Book Review “Strip Tease” by Carl Hiaasen

I picked up a paperback copy of this book to take on vacation. I usually take library books but I wanted to cut down the weight. I didn’t get around to reading it until just now.

I like Carl Hiaasen and have read and enjoyed several of his books including his young adult novels like “Hoot.”

“Strip Tease” is what I call a “Corner Chucker.” A Corner Chucker is a book that is not so bad that you can just put it down. You like something about it but don’t want to continue reading it. So years ago, before I discovered free books at the library, Sweetie and I would be in bed reading at night and I would just launch such a book to the corner of the room, startling Sweetie and scattering our various dogs and cats. It was my way of pyschologically separating myself from the book.

I wanted to like this book but I chucked it at about page 238. I didn’t like the last 220 pages. The book is about a nude dancer named Erin who works at a bar called the Eager Beaver trying to earn enough money to pay a lawyer to get custody of her child back. She gets involved in all sorts of escapades. The book has no sex scenes, just lots of naked dancers and a whole bunch of leering adolescent jokes and asides. Meanwhile the story didn’t go anywhere and many of the events taking place didn’t make sense.

So I chucked it.

I give this book one star out of four.

I’m reading “Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan now. I hope that I finish it. Its not a library book. I hope that I don’t have to chuck it also.