or villain instead what you have are a mixed bunch of individuals whose lives become entwined through the corruption and negligence that surrounds Penultimate Inc a corrupt company who specialises in securing state construction contracts which then go vastly over budget and have a tendency to then collapse or as in the case of a prison release all of the high risk convicts because the security doors were operated by the equivalent of a garage door opener. The company then blames the failure on sub-contractors who then tend to have the tendency to drown on fishing trips or in car accidents.

Overall I did find this story to be very readable and funny in parts however it failed to deliver the really killer lines that would make a satirical novel stand out, instead as I read it I felt that some of the characters and story lines lacked real credibility, it had the feel like the author had a few funny scenes in his mind and then created or even bent the story line in such a way as to be able to include them into the book.

One of the strengths of the book is in the wide range of characters that are featured and the story telling switches between them, it opens with Puggy a vagrant who lives in a tree and then switches to an advertising man Eliot who is dealing with the Big Fat Stupid Client before the story moves on once again to the maid avoiding her drunken amorous boss and that is all in the first 30 pages. However this in part is also a weakness as the reader never really develops any great feelings of empathy with them and a number of story lines remain under developed, in fact this is not surprising given that the book only runs to 314 pages and took me less than a couple of days to read. On the front cover there are no fewer than fourteen characters depicted in the form of the actors from the film (Tim Allen stars in the film release) however from the descriptions of the characters in the book an the picture on the cover some of these may not have made it to the film production as it would have probably not been possible to thread all of the story lines in. Indeed the same challenge could be made against the book as at times I felt like I was getting a bite size insight into the characters involved rather than a real understanding of their personalities and lives.

On the plus side the book did move at a fast pace and the momentum was maintained right the way through the book as did the number of one liners and humorous situations. That Barry creates. I certainly found this a book that was hard to put down yet at the same time it was a little unfulfilling a bit like eating your favourite food but never quite getting enough to satisfy your hunger. It does explore at a very shallow depth the corruption that surrounds life in Miami and in particular in the gaining of state municipal contracts but this is not a book that sets out on a crusade instead the corruption forms the back drop to showcase human greed and self centred behaviour.

I would recommend this book however it only gets three stars from me as I felt it failed to deliver and in my mind was an imitation of Hiaasen work rather than being its equal. This is the sort of book which is ideal for the beach or a train journey where you want something light to read.

About the author

Barry is an award winning columnist who lives in Miami and writes for the Miami Herald. He has won the Pulitzer Prize and has published a number of non fiction books as well.

General Stuff

Published by Berkley Fiction the cover of my book boasts a different picture to the one used by Dooyoo. Not sure what the rrp is as mine copy only has the prices in dollars however it is available on Amazon for £6.49 new for a penny in the new and used section or for the cost of posting a book on readitswapit.co.uk which is where my copy will be available. The ISBN is 0-425-18412-9.

Thanks for reading and rating my review.

Summary: Entertaining book ideal for the summer holiday beach reading