Nature Girl, Carl Hiaasen
Nature Girl, Carl Hiaasen
4 Rating(s)
List: $14.00 | Sale: $9.80
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Nature Girl

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Narrator: Jane Curtin

Abridged: 5 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/14/2006


Synopsis

Honey Santana–impassioned, willful, possibly bipolar, self-proclaimed “queen of lost causes”–has a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls. She’s taking rude, gullible Relentless, Inc., telemarketer Boyd Shreave and his less-than-enthusiastic mistress, Eugenie, into the wilderness of Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands for a gentle lesson in civility.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s being followed by her Honey-obsessed former employer, Piejack. And he doesn’t know he’s being followed by Honey’s still-smitten former-drug-running ex-husband, Perry, and their wise-and-protective-way-beyond-his-years twelve-year-old son, Fry. And when they all pull up on Dismal Key, they don’t know they’re intruding on Sammy Tigertail, a half white-half Seminole failed alligator wrestler, trying like hell to be a hermit despite the Florida State coed who’s dying to be his hostage….

About The Author

CARL HIAASEN was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of thirteen previous novels, including the best sellers Razor Girl, Bad Monkey, Star Island, Nature Girl, Skinny Dip, Sick Puppy, and Lucky You, and five best-selling children’s books, Hoot, Flush, Scat, Chomp, and Skink. His most recent work of nonfiction is Dance of the Reptiles, a collection of his columns from The Miami Herald. www.carlhiaasen.com   CARL HIAASEN is available for select readings and lectures. To inquire about a possible appearance, please contact Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau at speakers@penguinrandomhouse.com or visit www.prhspeakers.com.Jane Curtin is an actress and comedian and one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live. Her award-winning narration has been praised by AudioFile magazine for being “insightful.” She is the narrator of I’ll Drink to That and Nature Girl.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Jane on 2007-08-11 15:17:59

I enjoyed Nature Girl with its quick wit, crazy plot and great sense of humor. It's a very entertaining read ala Tom Robbins.

AudiobooksNow review by Theresa on 2007-10-16 16:17:20

The humor is adult. A mystery that makes you smile.

AudiobooksNow review by Sqrlgrl on 2016-02-08 19:13:06

I enjoyed the spin on relational coping of both the characters who live on the free flow edge of mental health and those endeared to them. A great tale to ponder. The base adult humor did dive rank in sections but only made the incredible more plausible. Excellent voice on audio book version.

Goodreads review by Paul on May 21, 2024

Much ado about nothing! If someone told me that there was such a thing as Seminole peyote buds and then went on to suggest that Carl Hiassen was chewing a few too many of them when he dreamed up the screwball plot of NATURE GIRL ... well, there's no doubt in my mind. I'd believe it for gospel! Let's t......more

Goodreads review by Snotchocheez on August 06, 2010

If you're at all familiar with Carl Hiaasen's fiction, you pretty much know what to expect when you crack open one of his novels. Hiaasen, who probably invented the genre Wacky Florida Eco/Crime Fiction, has in the past been a brilliant satirist on crazy goings-on in Florida, and every novel he's wr......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on December 06, 2016

After a practice run with Joey in the preceding Skinny Dip, Hiaasen went for a female lead in this one. I think he pulled it off and the book is just as an amusing and worthwhile read as any in his bibliography.......more

Goodreads review by David on December 21, 2012

This is one of those pleasantly zany books where an eclectic mix of characters is scrambled together in a madcap plot and much sex, violence, and hilarity results. I've seen it done better, I've seen it done much worse, but I'm kind of digging how many books make out Florida to be the epicenter of A......more

Goodreads review by Brian on January 23, 2016

I have read six Hiaasen novels, and of his adult fiction this is my least favorite. It is not a bad book; it is just not an interesting book. The characters in "Nature Girl" seem more "normal" then in many of Hiaasen's previous efforts and, ironically, despite the normality of the characters they co......more


Quotes

“Hiaasen [is] king of the screwball comedies ... Nobody escapes unscathed in this web of hilarious stories that intertwine and bisect each other like a nest of vipers ... The charismatic, animated characters deliver lines that will bring tears of laughter to even the most jaundiced readers ... This is top-notch storytelling by a truly original comic novelist.”—Rocky Mountain News

“A big-hearted and deeply funny book ... All of Carl Hiaasen’s obsessions are on full-tilt boogie.”—Seattle Times

“A whole lot ‘Survivor,’ a little bit ‘The Tempest,’ with a pinch of Laurel and Hardy ... Hiaasen is always good for a number of laugh-aloud scenes and lines ... His ear is pitch-perfect. The dialogue sings in Nature Girl.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Hiaasen once again makes the case that life in his backyard really is more absurd than in ours ... Nature Girl deserves the laughs it will get, from sea to shining sea.”—New York Daily News

“A breeze of a read, full of the usual Hiaasen whimsy.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Hiaasen’s arch potboilers, pitched in the low latitudes of Florida and the lower strata of human evolution, revolve around a few solid observations about the species: in a fallen world, damaged people will sometimes do noble things; and heels will always be heels. Hiaasen’s campfire voice, perpetually amused by the resourcefulness with which his characters reaffirm his opinion of human nature, provides a core of truthiness ... [His] wasteland is as retributive as Cormac McCarthy’s, but funnier ... Honey is a classic Woman in Jep, of the sort Hollywood seems to have abandoned ... Hiaasen’s pacing is impeccable, and the scenes follow one another like Lay’s potato chips ... I purred warmly through the novels’ twists and further twists ... An entertaining ride."—New York Times Book Review

“Hiaasen isn’t just Florida’s sharpest satirist–he’s one of the few funny writers left in the whole country ... I think of him as a national treasure [and] I have yet to be disappointed. Nature Girl, Hiaasen’s latest, keeps his string going in fine fashion ... Hiaasen is not just a good comic writer. He’s just a good writer.”—Newsweek
“Just sit back and watch as Carl Hiaasen, with his customary flourish, spins a glittering magic wheel and comes up with another set of characters only he could create ... The book is an island romp.”—Washington Post Book World
“When he’s in good form, Hiaasen, like Elmore Leonard, shouldn’t be missed. Nature Girl is one of his better efforts ... As usual, Hiaasen throws his colorful characters into an increasingly frenetic mix, and the fun lies in watching how, or if, they’ll manage to extricate themselves. One reason Nature Girl works so well is the fact that much of the action is confined to a single island, allowing the characters to intermingle and weave in and out of view.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Winter reading needn’t be without comic hijinks ... Nature Girl is a hilarious romp through the Everglades led by a bipolar divorced mom named Honey Santana, who cooks up a baroque plan to get back at a rude telephone solicitor.”—Men’s Journal

“As depicted by the deft pen of Carl Hiaasen, ecoterrorism is not only justified, it’s hilarious ... He’s at it again in his distinctive, madcap style ... [A] breakneck narrative.”—Boston Globe

“Hilarious ... A lifelong resident of the Sunshine State, [Hiaasen’s] novels have always addressed the state’s ecological and social ills with scathing satire, ironic comeuppance and an ever-evolving sensibility ... Everybody’s airport-reading favorite flies high again.”—Time Out New York

“Zapped during dinner by a telemarketer peddling Florida ‘ranchettes,’ Honey Santana doesn’t just go postal, she devises a get-even scheme of demented brilliance ... in the kind of Floridian follies on which Hiaasen owns the franchise ... The writing is never less than amusing.”—People

“Using his trademark dry, wry humor, Hiaasen shows how bad behavior tears the fabric of society . . . Nature Girl is typical Hiaasen, with a brisk story overflowing with satire, wisecracks and the fear of what society is becoming. The cast is one of his most accessible . . The main characters are as real as your next-door neighbors–with a few quirks ... Highly entertaining.”—South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“Old fans and newcomers alike should delight in Hiaasen’s eleventh novel, another hilarious Florida romp [with an] engaging and diverse screwball cast ... Hiaasen’s humorous touches and his all-too-human characters carry the book to its satisfying close.”—Publishers Weekly