I enjoyed the imagery the author creates of a Florida tourists would rarely see. Covering unconventional mysteries makes this title a pleasant change from my normal reading fare. Thank you...

I thought this was going to be quirkier, but it ended up being quite dark at times. Overall, I enjoyed it, but this being my first book by Cooper, I do think I'll be seeking out future books by him.

Not sure why this came to me, but I was not the right reader. Hard time finishing it but I know others loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

I really wanted to like "Florida Man" by it was too long and I kept getting distracted. Just too much filler. Everything was over-detailed to death.

This was a fun and easy romp through the best and worst of what makes Florida news-worthy. At turns light-hearted, dark, and daring, Florida Man is a fun and funny caper worthy of the state it's set in.

Though I had high expectations of a book meant for lovers of Gary Shteyngart, I had a hard time getting through this book. Though it was humorous at times, I found it somewhat hard to follow (especially because of a time jump that doesn't explain much). It wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me.

When I came across Florida Man on Netgalley, I requested it immediately. Not only did the title completely interest me, but I also noticed it was by Tom Cooper, the author of The Marauders - a book I read several years ago when I was just getting into reading again, and thoroughly enjoyed. I was convinced I would love this one too. So I either had a completely different mindset when I read The Marauders, or Cooper's writing in this book completely changed. Florida Man was so all over the place, I couldn't even write my own synopsis because I had no clue what the point or description of the book was.

Brief synopsis pulled from Amazon: Florida, circa 1980. Reed Crowe, the eponymous Florida Man, is a middle-aged beach bum, beleaguered and disenfranchised, living on ill-gotten gains deep in the jungly heart of Florida. When sinkholes start opening on Emerald Island, not only are Reed Crowe's seedy businesses—a moribund motel and a shabby amusement park—endangered, but so are his secrets. Crowe, amateur spelunker, begins uncovering artifacts that change his understanding of the island’s history, as well as his understanding of his family’s birthright as pioneering homesteaders. Meanwhile, there are other Florida men with whom Crowe must contend. Hector “Catface” Morales, a Cuban refugee, trained assassin, and crack-addicted Marielito, is seeking revenge on Reed for stealing his stash of drugs and leaving him for dead (unbeknownst to Reed) in the wreckage of a plane crash in the Everglades decades ago. Loner and misanthrope Henry Yahchilane, a Seminole native, has something to hide on the island. So does irascible and pervy Wayne Wade, Reed Crowe’s childhood friend turned bad penny. Then there are the Florida women, including Heidi Karavas, Reed Crowe’s ex-wife, now a globe-trekking art curator, and Nina Arango, a Cuban refugee and fiercely protective woman with whom Reed Crowe falls in love. There are curses. There are sea monsters. There are biblical storms. There’s something called the Jupiter Effect. Ultimately, Florida Man is a generation-spanning story about how a man decides to live his life, and how despite staying landlocked and stubbornly in one place, the world nevertheless comes to him.

So to get started, this book is extremely problematic. The book is set (mostly) during the 1980s in Florida. While the main character is white, the cast is pretty diverse. There's a main character who's indigenous, there are Cuban refugees. But here's the deal - Yahchilane (the indigenous character) is most likely a murderer. One of the Cuban refugees is a drug lord and ruthless killer. The Cuban woman is shown as extremely angry and short-tempered. The Cuban child is sexualized starting at a young age. It's all very cringe-worthy. And these characters are just the tip of the iceberg.

Then there's the issue of pedophilia. Another of the main characters is obsessing over young children, shows his dick to young girls, films pedophilic videos. And though he's seen as a frustrating character, people continue to let his actions slide on by.

Not to mention the plethora of racist and homophobic slurs and accusations. I was not at all comfortable with this book.

And even without all the problematic content, this book was choppy as hell. It’s about five different novels rolled up into one, and I only gave the book two stars, because somewhere in there was an interesting story. But I was often confused on the timeline. Too many things were actually happening that were completely unrelated and gave no greater purpose to the rest of the book. The one thing in the book that I actually found to be shocking is actually in the synopsis above, but I notoriously hardly ever read synopses before reading a book so I had no idea I should’ve gone into the book knowing that.

If done well, this book could’ve had very similar vibes to Stephen King’s Duma Key, which is a book I love to pieces. It could’ve been the not so scary equivalent. But it wasn’t done well. The book felt so long, I had some character attachment by the end, but the story itself was just too chunky, choppy, and random. And honestly, if I never read the words “beach bum” again for the rest of my life, I’d be a-okay with that. I get that repeating similar words and phrases over and over again was a literary way of making the reader feel the monotony of being in the same place your entire life with no desire to leave. But I had a desire to stop reading this book.

"If you ever get lost, or if you're ever in trouble, go to the beach house." - Florida Man, Tom Cooper

I don’t like to tell folks not to read a book, but I’m not sure who the target audience is here, and I truly think this book is more confusing than it’s worth. And like I mentioned, so much of the book is just truly problematic, and it was difficult to read at times because of those concerns. If it sounds up your alley, I just heed you to go in at your own risk.

This is a hard one to describe. Basically it's the life story of Reed Crowe, the eponymous Florida Man, born and raised in a less industrialized corner of Florida. A middle-aged beach bum, beleaguered and disenfranchised, running two seedy businesses—a rundown motel and a shabby tourist trap amusement park—expending as little effort as possible.

It's a melancholic story, sometimes thoughtful, often rambling, about how Crowe both lives and wastes his life the way he chooses. A variety of people stumble through adding joy, heartbreak, laughter, and sorrow. The storyline jumps around some, dropping in at different times of Crowe's life when something or other disrupts the usual course of his day-to-day existence.

I prefer a more streamlined narrative so the biggest issue I had with the book was that it's so rambling that at times it's hard to stick with it. It's a good book overall but I kept finding myself thinking "Where is this going?" "What is this book even about?" There are little mysteries, eccentric, odd and even villainous characters and some humorous moments but really it's just about a guy named Reed Crowe and the unusual life he leads. That's it.

This book contains adult language, adult situations, violence, and drug use.

***I received a free digital copy of this title from NetGalley.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of Tom Cooper’s novel Florida Man, in exchange for an honest review.

Spanning several decades, Florida Man is the story Reed Crowe and Henry Yahchilane, who form an unlikely friendship while living on a small island. Struggling from the loss of his child, affectionately nicknamed Otter, Crowe finds himself divorced and the proprietor of a struggling roadside attraction. Yahchilane, a Seminole native, and the older of the two men is a mystery. He is quiet with a tough exterior and rumors fly regarding his criminal inclinations. A skeleton and a sink hole bring Crowe and Yahchilane together, sealing their connection and changing the course of their lives.

Florida Man is a quirky and delightful ride. I read it over two separate trips to central Florida during the summer of 2020, which included an airboat swamp tour, putting me in the mood. The twists in Florida Man are impossible to anticipate, but even more impossible to predict was the emotional impact of the story. I was sobbing while reading the last chapters. I was caught off-guard by how much I grew to care about both Crowe and Yahchilane and even more, how much I related to them. On the surface, it would seem that I shouldn’t be able to relate to these men; I am a forty-three year old white woman living in the suburbs, yet I definitely connected with Crowe and Yahchilane’s lone-wolf, living their lives by their own terms attitude.

I understood how they felt connected to their island, Crowe even refusing to leave it to be with his ex-wife Heidi. Crowe has relationships with other women, but he will always love Heidi. When their daughter dies, Crowe becomes planted on the island, as Heidi leaves to travel the world, dealing with their grief in separate ways.

The first two-thirds of the story are primarily a tension-filled, roller coaster ride. When Crowe becomes involved with helping a Cuban refugee family, he discovers that his childhood friend is a pedophile, putting a young girl from the family he is helping, in danger. Crowe struggles with figuring out the best way to deal with his former friend, a man who shows no signs of remorse.

Crowe’s life is in danger, when an old enemy comes back to haunt him. Hector Morales, nicknamed “Catface” for his disfiguring scars, was left in the swamp when many years earlier, Crowe found his body near a plane crash. Crowe thought he was dead and left Morales, but not before taking a fortune’s worth of marijuana from the downed plane. Morales survived and never forgot Crowe’s face, vowing to track him down.

Morales is a first-rate villain, reminding me of the character Anton Chigurh from Cormac McCarthy’s novel, No Country for Old Men. Similar to Chigurh, Morales is terrifying due to his calm demeanor and unpredictable violence. We stay with Morales as he is on the hunt for Crowe and watch as he interacts with many side characters while on his mission. The reader never knows if Morales will brutally kill someone that crosses his path or simply wish him a good day. The tension is high.

Florida, with its sandy beaches, muggy weather, and thick swamps is a character in Florida Man. Beyond Cooper’s novel, the term “Florida Man” is often used to describe dumb criminals and drug addicts who make the news in the sunshine state for a variety of outrageous antics. Florida is often mocked and taken less seriously than other states. I’m a Los Angeles native, and we are also often dismissed as “La La Land” or a place where “Fake” people live. In some ways, Crowe and Yahchilane embrace their “Florida Man” reputations, but in just as many ways, they defy it. They are simply ordinary men who love their land. I relate. I often bristle when I hear Los Angeles stereotypes. I can see the nuggets of truth in the stereotypes, but I also see so much more that only someone who loves their city, loves their state, can truly understand. Yahchilane and Crowe are insiders and their Florida is different from the Florida people mock. Their version of a “Florida Man” has much more depth than haters could ever realize.

Cooper’s Florida Man is a wild ride and some of the most beautiful, affecting writing that I have ever read. It’s truly a unique literary experience that I highly recommend.

I mostly enjoyed Cooper's first book THE MARAUDERS and this book very much feels like a stronger follow-up -- there's still plenty of bad goings-on in the Gulf, with drugs and sex and ne'er-do-wells, and the plot trots along through time and some very goofy settings. But it just didn't really wow me, despite the initial whizz-bang opening and I had to fight to keep reading.

Published by Random House on July 28, 2020

Florida Man, like Florida, is unpredictably weird in ways that provoke laughter. If a news headline begins with “Florida Man,” it will end with something like “arrested for teaching parrots to make death threats to IRS agents.” Florida is a land of sinkholes and decaying roadside attractions that overpromise bizarre wonders. It is also a haven for eccentrics. The fictional eccentric who carries the story in Florida Man, and the crew of collateral characters who weave in and out of the story, are sufficiently peculiar to mark themselves as true Floridians.

Florida Man’s protagonist is Reed Crowe, sometimes described as a hippie or a beach bum, definitely a stoner, something of a loner although not always by choice. Reed was once married to a woman named Heidi, with whom he maintains an on-and-(mostly)-off relationship. They lost their daughter, for which Crowe blames himself. Perhaps his lifestyle is a means of self-punishment or a futile attempt to forget by smoking himself into a daily oblivion.

Crowe owns a motel on Emerald Island and the Florida Man Mystery House, one of the roadside attractions that once littered Florida but have been largely undone by Disney World. He is assisted by Wayne Wade, Crowe’s childhood friend who, in adulthood, has become something of a degenerate, even by Florida standards. A likable kid named Eddie, perhaps the character who comes closest to a conventional definition of normal, also helps out.

Crowe got lucky at some point and rescued some bundles of weed from a smuggler’s airplane that crashed. He thought one of the sinking smugglers might have survived but talked himself out of believing that the man might still be alive. The smuggler, Hector “Catface” Morales, carries a grudge and eventually comes after Crowe.

Another character who seems interested in coming after Crowe is Henry Yahchilane, who suspects that Crowe might have stumbled onto evidence of a potential crime that Yahchilane would prefer to keep buried. The men have some tense moments until they find themselves sharing a predicament that neither of them might survive. After that, they sustain a lifelong friendship. Crowe and Yahchilane don’t necessarily go out of their way to spend time together, but they manage to be there for each other at critical moments.

The plot takes Crowe through a significant block of his life. While a secondary character through much of the novel, Yahchilane becomes a primary character at the end. The two men share a hurricane and other experiences as their lives intertwine, including a determination to do something about Wayne Wade before he causes more harm. Crowe is largely on his own, however, when Catface goes on a rampage in his quest for revenge.

Tom Cooper’s prose is snappy and his humor is dark. When I wasn’t cringing, I was laughing. As Florida Man meandered along its detour-laden plot, I occasionally wondered what the story is about. A novel doesn’t necessarily have to be about anything, but Florida Man turns out to be about life. Friendship, loss, aging, laughter and tears, change and endurance, the surprises that give life its flavor, and finally death. A key character realizes that life is the series of stories we accumulate before life ends. If enough of the stories are good, life was good. Cooper recounts a series of good stories, ranging from meaningful to silly, that add up to strange but, in the end, good lives for Crowe and Yahchilane.

RECOMMENDED

I was expecting something different. I guess I thought the book would be more of a zany adventure that took place within a short period of time. This was actually over the whole span of this man's life and felt like less of a mystery/thriller than a retrospective. It was interesting from a historical look back at Old Florida, but it felt too remote like you were just skimming to get it all in. While there was some conflict in there it just wasn't the mapcap adventure I was looking for.

Carl Hiassen remains the epitome of nutty fictional Floridians, but Tom Cooper is a writer who knows wacky characters, too. Florida Man has rednecks, Cuban refugees, American Indians. And like Hiassen, there’s plenty of humor, despite the summary that includes a Cuban named catface who is darn scary and is out to kill the protagonist, Reed Crowe. I’m still not sure where the story was going. It appears to be more of a character study.

I went into “Florida Man” expecting something similar to novels written by some other well known Florida writers. They typically write about the bizarre and wacky residents of the state and the mad-cap and comical events that occur. While Tom Cooper has aspects of those elements in “Florida Man,” the comedy is a little darker and the story takes a sometimes serious and sobering look at life in a supposedly idyllic location.

Reed Crowe operates a sketchy motel and amusement park on Emerald Island; an island inhabited by a variety of social misfits. Over the decades, Reed is forced to deal with his ex-wife, his degenerate friend who manages the motel, a vicious assassin, memories of his dead little girl, epic storms, and a variety of other calamities. As he comes to terms with the way he’s lived his life and all the mistakes he’s made, he recognizes “he’d changed. Or time had changed him” and that turns out not to be a bad thing.

Cooper’s outstanding story-telling abilities, character development, and the combination of intense and poignant writing makes “Florida Man” a winner.

My review was posted on Goodreads on 8/4/20.

Florida Man by Tom Cooper takes a look the mythos of the crazy stories surrounding the various news story dubbed "Florida man." This novel is awfully hilarious in it's character studies of Floridian rednecks, Cuban refugees, and American Indians. Most of the stories involve sex, drugs, violence, theft, and sometimes all four. The novel spans for the 1960's to present spending most of the time in the 1980's. The novel has it's problem but it is filled with so much charm, it's hard not to fill satisfied when i finished it. I felt like the characters were straight out of an Elmore Leonard novel, but with enough originality to make them unique. Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for giving me a copy for review. Florida Man by Tom Copper is published on 7-28-20.

The Plot: When Reed Crowe was a teenager he watched a plane go down in the Florida Everglades. The plane was filled full of weed from Columbia, he thought everyone was dead but he was wrong. Reed Crowe took drugs and sold a lot, he sold enough to buy and build a seedy motel, an run down zoo and amusement park on the remote Emerald Island. He's a beach bum that hired his friends to help him run the place, all who would rather do drugs and get laid. His world is turned upside down when a Cuban that goes by the name of Catface because of his scars, recognizes Reed when he gets his friend and employee out of jail. Catface was there in the 60's when reed found the drugs, and blames reed for not noticing and leaving him stuck with the scars. This vicious gangster will stop at nothing to kill Reed.

What I Liked: The humor is constant through out, it sometimes guys doing horrible things but for the most part it is funny. Catface is scary and relentless, almost a pincushion literately, they character takes a licking and keeps on ticking. This novel is not known for it's descriptions but I felt it described this character perfectly. Wayne Wade is another crazy character that would make so many bad choices but it was a train wreck that was entertaining to watch. I enjoyed the ending, it did something very unexpected, where I was super iffy if tis was the right choice but I was satisfied with the ending, that was very true to one character's character.

What I Disliked: The descriptions are really lacking, it will name this exotic Florida animal and not describe it at all. The book has an over 10 year jump and doesn't catch the reader up with anything that has happened in the last 20 years, which I found really frustrating. I did wonder the point of this novel about midway through, and it's more of a character study than a narrative story.

Recommendation: This novel is not going to be for everybody, the beginning is a little bit of a mess with it's weird time jump. I often wondered the point and where it was going. That being said, the novel is funny if you like show like swamp people, and shows about redneck culture then this book may be right up your alley. There is a trigger warning on violence and a character liking girls too young. I would slightly recommend this one on humor alone. I rated Florida Man by Tom Copper 3.5 out of 5 stars . This one is the most torn I've been on a review in a while, I will read another novel by Tom Cooper.

I could not get into this book at all. The writing was extremely choppy and the characters where unlike able and not well developed. This book just wasn’t for me at all.

I went into this without many expectations except for some kooky Florida fun. I was pleasantly greeted with a story that spans a number of decades and follows characters who you grow to like. By the end it felt like a Cohen brothers movie, which, at least to me is an awesome thing since it provides a near pitch-perfect mixture of humor, introspection, and sentimentality.

When Reed and Heidi, two 17 year olds, find a huge cache of marijuana in a burning plane, they're convinced it's the best thing ever. Well now, years later, that find has come back to bite them. The thing is, things aren't so great for Reed. Heidi's left him to move to New York, his daughter died, and his business- the Florida Man amusement park and the Emerald Island Inn- are being encroached upon by the legendary Florida sinkhole. Worse, even after years, Catface Morales wants what he lost in that plane. It's hard to capture everything that happens in this novel that could almost be described as roliicking. There's a vivid cast of characters who pop in and out over the course of Reed's life. There's no easy answers either for any of them. The synopsis might remind you of early Carl Hiaasen (there's more bite than Dave Barry) and that's a fair comparison. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a fast paced entertaining read than sometimes gets a bit too too but that didn't hamper my enjoyment.

This book is a crazy ride through Florida with aging beach bum Reed Crowe. There is an assortment of quirky characters including drug dealers, a misanthrope, and Crowe's ex-wife who is still in and out of his life. In addition, there are sinkholes, an amusement park, and other odd locations. Spanning several generations, the novel certainly shows Florida at its craziest and is an interesting romp with many laughs.

A fun, quirky, nostalgic look at south Florida in the '80's and beyond.
The “Man” in question is middle aged beach bum Reed Crowe, reminiscent to Jeff Bridges' “The Dude,” yet murkier, more sand-blasted, but no less stoned. Crowe sustains his debt-filled life from the bail of marijuana he confiscated after a plane crash in the Everglades during the late 60's. Crowe and his girlfriend Heidi left the charred plane crew to the elements. Yet someone survived.
Crowe has run the seedy Emerald Isle Inn plus the derelict Florida Man Mystery House for the past several years on a small island in south Florida. His childhood friend Wayne Wade (aka Cool Papa Lemon, aka Mr. Video) is a sun-dried moron who conceals a hidden, darker nature. Wayne is fired and rehired almost daily. Crowe's ex-wife, Heidi, is on an extended overseas journey, displaying her paintings in postcard-printed places. Young apprentice Eddie Moldonado sells stolen bottles of Coke to Crowe's museum and Inn guests. Between grumpy tourists at the Mystery House, bug-infested swamp tours and irate motel guests, Crowe harbors a dark cloud over the guilt of his lost daughter.
Now someone is following Reed Crowe; a blast from the past; an assassin with revenge on his mind. Hector Morales, (aka Catface) survived the plane crash all those years back. The hideously scarred psycho learns of Crowe's whereabouts from (who else?) Wayne Wade and a bloody reunion is hatched.
Mixing elements of Carl Hiaasen, Barry Gifford, Tim Dorsey and even Harry Crews, Tom Cooper creates a nostalgic south Florida with characters that grow upon the reader like coral. The Florida Man Mystery House is a must-see, with relics as numerous and strange as the state itself.
Take a respite from reality and settle in for an even weirder landscape. Tom Cooper's “Florida Man” is the escape we've all been needing; the perfect summer read-away.