Customer Reviews

The Flamingo Rising

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What good things can I say about Flamingo Rising that hasn't already been said? I completely enjoyed this story and was mesmerized by the innocent coming-of-age story by the narrator, Abraham. This novel is a quick read, chock-full of meaning and sweetness, and invokes a peaceful feeling of nostalgia for the bygone days when there was nothing more magical than a drive-in theatre.

Flamingo Rising tells the story of the feuding Lee and West families in the 1960s. Turner West has built his funeral home overlooking the Atlantic ocean. Not long after, Hubert Lee builds his lifelong dream -- the world's largest drive-in theatre, an icon of life, happiness and merriment -- right next door to the funeral home. Their sparring is nothing short of funny and immature. But what happens later, the involvement of Turner's daughter, Grace, and Hubert's son, Abraham, is what really spark the flames. It's Romeo and Juliet with a twist!

I urge everyone to read Flamingo Rising. The story is told through the eyes of the almost-50 Abraham as he reflects on his childhood and his coming-of-age. However, it is so much more than a love story between the children -- the drive-in employees are so much like a family, the relationship of the Lees and Wests are at times riotous, bittersweet and poignant. And the ending was totally unexpected and very moving. Larry Baker has created a sweetly atmospheric story and one that will stay with me forever. A feel-good, warm-in-the-belly kind of book. If you see a copy, grab it!

Rita Mae Brown with a little more scope, Tom Robbins stopping before the exaggeration is bigger than life, John Irving's thoughtfulness--with a touch of early, fresh, lean John Updike. The prose on page 1 of The Flamingo Rising is strikingly good, and the story that starts there is unfailingly fascinating: funny, simple, metaphorical, true.

These crazy Southern parents are much loved, fully human, and never mere caricature (I have crazy Southern parents: I know). The young man coming of age is also a Korean-adoptee narrator whose sense of himself and life is reflected both in the story's larger metaphors (e.g., Frank the dog, the giant image-tower, a graveyard by the sea, a house of images) and in a thoughtful narrative voice old enough to give one a sense of life and life's passing but true to its youth--also offering a cool but undistanced contrast between its simplicity and life's glorious exaggerations.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in: a contemporary boy's coming of age; the problem of being one's parents' child; humor and profundity where unusual life shows you life at its heart; a very moving, very funny story; how to run a drive-in. And not least for the voice of the narrator. There are a couple of sermons underlying the thoughtfulness, but it's good to have folks like this in the pulpit. (The prose continues to be good) Thanks to Mr. Baker for a deeply moving and delightful work of art.

Larry Baker's "The Flamingo Rising" provides a remarkably insightful look into a time period often characterized as "dull." His characters resonate with deft depictions of memorable individuals. You will identify with the eccentrics who populate this entertaining novel, and you will eagerly anticipate the publication of his second novel. If no other follows, it would still stand on its own much as "Catcher in the Rye" would have guaranteed Salinger his permanent place in American literature.

This is a delightful book with vivid characters that you want to meet! In fact, this book is so original and fun to read, I had to keep looking at the picture of Larry Baker and wonder -- how does he come up with these people and situations? It's easy to try and compare Baker with John Irving...since both have Iowa City roots...but I'd compare this book more to "The Shipping News" -- you actually LIKE the characters and care about what happens to them. Yes, yes, yes -- give it a try! Let's encourage MORE first time authors like Larry Baker.

All I can say is: read this book. If you're an adult who was lucky enough to have a drive in to go to, you'll love it. If you have never been to one, you'll still love it. The descriptions about the running of such a place is worth the price alone. You'll meet a family who's father decides to make his neighbor's life a living hell--all using the giant screen and fireworks. The fact that the neighbor runs a funeral home is even more delicious. There are great characters all along the way in this tale including a dog that lives in the attic, a tic-ridden airplane pilot, a nympomaniac and a lady that dies on the toilet. A great coming of age story set in the '60's that you'll think about long after you're finished. The ending is both poignant and heartfelt. Like I said, A Keeper!

i grew up w/ a drive theatre in my town-one of only three in the state. it closed three years ago-just after i finished high school. it was a tremendous loss. for anyone who ever felt the magic of the drive-in, a big outdoor party and a night at the movies all in one- this book will be a nostalgic look back. for anyone who loves reading books w/ characters make you laugh out loud and whose grief can make you cry- you will love this book. also-as someone who often judges books by their covers- i bought the hardcover edition-which had a very '50ish art deco look. do not judge by this cover. you will miss a wonderful chance to meet characters who will crawl into your heart and stay there.

This book was a good read but not quite in the can't-put-it-down category. It's about a 1960's nuclear family who operate a massive drive-in theater along Florida's Atlantic coast south of Jacksonville. The cast of characters grows to include a Scatman Crothers-type black handyman (only he's very short) and a part terrier/part wiener dog (who becomes unforgiveably vicious). Most of the doings concern the interplay between the lurid but fun cinema and the staid but necessary funeral chapel next door, especially the Romeo-and-Juliet substory of the narrator and his girl. The prose style hit the right buttons: it was neither too colloquial nor too U-of-Iowa-Workshop, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, though, there was often some heavy-handed foreshadowing of events to come. Anticipating one tragic scene, we witness it through the eyes of a 16-year-old boy, the adult he has become, with symbolism, and with ironic detachment. In this sense the novel is over-engineered. Baker is too good at his craft; he's already experienced enough to go for an effect once and get it right. I look forward to his next book.

The Flamingo Rising appeared under the Christmas tree with my name on it, and when I picked it up to while away some dreary post-holiday afternoons I was most pleasantly surprised. The story is immediately engaging; as for its cast, I found myself imagining the later lives of a number of the characters, a full day after I had finished the book. (I always take this to be a good sign.) Every once in a while the very oddities of the book weighed it down, and my suspension of disbelief faltered; but these very oddities make the book charming, and provide very good entertainment indeed. A great gift, and many thanks to the giver!

Though compelling, The Flamingo Rising ultimately disappoints. The characters are mostly wonderful (read full of wonder, wondrous traits) and the story is interesting enough to keep the reader turning pages, but the author is too present, the omissions are disappointing, and the overall spirit of the work too preachy. Why does Abraham keep a house only for photographs? Because this is a novel, that's why. Why is a vicious dog allowed to live on a floor all by himself? Because this is a novel, that's why. Why is the use of bad language written ABOUT and AT rather than included in dialogue? Because this is a novel, that's why. Because we are allowed to know ABOUT the characters, but the author's own prudishness dictates that we not hear the characters.

I picked up this book because of the promising quote from a critic comparing Baker to John Irving and Pat Conroy. Baker does not have the skill of either of these great writers. The only trait he shares, and it's a good one, is the ability to let the reader know exactly what is going to take place and still make him/her want to keep turning pages.

I liked this book, but it left me somewhere between amused and perturbed. "Show, don't tell" is a lesson writers hear over and over again. Baker insists on telling us about anything he deems unessential or off-color. Show, don't tell, Mr. Baker. Or leave it out completely. And mostly, leave yourself out.

I absolutely adored this book. I took my time reading it because I felt like I was a part of it. It has characters in it that anyone can relate to. You must know from the beginning that a tragedy does occur but it is not what the book is all about. Don't look for this to happen. Just enjoy the book as it unfolds and the tragedy will not ruin it for you. It's just wonderful. It all works. It is America with all it's cliques, colorfulness and newness.