The Big Bamboo: A Novel [Hardcover]

Tim Dorsey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2006

His marriage plans fizzled, so Floridaphile serial killer Serge A. Storms is on a new mission: to convince the West Coast movie industry bigwigs to do their business in his beloved Sunshine State. So it's off to Tinseltown with his substance-sustained sidekick, Coleman—to schmooze with craven cokehead producers and visiting Yakuza, who are wrestling to salvage the most disastrous big-budget stinkeroo in the history of celluloid . . . and to radically reduce the rampaging population of true Hollywood slimeballs.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Having previously taken on dirty politics and corporate scandal, Dorsey now skewers Hollywood in his eighth over-the-top novel. Serge Storms (who insists he's not a serial killer because he gets no joy out of it; he's just doing his duty) strikes again (Torpedo Juice; Cadillac Beach; etc.) with his strung-out sidekick, Coleman. Serge's new obsession is insisting that his beloved Florida be represented accurately in the movies and he's even taking a crack at writing a screenplay. He and Coleman end up in L.A., where mayhem ensues, most notably the kidnapping and murder of starlet Ally Street. Dorsey's cartoonish characters include the Glick brothers, slimy, coke-snorting owners of Vistamax Studios; ruthless director Werner B. Potemkin, whose over-budget/behind-schedule blockbusters cost people their lives; and unscrupulous agent Tori Gersh, who uses a rape accusation to secure a leading role for her client. Incorporating Ed McMahon and the prize van, Japanese investors and a trip to the Playboy Mansion, Dorsey takes wacky to a new level that readers will either love or hate. The litmus test is whether readers laugh when Serge tells the nursing home mogul he's about to kill that there is good news: "I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The manic (in fact, more like maniacal) Serge Storms, along with his always stoned, always clueless sidekick Coleman, are back for their eighth outrageous adventure. This time the boys are headed to Hollywood on an escapade that begins, innocently enough, with a letter written by Serge's recently deceased grandfather. The duo hits Tinseltown with a bang (literally) and is soon embroiled in a caper involving a kidnapped starlet, the Japanese yakuza, redneck gangsters, bumbling cops, and twin-brother movie producers who give new meaning to the term "casting couch." Serge and Coleman are an Abbott and Costello for the new millennium as they bumble their way from one ridiculous exploit to another while still saving the girl and giving the bad guys their just deserts. This screwball neo-noir is recommended for all popular fiction collections. Michael Gannon
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (March 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060585625
• ISBN-13: 978-0060585624
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tim Dorsey was a reporter and editor for the Tampa Tribune from 1987 to 1999 and is the author of ten previous novels: Florida Roadkill, Hammerhead Ranch Motel, Orange Crush, Triggerfish Twist, The Stingray Shuffle, Cadillac Beach, Torpedo Juice, The Big Bamboo, Hurricane Punch, and Atomic Lobster. He lives in Tampa, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Humor for the Certifiably Insane, September 3, 2006

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Big Bamboo: A Novel (Hardcover)

If you, too, are annoyed by the guy on the radio who pronounces jaguar like "jag-you-are", then Tim Dorsey's "The Big Bamboo" is likely the ride for you. Sure, Dorsey, like South Park, Family Guy, bungee jumping is an acquired taste, but go ahead and get addicted - he's the funniest thing to hit print since Gutenberg.

I've got to take issue with those reviews who'd rate "The Big Bamboo" a notch below "Hammerhead Ranch" or "Triggerfish Twist". I found "Bamboo" one of his best: a clever and biting parody that playfully skewers Hollywood's plastic pretentious culture and the movies it spews, reality shows, and pop thriller fiction. Back of course is the manic Serge A. Storms, the hyperactive front man set with Coleman, his near-comatose partner - Cheech and Chong for the 21st Century. Not that the plot really matters, but seemingly unconnected capers involving the abduction of a movie starlet, a big budget film disaster, Harvey and Bob Weinstein cloned into Ian and Mel Glick, and an Alabama oil scam mash together in the brand of black humor climax that's by now a Dorsey hallmark. And Dorsey again struts his Olympian command of useless facts and trivia, proving that should you ever show up on Jeopardy, Tim Dorsey is the last smiling idiot you'll want to see standing across from you.

So if you enjoy Carl Hiaasen's biting satire, and find yourself laughing out loud at Dave Barry's slapstick social satire - go demented, go rabid, get unhinged - read Tim Dorsey.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wacky, funny, loose, April 12, 2006

By 

David Swanger "dave" (Auburn, AL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Big Bamboo: A Novel (Hardcover)

Serge and Coleman go to Los Angeles and invade the movie business. Murder, corruption, abduction, surprises and hilarity follow. The story isn't real organized and doesn't have to be. It mostly comes together at the end. Very funny.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Big Step Down, June 7, 2006

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Bonner '62 (Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Big Bamboo: A Novel (Hardcover)

When I discovered this author I quickly bought all his books. I purchased this one in hard cover as soon as it came out. I shouldn't have bothered, this one is not up speed. The book is disjointed and hard to follow and thus, unlike his previous efforts, doesn't hold the reader's attention. I don't mean disjointed in a wacky way that is endearing, I mean disjointed as in bad writing. There are still some laughs but they are few and far between. Some of the evil forces at work are just background noise and you never really have any insight or interest in them. It just kind of limps to a tacky happy ending when the reader has long since lost interest in what's happening. Was the author being too clever by half or is he just running out of steam? I don't know but in the future I'll wait for the paperback version or just hit the library.