Citric Acid Flows From This Pen
Paradise Screwed by Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen is something of a legend in South Florida. His acid prose has been winning plaudits for over two decades now, and he has only just barely retreated from the fray into the Keys. The Miami Herald still prints his columns twice weekly. Count yourself lucky if you are a reader of his deliciously acidic columns. Hiaasen is busy at work on another novel right now.
The Book
Paradise Screwed is a selection of columns from 1985-2001, covering everything from greedy developers to the Elian Gonzales fiasco. Nothing escapes his venomous lash, and you wouldn't want it to. A skewering from Hiaasen can be as hilarious as it is deeply serious. Hiaasen may be better known to most of America as the author of capers like Sick Puppy, Stormy Weather, Basket Case and other amusing novels set in the steamy climes of South Florida. Underneath the lighthearted capers lies a message. Hiaasen cares deeply for the fragile environment being destroyed daily by insatiable developers and craven politicians.
This book spares the lash for none of them, whether it's lawmakers in Tallahassee on the take or the Elian imbroglio, Hiaasen is usually right on the mark. If you are a reader of his novels, take note that much of the craziness comes not from Hiaasen's fertile mind, but from the fertile and twisted world of everyday life in South Florida. Hardly a word of his novels doesn't have some basis in fact from the Herald. Who would believe the aviation lawyer and member of the airport commission who wrote to American Airlines and proposed a job for himself as their "Latin American Representative", all during an important vote on the expansion of Miami International Airport? Hiaasen exposes his foolish greed with evident glee. This glee keeps the book moving, but does not degenerate into wild or ill-considered bombast. Hiaasen stays on message throughout the book. As in his novels, a deep and abiding love for his home state is obvious.
The book is also organized well and can be picked up and read with pleasure at any time. There is no great need to read the columns in order, though they are ordered loosely according to subject matter.
Who Might Enjoy This Book
Though many of the essays might not hit home with many readers unfamiliar with the politics of South Florida, the columns are funny enough to carry their own weight. A good skewering is still somewhat funny, even fifteen or twenty years later. Who can forget Team Rodent, the author's keenly witty look at the Mouse that ate Florida? Keep screwing them to the wall Carl....
