book data
181 ratings,
3.87
average rating, 24 reviews
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published
1974
by Bantam Books
(first published 1973)
details
Mass Market Paperback
isbn
0553084216
description
Set in Key West--the nation's extreme limit--this is the story of a man seeking refuge from a world of drug addiction by becoming a skiff guide for to…more
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constant Reader: Best Books READ in 2009 | 199 | 228 | Jan 16, 2010 08:39AM | |
| The Next Best Boo...: Top 5 All Time - No Classics Allowed | 244 | 2096 | Jul 09, 2009 03:46PM | |
| 92 in the Shade | 1 | 4 | Apr 25, 2007 03:55PM |
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 249)
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1 star (3)
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avg 3.87
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Thomas Skelton leaves behind a life of drugs and debauchery, not to mention his studies, and returns home to Key West. He decides to become a flats guide, because it's only while out on the flats that he feels whole. But guiding is a competitive business. And Nichol Dance, an established guide, makes it clear that Skelton isn't welcome.
92 in the Shade is the high-water mark of McGuane's prose style. He writes with effortless flash, with a precise diction that is trademark. He slides ...more
92 in the Shade is the high-water mark of McGuane's prose style. He writes with effortless flash, with a precise diction that is trademark. He slides ...more
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Read in January, 2010
While it certainly took a few pages to fall into step with McGuane's adjective laden cadence, "Ninety-Two in the Shade" offered a freewheeling little tale full of sex, drugs and abject pride. Occasionally, McGuane spends a tad too much time looking to impress the reader with his erudition and, once again, occasionally he only manages to bore. That being said, when McGuane hits his mark, like with his descriptions of Goldsboro Skelton and Bella Knowles and their octogenarian sex romps, ...more
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Read in December, 2008
Entry-level McGuane, one of my favorite authors of all time, and I'm not just saying that because he once answered a fan letter. Other favs: "The Sporting Club" and "Gallatin Canyon," a recent collection of short stories. His writing often is challenging because he uses language in unique ways, but I always find the struggle worthwhile. Just three words of warning about "92", however: Written On Drugs. (But Read Sober.)
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Florida fiction readers
I was intrigued by this novel because some of my counter parts in the fishing world love it. Being born and raised in Florida, having spent a great deal of my childhood down in the Keys, and being an avid fisherman (almost charter captain); I thought for sure I would love this story. But I didn't.
McGuane shows he is a craftsman of metaphors and prose. But I found the story itself kind of flat and the characters lacking emotion. Everything was just it will be what it will be. The story oft...more
McGuane shows he is a craftsman of metaphors and prose. But I found the story itself kind of flat and the characters lacking emotion. Everything was just it will be what it will be. The story oft...more
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Read in March, 2007
McGuane gets compared to Pynchon quite a bit, which I’ve never understood save perhaps the sheer madcap pace of language and witticisms, but whereas with Pynchon these come in bursts, with McGuane they’re pretty much sustained. Perhaps that’s why McGuane writes shorter books — you can only keep up that pace for so long, both as a writer and a reader. The Bushwhacked Piano remains one of my favorite books and this one is equally good, but somehow too much the same, the same tragic inevitability t...more
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Read in January, 2009
Vivid, complex characters in Key West Setting make a good read. Depicts the drug hazed culture of that author's youth, fleshed out in depraved personal relationships.
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I didn't finish it. It seemed to me that this book conveyed a sense of the 60's/70/s that didn't stand the test of time, but I'm not a die hard McGuane fan.
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read this and others by McGuane in the late 80s, early 90s. trying to remember them.
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Just found this used. I like the Bushwacked Piano a lot, and this sounds very nice.
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Read in July, 2007
I didn't get through this one. In fact, I made it through 30 pages and put the book down. Not a real honest effort, but the language was a real barrier for me. I notice another reviewer said it's a 200 page book that reads like a 600 page book and that sounds about right to me. I don't think an author is doing you any favors when he obscures so much of the characters and the feeling of the book behind a thick wall of language. The sentences made me dizzy and I wasn't willing to work at it becaus...more
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Read in July, 2009
Not an easy read by any means, but interesting and enjoyable. The language takes a bit to get used to, but it was so good that after the first 30 pages (which is about when I really got into the flow of things) I went back and started over.
I've started The Cadence of Grass before (didn't finish), which was written some 30 years after 92/Shade. Cadence is a much tighter product than 92/Shade, but that precisely is why I enjoyed this book so much. Crazy characters, wacky action, and t...more
I've started The Cadence of Grass before (didn't finish), which was written some 30 years after 92/Shade. Cadence is a much tighter product than 92/Shade, but that precisely is why I enjoyed this book so much. Crazy characters, wacky action, and t...more
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Read in July, 2008
i don't know how i was even remotely interested in this book, a plot that went from nonexistent to obvious, pointless sexual fantasy, cheap cliche humor, detached run-on piss stream of thought, and so on. But there were these times of backwards eloquence that kind of absorbed you in color from all aspects of the world as it might appear to a florida pseudo-redneck. god i can relate.
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Read in August, 2007
Frantic, manic, but with a soul. "The Old Man and the Sea" meets "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."
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recommends it for:
no one
McGuane's overwrought prose does much damage to an otherwise interesting group of lowlife characters. The film adaptation of this work, directed by McGuane, is far better and features one of the best Warren Oates performances of all time.
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recommends it for:
all
McGuane really is a good writer.. and this Key West type madness tale is a very entertaining quick read. And to either turn you on or turn you off, he was married to Jimmy Buffett's sister Laurie.
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Set in Key West, and a bit crazy relative to the characters and their perspective. All a bit perverse, but a pretty funny read. McGuane is a realist if nothing else.
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Read in November, 2009
I kind of hate to give this a low rating because I did enjoy the story but it was such a struggle to read that I just wanted it to be over with.
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Read in March, 2007
A 200-page book that reads like 600. Incredibly dense language, a difficult vocabulary, but a good, simple story with bizarre characters.
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Fantastic bk, and also a rare instance (see also "Fat City" and "Wise Blood") where the movie version does the bk justice.
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More straightforward, barely, than his other books I've read. But no less wild, and maybe even more enjoyable, to be honest.
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