Scratch
Here you will find older scratches, musings and other detritus that once were located on the front pages, but have now faded.
Filed away here to collect dust and cobwwwebs in perpetuity, links may break, facts may change and data may corrupt.
On occasion I may come down here to tidy, but for the most, I prefer to leave the past where it lies.
Carl Hiassen
Roy's family moves a lot, so he's used to the new-kid drill - and Florida bullies are pretty much like bullies everywhere. But Roy finds himself oddly indebted to the hulking Dana Mattherson. If Dana hadn't been sinking his thumbs into Roy's temples and mashing his face against the school-bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. And the running boy is the first interesting thing Roy's seen in Florida.
The boy was about Roy's age, but he was running away from the school bus. He had no books, no backpack, and, here's the odd part, no shoes.
Sensing a myster, Roy sets himself on the boy's trail. The chase will introduce him to some other intriguing Floridian creatures: potty-trained alligators, a beleaguered construction foreman, some burrowing owls, a fake-fart champion, a renegade eco-avenger, some slippery fish, a sinister pancake PR man, and several extremely poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails.
Suddenly Life in Florida is looking up!
Having read Skinny Dip, Tourist Season and Striptease by Hiassen (which I may one day actually write up), I was had a good idea of what to expect, and I wasn't far off. The only major difference from his previous works is that this is specifically aimed at the youth market.
Hiassen develops his characters well enough and you begin to identify with them relatively easily. The plot is relatively straight forward, the themes are quite simple yet relevant and engaging, and although it has an ending that you can see coming from a mile off it is an enjoying read.
11 Mar 2006 20:57 | (0) comments | Books
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