Native Tongue

By: Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by: George K. Wilson

Ex-reporter Joe Winder had been working in the public relations department of a sleazy family entertainment park, The Amazing Kingdom of Thrills, when he chanced upon a news-breaking story inspired by the disappearance of two blue-tongued voles and the bizarre death of Orky, the killer whale.©1991 Carl Hiaasen (P)1992 Recorded Books

Funny satire that forgot to be funny

I don't know why this ended up in my reading list - musta been on sale or something. It's not a bad story and does have some good parts, but there's a lot of "satire" in it that just missed the mark. And too much "aren't I funny" from the author. He isn't that funny. The story isn't that "biting" or insightful and there's WAY too much time spent harping on about environmental destruction... I got the point by the halfway mark.

Trimming out a couple hours would have made it more enjoyable. We could have skipped most of the story around Joe's porn girlfriend (still don't know what the point of her was), Skink's stupid panther shenanigans (oh-kay, what was that all about?), and the steroid-head's over-the-topness (maybe this guy was supposed to be funny? it was just dumb). I don't think I'll read any more of this author's stuff though... his writing just isn't as funny as he thinks he is.

The narration, however, was excellent.

Only in Florida

This is one of the more memorable of Hiaasen’s books. George Wilson is a solid performer. I lived in Florida for a long time so I’m quite biased as I can relate to the people and places Carl describes. Most humor is based on truth and “Native Tongue” is real funny. If you’ve never lived in or visited Florida, then I can see how much of satire is wasted on the reader of this book.

Sorry when it ended.

I had a little trouble getting into this book. But once I got going, enjoyed it a lot. Great and very funny dialogue. Great narration. Interesting plot. I hardly ever write a review but this was an unexpected delight. Give it a try.

Great Listen!

Terrific, fabulous Carl Hiaasen story. Fabulous narration by George Wilson.. A must read for Hiaasen fans. I laughed all the way through.

Decent, but not as humorous as I expected...

Carl Hiaasen's writing makes me think of Dave Barry, whose books I LOVE to read. This was a pretty funny book - although Barry's books are a bit funnier to me. Considering the location of the book and the location of the author, as well as the very similar writing style, I believe that Hiaasen and Barry MUST know each other, actually. Anyway - I digress - the plot was incredibly complicated, but it wasn't too hard to follow, and the multitude of characters were all well-developed. As a main character, I couldn't really decide if I liked Joe Winder or not; he was a person that I don't think I'd want to be friends with. Additionally, I can handle the crass language in this book, but would certainly prefer much cleaner dialogue. I did feel that the story dragged a little bit in places, and I HATED how Hiaasen refers to the main character as Joe Winder...every single time he says his name. As if the book was filled with 27 characters named Joe. He was the only one! I started thinking of his name as Joewinder. Overall, interesting and somewhat amusing. I may or may not read other books by this author.