Customer Reviews

The Big Bamboo

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The Big Bamboo is the eighth in Tim Dorsey's far-out series centered around one of the most bizarre characters in contemporary fiction. If you haven't had your sensibilities dulled by one of his earlier installments, this one will probably be a tad off-putting. You have to get to know Serge before trying this one; I recommend you recover from "Cadillac Beach" or "Torpedo Juice" first. Nontheless, I have to give this 5-stars. Not because it was funnier that Cadillac Beach, (which almost made me crash my car while listening to it on audiobook), but because Dorsey's prose has evolved from rapid-fire pellet gun to 12-gauge shotgun blast. Dorsey isn't as "at home" in Hollywood CA as he is in Hollywood FL, as others have noted, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve 5-stars in tribute to his devastating expose of all the lunacy in our corroded culture that we embrace as if it were perfectly normal. I don't consider myself well-read, but Serge Storms is one of the most evocative fictional characters outside the established literary classics that I know of. He makes my skin crawl and assaults my funnybone all in the same paragraph. Sometimes I wish I were him and the rest of time I praise God that he isn't real. (He isn't, is he?). The truth is, there usually isn't anyone in a Dorsey novel that you can relate to without feeling horribly sorry for, and I sometimes wonder if Serge would find me "one of those people who just need killing." You just have to let go and appreciate the essence of his satire: that the sane are the cursed ones and the insane have all the charm. By that measure, most of us are cruelly sane. I reluctantly acknowledge Dorsey's brilliant skill at illustrating that fine point.

Tim Dorsey does it again. This summer, Serge and Coleman are on a road trip to Hollyweird - and their perfect madness will have you laughing out loud on the beach during your read. If you've never read anything by Tim before - buy them all up and read them for a summer of fun - hey, it's only the middle of July - still lots of time to read all 8 and fall in love with crazy Serge and his loveable stoned sidekick Coleman.

Hollywood and scandal, a combination that is always interesting and riveting is presented within the novel "The Big Bamboo." The "Big Bamboo" by Tim Dorsey is an exhilarating comical mystery novel that leaves the reader in laughter and suspense at the same time. In this novel Serge A. Storms returns from Tim Dorsey's earlier novel, "Torpedo Juice," to wreak havoc once more. "The Big Bamboo" is a novel that tells three different stories that eventually converge into one in the end. It is the story of Serge and Coleman, two seemingly psychotic characters on a quest to return the movie industry back to the Floridian scene and the story of Ford and Mark, two country boys seeking to make riches in Hollywood. The book also describes the story of Ian and Mel Glick, owners of Vistamax Studio, who are seeking to make money in order to pay off a Japanese mob. The three stories all converge amongst the death of famous actress Ally Street. One should read this book if you read and liked "Torpedo Juice," because "The Big Bamboo" is even more comical and suspenseful. Tim Dorsey has hit the target with this book and once you start reading the book it will be difficult to put it down until the last page. This is a book that you cannot predict the outcome of, because the story line is always changing and new surprises are always arising.

I'd have to agree that there aren't as many 'laugh out loud' parts, as in previous novels, but this novel is still hilarious, especially the dialogue. Tim Dorsey is, and will remain, one of my favorite authors. His novels entertain to the maximum. I can truly say that I always seem to get a little disappointed when I come to the end, only because I know the ride is over. Keep'em coming.

Highly recommended.

I am a fan of Tim Dorsey and his works. I stumbled upon him by accident after having read my latest Carl Haiiasen Book, and boy am I glad I did. I was a little disappointed in this book because I felt it lacked the edge that some of his earlier novels had. The "creative violence" of Serge just isn't there and the laugh at loud moments are few and far between. Don't get me wrong, you will find very few authors who write with the creativity and twisted humor that Tim does...but this novel is lacking in some of the grit of the first few novels. I like Tim's books because I am a Floridian and when the plot stays within the state, for me personally, it makes for a better read. I hope the next novel gets back to the roots of the first few books.

Mr. Dorsey can't always be "on," and Torpedo Juice is a hard act to follow, so the latest falls near the bottom of my Dorsey list. If this was the first Dorsey book I'd read, would I read another? Yes. It's just that this one falls a little flat. Maybe it's because Dorsey isn't at home in LA like he is in Miami, but this story was just a lot of following Serge and Coleman on their frenetic tour of LA when they weren't doing much of anything.

Because of a scam his grandfather pulled, Serge goes to LA with Coleman drinking by his side, and becomes part of a kidnapping scheme with a willing prima donna kidnapee, who suddenly becomes the toast of Los Angeles. Dorsey's trademark irony is there, slinking through the Hollywood stereotypes, but what's missing is the wicked edge of his humor. The plot that unfolds involves a struggling screenwriter getting screwed by the movie moguls who try to steal his screenplay, and find themselves secretly dealing with kidnappers Serge and Coleman, who are just playing their roles in a master plan.

Perhaps if Dorsey could have loved Los Angeles his biting humor might have come through, but I had to settle for a couple of chuckles. Sorry, LA, you failed to inspire. As for Dorsey, he's incapable of writing a bad book, though he's written better. I think he ought to hop on the trend and write a children's book--if for nothing but to create priggish outrage--which would be a huge hit, of course. Meanwhile, all the things he couldn't write for children might start to stew into something wickedly hilarious for Serge's return to the Sunshine State.

This one is the best so far. Of course, I've said this with every TD book that comes out. What a joy to have someone who loves history like I do and loves to laugh at us humans!

I'm used to people staring when I've laughing my head off.