The Stench Of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Since I've been hanging around writerly types, I've made a categorical decision to give all books I finish at least three stars. There are plenty of books that I don't finish because life is too short. If this book hadn't been so short, it would have no doubt fit into that category. I refuse to give less than three stars, so this book is not starred. I get it. If you are a die-hard Jack Handey/SNL fan, you may dismiss my disappointment as my not being hip enough to understand the genius of his humor. I get it. I do. It's meant to be ironic. It's meant to be silly. It's meant be be making fun of the adventure movies and pulp fiction most boys consume as a rite of passage.But here's the thing. Hawaiians ARE real people. Hawaii is a real place. It's been exotified enough. (Which I know, ironically, is a subplot of this book) But the artistic merit of this piece is not strong enough to counteract the trivialization of a culture. Why not invent a fictitious island group...because it's meant to be a stand-in for all imperial dreams of conquest as they trickle down to the mass imagination? At least that is my reading. Anything anti-imperial is grand in my book. So yes, I do get it. But in spending time and/or money on a book, I'd grab a Carl Hiaasen title instead. This has to be one of the dumbest books I've every read. There is a basic framework for a plot, one which held promise, but the characters are not developed and the constant barrage of one-liners got old very, very fast. Maybe you have to have been drinking the scotch the main character hauled along on his "adventure" in order to appreciate the humor? I'm having trouble understanding what people see in this book.
What do You think about The Stench Of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure (2013)?
VERY funny. laugh ot loud funny. If you like Deep Thoughts you will like this book.
—khirish
If you ever enjoyed Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts you will love this book.
—LPee_
Terrible novel. But pretty funny one liners.
—Nydeen
