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It’s been a long-running joke that if you’re in need of a good laugh, just search for the words “Florida Man,” and you’ll find a treasure trove of outrageously hilarious headlines. As a Florida man himself, humorist Dave Barry is a bit of an expert—and he brings plenty of Florida man chaos to his latest novel, Swamp Story.
The story ventures into the Everglades, where a handful of desperate Florida men—and one long-suffering woman—try to fight their way out of poverty. While trying to find stardom as a reality TV star known as the Glades Man, handsome but dim-witted Slater meets a couple of locals with a harebrained plan to produce a viral video that will draw people to their failing bait shop. Meanwhile, Slater’s fed-up girlfriend, Jesse, stumbles on a long-lost fortune—but when she tries to use it to escape her miserable life in the swamp, it causes all kinds of chaos.
As Slater and his new business partners try to create a series of viral videos about the fictional Everglades Melon Monster (which is really just a drunken, disgraced former journalist, ambling around the swamp in a huge Dora the Explorer head), Jesse plans to get away and start a new life for herself and her infant daughter, Willa. But, in true Florida Man fashion, nothing goes quite as planned—and the Melon Monster crew, Jess and her baby, a couple of dimwitted ex-cons, a crime boss and his thugs, a former star football player, and a cabinet member eventually converge in the swamp in search of fame, fortune, and revenge.
With all of these questionable characters and their various schemes, Swamp Story is definitely wild and frenzied—but the author manages to juggle all of the craziness, setting up all of these different storylines before bringing them all together in one big, outrageous Florida free-for-all. None of it is especially deep or thought-provoking, but it’s definitely entertaining, with ridiculous characters and situations that will keep readers laughing out loud as the ill-advised schemes of these Florida men (and women) come to a chaotic conclusion.
Admittedly, most of the stories to come out of Florida lately haven’t been lighthearted and fun. But, fortunately, Swamp Story recaptures the good old days, when Florida was best known for their dim-witted, meme-worthy criminals. If you’re having one of those days when nothing seems to go your way, this comic caper will definitely make you feel better about your own misadventures.
Listen to the review on Shelf Discovery:
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