Book Review: “Swamp Story” by Dave Barry

Swamp Story by Dave Barry

Perennial favorite Dave Barry is back with another tale of South Florida, which has, yes, a big swamp.  Barry and the rest of the “bunch-of-South-Florida-whackos” school (Barry, Hiaasen, Dorsey) have a pretty easy time of it.  They simply take real news stories, and slightly fictionalize them.

Swamp Story is yet another compendium of whackos, with a bit of autobiography, and some wish fulfillment tossed in.  Altogether, just another weekday in the metro area.

As usual, key protagonists are downtrodden and/or laid off journalists (the last true knights in this city by the bay), as well as several good-hearted losers.  These messed-up and messed-with folks are striving to get by in the heartless alligator-eat-alligator city of Miami, where it seems that only the vicious and sleazy thrive.

I can’t say that the plot makes all that much sense, and it certainly isn’t particularly mysterious.  A bunch of losers (good and evil) and predators all close in on a huge treasure in the Everglades.  For good measure, there are idiots creating an internet video meme of the Melon Head monster, and the Secretary of the Interior is dropping in to kick off the annual Python hunt.

What could possibly go wrong?

It all works because Dave Barry is a good writer, who always manages to be gentle and humane while portraying silliness and loserdom. When Barry tells it, losers and whackos are always “us”, not “them”.

Which means it’s a fun little romp, with a happy ending for the good people and gristly comeuppances for the wicked bastards.

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1. Dave Barry, Swamp Story, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2023.

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