Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

Subtitle: Post in which I do just as Jenny Crusie told me

No, really.  Jenny Crusie, one of my ALL time favorite authors, recommended Carl Hiassen's Skinny Dip over at Reinventing Fabulous.  I'm a faithful follower of that blog, so while she didn't recommend the book to me PERSONALLY, she did recommend it.

So, no, while Jenny Crusie and I aren't close
"like this", ==>
we have been known to post comments near each other. (Hush.  Be kind.  Leave me my delusions.)

Truly, though, I consider Crusie to be a master storyteller, and I trust her judgment when it comes to recommendations about storytelling--movies, television shows, and, naturally, books.  With Skinny Dip, though, it wasn't really a matter of trust.  I've enjoyed a few of Hiassen's books before, like Nature Girl and Hoot . (My review of Hoot is available here on the Between Books blog.)

Skinny Dip is the story of Joey, a not-so-happily married woman resident of Florida who thinks she's on a cruise in order to celebrate her anniversary.  Alas, her husband, perhaps the world's least qualified marine biologist, heaves her overboard.  But Mr.Clearly-Not-Husband-of-the-Year-Material's attempt to make himself a widower fails because of his own poor understanding of the Gulf Stream, a floating bale of weed and the interference of a retired cop.  Once Joey recuperates, she begins to plot and scheme. Her first order of business is to figure out WHY her husband wanted to kill her.  Then, of course, she wants revenge.  With the help of her rescuer, her sheep farming brother, and her book club best friend, Joey makes the jerk regret he'd ever met her or falsified water contaminant tests.

In typical Hiassen form, this book is funny and silly and sad.  As a satirist, Hiassen skewers Big Business, Government and Individual Greed in the name of The Evironment.  (Annoying, unnecessary capital letters are my own.  Skinny Dip is not Pilgrim's Progress, but the ridicule of this satire is intended more for the institutions than for any single entity.  Thus, the big letters.)  The thought of the damage we've done to the Everglades makes me sad, but this book is a hilarious cautionary tale.  I wouldn't call it a beach read, because lesson isn't light and fluffy, but I would call it a thoughtful diversion.

This one is well worth your time--even Jenny Crusie says so.