Dave Barry, originally from Armonk, New York, has been living in Florida for over 30 years. He had a long running gig at The Miami Herald writing local interest pieces. He knows Florida.
The introduction to the book in which Barry's humor comes through loud and clear pokes fun at the state. Or rather it points out why Florida is the butt of so many jokes from people who are out of state. Or even in state. Dave Barry also reminds us that Florida is one of the states with the fastest growing populations and that's due to people coming from other states. He seems to think that Florida becoming such a joke began with the "hanging chads" disaster of 2000. Perhaps. Yes, lots of idiotic things happen in my adopted state. I agree. But I often feel like we hear about this idiotic things on such a regular basis because we don't have as much news as say New York, where I also came from. Or do more idiotic things truly take place in Florida?
Once through the introduction, the remainder of the book is an interesting travelogue. A look at some interesting (okay, odd) locations throughout the state. Did it help that I'd been to most of the places he visits to write the book? The Everglades, Weeki Wachee, The Villages, just to name a few. I'm sure it didn't hurt. I was able to read along and laugh and say "Ah ha!" to myself quite often. I think anyone who has spent a good amount of time in the state will experience the same thing. I gave the book 4 stars on goodreads but I'm not sure if I'd recommend this book to everyone.
Some who've never been to Florida might plan a trip to somewhere else - Indiana or Kentucky or Illinois - rather than Florida. "Do I really want to be around those crazies?" Is this really a defense of the state or an indication of the make-up of the Florida population and a strong suggestion that no matter what you might think of Florida, it's never boring!
No comments:
Post a Comment