Once upon a time, 20 or so journalists at the Long Island newspaper Newsday, posed as a single writer named Penelope Ashe and wrote a really bad sex novel called Naked Came the Stranger.In 1997, Dave Barry wrote the first chapter of Naked Came the Manatee and passed it to the right, in the tradition of that party game called Telephone. He thought he'd made up enough characters for all of the South Florida writers involved in the project. And like the first person in the Telephone circle, he lost...

Like most such serially written books, Naked Came the Manatee starts out strong, but as it progresses, each previous writer is more and more likely to write the next one into a corner. In some such stories, the ending is a foregone conclusion, so the writers needn't struggle too much to assure that the assassination is foiled, the lovers are united, etc., but something that starts with an open ending, like this book, paradoxically creates more troubles for writers and readers. For example, Carl

Are you interested in funny, entertaining writing by a cadre of highly regarded writers? This is the book for you. Its a mystery thriller parody with each of the 13 chapters composed by a different Miami-area writer, including Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, Dave Berry and Edna Buchanan to name just a few.Originally serialized in the Miami Herald's Tropic magazine, the book was conceived by the editor of the newspaper magazine and Dave Berry wrote the first chapter, which was then handed to the ne...

An extended gag as much as a book. Thirteen authors who have dished their share of Florida crime tales (including the top-billed Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, Edna Buchanan, Paul Levine and James Hall) get together to write a chapter each of an increasingly bizarre tale involving a frozen head and a slate of characters so cracked they have to be Miami residents. Some familiar series protagonists show up, too, such as Buchanan's Britt Montero, Levine's Jake Lassiter and Les Standiford's John Deal.Each...

Interesting concept: 13 different authors, each of whom penned a chapter, taking the story in their own direction. Dave Barry wrote the opening chapter, which had me in hysterics despite my best attempts to stifle my giggles so my 8 year old son, who was asleep next to me, wouldn't wake up. A manatee named Booger? Brilliant! I'd never heard of the majority of the writers, so I had no idea what to expect. Each chapter had its own style, its own flavor, but they all worked together really well. Th...

Like the waters of Key Biscayne, in and near where much of the plot of this book occurs, this story is choppy. That's to be expected, given the novel consists of 13 chapters, no two written by the same author. Dave Barry kicks off the story, Carl Hiaasen finishes it, and the writers in between are all seasoned Floridian authors of varying renown. Some of the chapters are funnier than others, some better written, and a couple don't work at all. The approach makes for disjointed storytelling at be...

This was a cleverly conceived humorous novel: thirteen mystery authors write a novel, each author writes a chapter, and then "passes it off" to the next author.The novel centers around the discovery of two canisters, each containing the head of ... ahem ... Fidel Castro! The reader is left wondering - how did these heads end up in Coconut Grove Miami? A motley cast of characters, including a 102-year-old pro-environment grandma who swims with a manatee, a slick lawyer, an ambitious reporter, and...

The basic premise of this novel is that twelve Florida writers got together and wrote a chapter each. It was originally serialized in a magazine, so the way it worked was the first author wrote chapter one, which appeared in the magazine. With that to go on, the next author had to continue the story in chapter two. So on and so forth until Carl Hiaasen had to tie everything up at the end and make a coherent story out of it.While Hiassen did write the best chapter (in my opinion), the way the boo...

Remember that game where you get a bunch of people together and one person starts a story then breaks off and the next person continues the story, and so on? Well this book is what happens when that bunch of people are all published authors. Just like those impromptu group stories, this story is a lot of fun, but suffers from characters that suddenly begin acting out of character, plot points that show up suddenly then just drift away, and even chapters that shift genres. Kudos to Carl Hiaasen w...

The jacket says this book is "a delirious invention that is at once harrowing and hilarious, filled with pungent commentary and razor-sharp observations". If I agreed, I'd have given it more than three stars.It's amusing; a light piece of fluff. Several of the authors have well-known and distinctive voices. I was somewhat expecting to notice a shift in voice at each chapter, but they all were subsumed into this story, those voices made vanilla. That probably makes the story a whole rather than t...

Booger the manatee is much more fun to follow than Fidel Castro, truly. I enjoyed this summer read.

Thirteen chapters, each by a different author. Kind of hit or miss, but still a quick, fun read.

Not as funny as I'd hoped it would be. In 1995 and 1996, a team of South Florida's best writers collaborated on a wacky mystery story that was published a chapter at a time by the Miami Herald's "Tropic" magazine (RIP). The first chapter, setting up the storyline, was by Dave Barry, and featured a manatee named (of course) Booger. Other writers had to then pick up the story and run with it. Les Standiford tossed in his series hero, John Deal, and then Paul Levine had his attorney hero Jake Lassi...

Remember that thing where a bunch of people would write a chapter of a book? Do they still do that? This is one of those. The authors include Dave Barry, Carl Hiassen, Elmore Leonard, somebody named Carolina Hospital (is that a name, or a place?), and several others that I'd never heard of. A neat concept, but the problem is that every author felt the need to introduce a new character, practically, and in some cases flat out contradicted what other authors had written. What's the first rule of i...

I have lived with the legend of this book ever since my parents let me read Dave Barry when I was a small child (Bad move, parents. I'm super strange now and it's your fault). In my mind, nothing beats the humor and weirdness of South Florida's best and most cherished authors: Barry, among others like Hiassen and Shroder, collaborated on the book and each added a chapter. You think this would make for a great romp, but really, it's just as confusing and halting as it sounds.I even read this whil...

If this book had been written by just one author, I would definitely look at it much more critically. As it was, I thought it was pulled together surprisingly well. Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen are the only authors of this book that I've read previously. I am more interested to read other works of some of these Florida authors and others I can probably skip. Overall, it was entertaining because it was so outlandish. Also, I would have appreciated it more if I was more familiar with Miami. We read...

Not great, but really good. I like the premise of a bunch of authors agreeing to create a novel, with each successive chapter the responsibility of a new author, and certainly some author working hard to leave the end of a chapter with something very challenging for the follow-on person. And of course, I was not aware of the creation of NAKED CAME THE STRANGER under similar circumstances, but decades earlier. I will recommend to my daughter.

Bizarre, lighthearted murder mystery. The fun here is in knowing how it was done. Reading this is like watching a movie where the actors are having great fun doing it and the enjoyment is contagious. Without emphasizing any single author's style, all come through with amazing continuity, lots of guffaws and occasional out-loud laughs.

Each chapter is written by a different author resulting in a short story. Just about all the different author were enjoyable, except one. Written in a prosy "artistic" verse, it really didn't make much sense and added nothing to the novel. Conclusion was by Carl Hiassen, who as usual, finished it off with a bang.

I bought this book understanding it was a collaboration, tag-team effort, and, it worked!The story was creative, the characters likeable, realistic, but not too deep, and the pace moved. It is a delightful little romp of humor, intrigue, and color, at an affordable price, both financially and time required to read. Enjoy!Liz

Interesting concept with the chapters each written by different authors. It was in the Carl Hiaasen section and that pulled me in first off. If you like his work, it is very much in his style. Give it a read.

Well written considering the number of “authors”. A bit disjointed ,but still typical Hiaasen , over the top , with stereotypical South Florida characters and antics. I loved the “Cuba” angle. A great beach read!!

Some of the best contemporary Florida writers park all egos and poke fun with sharpened pens at people and places in paradise in this satire. Read this for a sampler and explore their individual books.

This many great authors should create something so unreadable, that I was stupid enough to pay for, still makes me grit my teeth decades later.

Really interesting serial writing project with several authors. Fun read!

It was ok, but not as LOL funny as other books I have read from the authors involved in this book. Good beach read, but that's about all I can give this book

Really enjoyed this book. Would like to find more like this, especially from this group.

Some chapters I liked better than others. I have no idea what book John Dufresne thought he was contributing to, but it shouldn't have been this one. It's the only chapter that pulled me out of the story because of the style difference (and WTF is up with the description of Marion after death??) Also could have done without Carl Hiaasen's erasure of the sweet manatee character. He might as well have said, "I don't know WHAT those other authors were thinking. How stupid." Those are just minor gri...

The unusual name, cover and the fact that this was on the New York Times Bestseller list attracted me to this book. This is meant to be a comedy written by 13 of Florida’s ‘finest writers’ but I just did not find it funny. As each chapter was written by a different author, they did not always flow smoothly into each other. The characters seemed false with the most interesting character being the manatee! I got half way through the book and had to give up. I have too much life to live to wa...

Kind of a mess. Although I have to applaud the writers for being brave enough to write in such a style as this, I can’t help but feel that the style itself was the weakness. The story became a jumble of people, events, places that it all just seemed ludicrous. Maybe that was the point, but I did not enjoy it.