Ecoterrorism makes splash in Everglades
Nature Girl
By Carl Hiaasen
Knopf, 308 pp., $25.95
As depicted by the deft pen of Carl Hiaasen, ecoterrorism is not only justified, it's hilarious. The native Floridian has made a best-selling career out of skewering unthinking developers, polluters, and the various other "greedheads" who have turned his state's delicate ecosystem into a strip mall. And in "Nature Girl," his 11th adult novel (he's penned two for children), he's at it again in his distinctive , madcap style.
This time out, the author's righteous anger is personified by Honey Santana, an admittedly unbalanced, if beautiful , woman who is finally pushed into the deep end by a telemarketer who not only calls during dinner but also tries to sell her land in her home state, which is, of course, Florida. Luckily, as Honey sinks into her own peculiar revenge fantasy, she grabs hold of some kayaks. To be exact, she decides to lure the unscrupulous telemarketer to the Everglades by pretending he has won a free vacation. The beauty of the Everglades, she thinks, will win the sleazy Boyd Shreave from his evil ways. But Honey doesn't really know how to use the cheap kayaks she buys, the voices in her head are getting louder, her ex-husband and her lecherous former boss turn up , and this being a Hiaasen novel, everything takes a turn for the worse.
In a parallel development (though the two stories end up crossing), Hiaasen gives us the saga of Sammy Tigertail. Half Seminole, half Anglo, the young Sammy is trying to come to terms with his Native American heritage. The fact that for his first 14 1/2 years he was raised by his mainstream suburban father and called Chad McQueen has made this inner reconciliation difficult. After failing at alligator wrestling (he killed the alligator), the earnest young man tries his hand at being a Seminole guide, piloting tourists through the Everglades on an airboat. When, through no fault of Sammy's, his very first client drops dead, he basically gives up on the Anglo world, determined to abandon so-called civilization for a pure and celibate life in the wild. Only those Seminole survival instincts seem to be taking their time kicking in, and then there's the problem of those college kids he meets, particularly one attractive co ed who absolutely insists on being taken hostage.
If you've gotten this far, you're either already a Hiaasen fan or primed to be one . The adventures he envisions for these well-intentioned misfits match any of his previous ones for pure outlandish silliness. Although at times this is a gentler book than his previous outings, with more slapstick and less undiluted acid satire, the breakneck narrative still makes things mighty rough for the selfish and the eco- sinning . At times bordering on the surreal, Hiaasen has Honey's half-dead, doped-up former boss pitching woo, and almost believing that she will be his dream wife, as he physically decays. And if the author's nasty side is slightly less pronounced in this book -- one of the bad guys actually escapes -- it's not for lack of torture.
In fact, even as "Nature Girl" offers a kind of happy ending, with all of the good guys and one of the bad guys settling into their respective comfortable grooves, we are left trusting the author. Hiaasen wouldn't let anyone off that easily. Someone is going to come back in another book, and next time that kayaking adventure will seem like a day in the park.
