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68th out of 1,871 books
—
3,706 voters
Big Trouble
by
Dave Barry
In the city of Coconut Grove, Florida, these things happen: A struggling adman named Eliot Arnold drives home from a meeting with the Client From Hell. His teenage son, Matt, fills a Squirtmaster 9000 for his turn at a high school game called Killer. Matt's intended victim, Jenny Herk, sits down in front of the TV with her mom for what she hopes will be a peaceful evening...more
Paperback, 317 pages
Published
January 1st 2001
by Berkley
(first published September 1999)
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Nov 20, 2007
Roni
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everybody who doesn't mind a bit of swearing and likes a good laugh
Shelves:
books-i-own
This is one of my two favorite books. It was HILLARIOUS! I really can't say what my favorite part is. It could be either time when Matt attempts to shoot Jenny with a water gun. Or maybe it's the incident with Arthur Herk and the toad who has hallucinigenic poisin. Or perhaps the traffic jam caused by goats. Anyways, this book puts the characters in the most ridiculus situations, and it turns out funny. This book has made me laugh like no other book I have read. I most definitly would reccomend...more
When I first saw this book, I thought what you're all thinking - Dave Barry wrote a book? A real book? This cannot be!
And yet it can. And it is. And it's awesome.
One of the major themes in Barry's newspaper column is that South Florida is insane. Things happen in Florida that could never happen anywhere else. Hell, Fark.com has a special tag for stories from Florida, such as:
"Congresswoman accuses filmmaker of taking her support of Castro assassination out of context. "
"Man hires taxi to drive h...more
And yet it can. And it is. And it's awesome.
One of the major themes in Barry's newspaper column is that South Florida is insane. Things happen in Florida that could never happen anywhere else. Hell, Fark.com has a special tag for stories from Florida, such as:
"Congresswoman accuses filmmaker of taking her support of Castro assassination out of context. "
"Man hires taxi to drive h...more
Two world-weary Jersey hit men, a freakishly strong homeless guy, a skeezy embezzler and his hot rich wife, an escaped python loose in a Miami airport, a suitcase with a ticking time bomb, a really stupid dog, a pair of Russian arms dealers who operate a seedy dive bar as a cover for their real business, a giant toad who squirts hallucinogenic toxins at predators, and a teenage boy trying really, really hard to impress a cute girl by sneaking around her backyard at night with a squirt gun that l...more
So it's October, 2002, and I have just touched down in Moscow on a business trip. In the morning, I will be touring the city with Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris; but guess what, I have the worst case of jet lag I have ever had.
Let me set the scene. Moscow was in a state of turmoil at the time, and crime was rampant. There were stories about gangs kidnapping American businessmen. I was not technically a businessman, but I was American and there was no way skittish Mr. Kent was going for a...more
Let me set the scene. Moscow was in a state of turmoil at the time, and crime was rampant. There were stories about gangs kidnapping American businessmen. I was not technically a businessman, but I was American and there was no way skittish Mr. Kent was going for a...more
I believe this is Dave Barry's first novel, and what a beginning! Barry has been described as a mutated combination of Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard. His writing is hysterical and this book will have you falling out of your chair or wetting your pants. The plot is simple: what do a hallucinogenic toad, two hit men, an embezzler, two teenagers who want to play a game called Killer that uses squirt guns, two FBI agents, Special Executive Order 768 dash 4, a very strong homeless man named Puggy...more
What a funny & weird book. Great book to sit and read all day when it's cold and gloomy outside.
Dave Barry has come up a crazy cast of characters. There are the high school kids Matt, Andrew, & Jenny who play a squirt gun game called Killer. There's Arthur Heck who everyone agrees is an asshole and has been embezzling money from his scumbag employer. There's his pretty wife Anna. There's Eliot who is Matt's father and runs a PR company that is failing financially. There's the local cops...more
Dave Barry has come up a crazy cast of characters. There are the high school kids Matt, Andrew, & Jenny who play a squirt gun game called Killer. There's Arthur Heck who everyone agrees is an asshole and has been embezzling money from his scumbag employer. There's his pretty wife Anna. There's Eliot who is Matt's father and runs a PR company that is failing financially. There's the local cops...more
My God, this book was awesome. I read it while in Hawaii doing some consulting for a few months. I am a lifelong (I'm talking age 9, give or take) fan of Dave's, but had never heard of this book before I saw it in a used bookstore in Honolulu.
Obviously, since his usual metier is newspaper humor columns, I wondered how this would work out. In fact, the result was the best possible leverage of his general sense of humor into a hilarious send-up of a suspense novel. I don't read a ton of Grisham or...more
Obviously, since his usual metier is newspaper humor columns, I wondered how this would work out. In fact, the result was the best possible leverage of his general sense of humor into a hilarious send-up of a suspense novel. I don't read a ton of Grisham or...more
1 like · like · see review
Dave Barry’s “Big Trouble” is a book that reads like a Hollywood movie. More aptly it is a book that was turned into a star-studded movie, and it works well in both mediums. The place is Coconut Grove, FL and its here where a homeless man, an Ad man, three high school students, Russian arms dealers, Miami’s finest, the FBI, a pair of idiot ex-cons and a couple of Mob hit-men find their lives crashing into each other through a series of highly unlikely yet humorous events. Each character plot lin...more
Big Fun, Big Laughs, Big Trouble
"Big Trouble" by Dave Barry. Penguin Group. 1999.
Dave Barry known for his commentary and comedic genius has struck home with his novel, “ Big Trouble”. Barry who is a successful columnist tries his hand at a full novel, stepping out of his realm and into the fiction world. In “Big Trouble”, we see an assortment of wild characters all intertwined in a crime comedy. Luckily for us the novel accomplishes it’s goal of being hiliarious and exciting.
The novel is largley...more
"Big Trouble" by Dave Barry. Penguin Group. 1999.
Dave Barry known for his commentary and comedic genius has struck home with his novel, “ Big Trouble”. Barry who is a successful columnist tries his hand at a full novel, stepping out of his realm and into the fiction world. In “Big Trouble”, we see an assortment of wild characters all intertwined in a crime comedy. Luckily for us the novel accomplishes it’s goal of being hiliarious and exciting.
The novel is largley...more
This zany novel takes place in the Coconut Grove section of Miami, Florida.
Two high school students are playing a game called 'killer'. This is where two students go after another student and shoot them with their water gun. The second student confirms the 'kill.'
The student who is the target is Jenny Herk, the step-daughter of Arthur. He is a gambler and embezzler who has upset the wrong people and an actual hit is placed on him.
The make believe and real hit happen at the same time, providing a...more
Two high school students are playing a game called 'killer'. This is where two students go after another student and shoot them with their water gun. The second student confirms the 'kill.'
The student who is the target is Jenny Herk, the step-daughter of Arthur. He is a gambler and embezzler who has upset the wrong people and an actual hit is placed on him.
The make believe and real hit happen at the same time, providing a...more
eighteen majillion stars. this man knows how to tell a story. negative. make that several dozen stories all tied together and NOT annoyingly cliche like "crash" or "babel", but actually hysterical, in the kind of way that makes you want to laugh and be afraid for humanity at the same time.
it's actually a thriller (no kidding.) and i promise, you won't be able to put it down.
it's actually a thriller (no kidding.) and i promise, you won't be able to put it down.
This book is more fun than a barrel full of tacks!
Let me just start by saying that I love anything Dave Barry writes. Ever since I read one of his humor columns in the Chicago Tribune when I was 16 and laughed until I peed myself, he has been my hero. Since then I have largely mimicked his writing style in everything I write, from letters to relatives in foreign countries to business briefs!
No one takes me seriously anymore and that's ok with me, as it means I don't have to walk on eggshells ar...more
Let me just start by saying that I love anything Dave Barry writes. Ever since I read one of his humor columns in the Chicago Tribune when I was 16 and laughed until I peed myself, he has been my hero. Since then I have largely mimicked his writing style in everything I write, from letters to relatives in foreign countries to business briefs!
No one takes me seriously anymore and that's ok with me, as it means I don't have to walk on eggshells ar...more
I read this book from cover-to-cover on a two-hour plane ride. Each chapter was full of hilarious twists and turns, which would cause me to burst out laughing. I felt bad because I kept waking the sleeping, snoring fat man next to me. Serves him right for getting in the way of a good book and me.
This book was definitely interesting. I actually did really like it. It was very cool to see how many different, seemingly unrelated lives were intertwined and how they interacted. My two complaints: for a funny book, it dealt with a LOT of mature concepts, and it did not gloss over any gruesome details. I can give some credit to the author for wanting to be honest and straightforward, but it was sometimes a bit much. Also, sometimes it was confusing to keep track of characters, because there we...more
If I can't figure out which books to read next, going with NY Times Bestsellers and/or award winners has yet to let me down. That method lead me to this book, which was AWESOME. I love plot lines that intertwine and force together characters that seem to have nothing to do with one another. Big Trouble was just that. I was vaguely reminded of In Cold Blood, which I recently tore through. Big Trouble, though, is In Cold Blood if Truman Capote were also a comedian. I literally LOL'd at a few point...more
Reserve a few hours for this one. You can't stop in the middle. Also make sure there's no small children around--you can laugh louder that way.
While gleefully satirizing our "modern" society, and in no way slighting security efforts since 9/11 (the book was copyrighted in 1999), Barry intimately chronicles events of about ten characters, who live in Miami, over a 48 hour period, or some insanely short amount of time for 250 pages. Packed with double entandras, a nuclear bomb, robbers wearing pa...more
While gleefully satirizing our "modern" society, and in no way slighting security efforts since 9/11 (the book was copyrighted in 1999), Barry intimately chronicles events of about ten characters, who live in Miami, over a 48 hour period, or some insanely short amount of time for 250 pages. Packed with double entandras, a nuclear bomb, robbers wearing pa...more
I happen to really like Dave Barry and like his novels best of all. I am particularly fond of the acknowledgement and Warning in the front of his other book, "Tricky Business" book, where he goes through a riff on the fact that the book, like Big Trouble contains some "bad words". He apparently got letters of complaint about the language and he "wrote them back and explained that, yes, it did have some unsavory language, but that was because the story involved some unsavory characters, and that...more
This is the least funny collection of words I've ever read from Dave Barry. Instead of his usual hilariously takes on real-world foibles, Barry gives us a novel re-pleat with wacky characters and unlikely situations. Strangely enough, this novel has a stronger heart than funny bone, as I came to care for the collection of befuddled single parents, lovelorn cops and not too-cool teens as they try to prevent idiots from nuking Miami.
Alas, the silly situations lack much of Barry's trademark wit, as...more
Alas, the silly situations lack much of Barry's trademark wit, as...more
I can't believe that I have not reviewed this book yet. This was one of the funniest books I have ever read. This is another book that I picked up at an airport before a flight, and I think I almost finished it while flying cross country. I do know for sure that when I was disembarkeing (still reading as I was walking off the plane) some guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked what I had been reading. Turns out that he had been sitting behind me, and he said that I had been laughing out loud for...more
I'm already a Dave Barry fan. I picked this book up because I am reading through my local library's shelves alphabetically. I liked the complicated plot which toyed with being a farce. This was a fast read, fun and interesting. I did get a little confused with all of the characters. I wish that Mr. Barry described them just a bit more fully so I could keep them straight. I find that the faster paced a book is, (and this one is fast paced) the harder it is to keep track of characters. Maybe it's...more
This book was outrageous...outrageously funny. I was given this book by my boyfriend to read. I started reading it with true skepticsm, however, after having read less than 30 pages I had already laughed louder and harder than I ever had reading any thing else.
This book is made up of a bit of the ridiculous, but that just makes it all the more fantastic. This book is one crazy, action packed event on top of another. It is truly hard for the reader to not skip ahead to the end to find out what h...more
This book is made up of a bit of the ridiculous, but that just makes it all the more fantastic. This book is one crazy, action packed event on top of another. It is truly hard for the reader to not skip ahead to the end to find out what h...more
Şimdi bu "okuduğum en kötü kitaplar" listesinde, en azından benim. Çünkü arka kapağa bakarsak gülmekten yerlere yuvarlananlar mevcut, okuyan hemen herkesin yorumu bu. Tüm günü dışarıda/otobüste geçireceğimi düşünerek eğlenmek, hafif bir okuma yapmak düşüncesiyle yanıma aldığım bu kitap resmen kabusum oldu. İzlediğiniz komedi filmlerindeki tüm klişelerin bir araya getirilmişi diye düşünün, bunu AHS gibi süper bir yoldan değil, yine klişe ve ucuz bir yoldan yaptığını. Anlatırken bile midem bulanıy...more
How funny was this book? By the time I was finished I had a stomach ache from all the laughing.
Dave Barry proves he can write fiction. Paced at break-neck speed, and all the more enjoyable for the sheer complexity of it all, I found the book hilarious, absurd, yet quite serious at the same time. So much happens that it could be easy to get confused, but I never was. Mr. Barry kept it all straight and made sure the reader followed it as well. The actual story is impossible to sum up because it just can’t be simplified like that. You have to experience how it’s told to appreciate what it’s...more
Not exactly deep reading, but chock full 'o absurdist fun
I have always liked Barry's columns, and when I went looking for his new fiction book, Insane City, and couldn't find it, this one was on the shelf. I thought it was hilarious and I will look for more. His fiction is just as entertaining as his other work. I especially enjoyed the Miami Airport scenes, and I hope I never have to fly there. His characters of the bumbling hit men, smuggling arms dealers, security checkers, and insane cops are just wonderful. If you like Lynwood Barclay, you will l...more
This is the hilarious story of a group of South Florida "wierdos," who are (most of them accidentally) embroiled in a rather life-threatening escapade. The writing reminds me a little of Buffy, and the book actually references Buffy a couple of times. I was literally laughing out loud on several occasions. I know there's a movie made from this book, but it probably isn't as funny because the funniest thing about this is the descriptions of the background and the characters' internal motivations....more
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ho,ho,ho. Roger is hilarious. Snake and Eddie are pathetically funny. Can't stand Arthur Herk. Elliott Arnold really, really messes up his son Matt's love life. Puggy and Nina deserve eternal happiness. I love Christopher Moore's offbeat humor. Barry's "Big Trouble" is right at the top of my list of books that made me chuckle and laugh out loud without any embarassment at all. Those who thought I was the weird guy in the waiting room just missed it. While they were watching daytim...more
Oct 17, 2010
Micah
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people with a higher tolerance for zany non-sequitor humor than I have
Shelves:
humor
There's a certain kind of rococo, hyperactive plotting that you tend to see from authors who aren't used to writing stories with a great deal of plot -- they understand that "plot" tends to denote Characters Doing Things, so everyone is constantly Doing Things, or on their way to go Do Things, or arguing about how they have to Do Things and how This Other Thing They Are Doing is interfering with this goal. The plot pushes the characters briskly from one Terribly Exciting Situation to another, an...more
Big Trouble is a funny crime novel.
I didn’t find it hilarious but it was a fun novel with slapstick-like situations. I would consider it a crime novel but it isn’t hard-boiled or anything like that. I guess it’s sort of like a light Elmore Leonard or a fast-paced Carl Hiaasen novel.
What I learned from this book (as well as books by Tom Dorsey, Elmore Leonard, and Carl Hiaasen) is that Florida is INSANE. It gives me the urge to go there just to experience it but it also strikes fear into my hea...more
I didn’t find it hilarious but it was a fun novel with slapstick-like situations. I would consider it a crime novel but it isn’t hard-boiled or anything like that. I guess it’s sort of like a light Elmore Leonard or a fast-paced Carl Hiaasen novel.
What I learned from this book (as well as books by Tom Dorsey, Elmore Leonard, and Carl Hiaasen) is that Florida is INSANE. It gives me the urge to go there just to experience it but it also strikes fear into my hea...more
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Dave Barry is a humor columnist. For 25 years he was a syndicated columnist whose work appeared in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and abroad. In 1988 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Many people are still trying to figure out how this happened.
Dave has also written a total of 30 books, although virtually none of them contain useful information. Two of his books were used as...more
More about Dave Barry...
Dave has also written a total of 30 books, although virtually none of them contain useful information. Two of his books were used as...more
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