Customer Reviews

The Man Who Invented Florida (Dead Letter Mysteries)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One reviewer posted that "even an average Doc Ford story is better than most". While that's certainly true, I'm not sure this is an "average" Doc Ford story--it's just different.

Because it's barely about Doc Ford. Oh sure he appears here and there and sort of rescues the situation at the end. But the story is really about Doc's uncle and his Indian friend/co hort.

Which by the way, does make this the funniest in the Doc Ford series.

Having read every one of the 10 Doc Ford books as of end of 2003, here's my list of how they all rate, (drum roll, please):

(5 stars)
Captiva
Twelve Mile Limit
Shark River
The Heat Islands
Ten Thousand Islands
Sanibal Flats (the first in the series)

The following are the 4 stars in the series--great stories, but I wouldn't recommend them as a first read of the author:

Everglades
The Man Who Invented Florida
North of Havana
The Mangrove Coast

This book starts slow and decelerates from there. Based on the reviews on the back cover I was expecting a captivating read, what a disappointment.
I found the storyline as engrossing as watching the weather channel. I wanted to give it a fair chance, so I read it all the way through. That's 5 hours of my life I'll never get back.

The Doc Ford books are some of my favorite beach reads. I like Randy Wayne White's characters and his ecology lessons. That said this is the third in the Ford series and no doubt the book that has less Doc and Tomlinson, his pal, and we get Ford's Uncle Tucker Gatrell and his friend Joseph Egret. The story about a fountain of youth is really laugh out loud funny. Great characters, and humor, alas, less Doc. I still recommend it and if you are reading the set of Doc's books, three is a must. By the by, read the books in order.

As has been said countless times here, this is a different type of Doc Ford book. Perhaps I did somewhat of a disservice to myself---I started my love of (fictional) Randy Wayne White with "The Ten Thousand Islands." I then worked my way backwards to "The Mangrove Coast," "Captiva," and "North of Havana." I have yet to pick up "Sanibel Flats," but I plan to very soon.

Each of those aforementioned books (with the exception of "Sanibel Flats" and the present review) is Doc Ford tales in the first person. This book is told from the third person. It is a somewhat difficult transition to make. The same is true for "Sanibel Flats"---I've discovered that from a cursory glance at it.

Doc Ford works so brilliantly in the first person, it's hard to accept anything else. Perhaps it sounds a bit odd, but it causes a little alienation to arise between the reader and the character that is Doc Ford. In other words, the reader does not feel as "inside" the character. Presumably this is intentional, but it is difficult coming from the more recent Ford tales to the earlier ones.

That aside, this isn't a typical Doc Ford novel either. It places a bigger spotlight on Tucker Gatrell (Ford's uncle) and his "friend" Joseph Egret. But it is a Ford adventure nonetheless, and it is a (...) good one at that. Randy Wayne White is an absolute master of this genre, and, as many reviewers state, is the definite heir apparent to the throne of John D. MacDonald/Travis McGee.

Definitely pick this one up at some point. Start from the beginning and work your way forward rather than vice-versa. And, definitely pick up his non-fictional works as well. They are absolutely amazing. I can't wait until his new non-fiction work is released in January.

Also, if you haven't already done so, look into anything by James Hall. I'll leave it up to you to find (come on, don't you want to find anything yourselves?!! j/k), but there is an absolutely fantastic Hall book that involves the very same subject matter of White's "Ten Thousand Islands." It is very good to read them back to back.

Enjoy!

While it's true you'll see less of Doc Ford in this story, it's roaringly funny. I'm not sure why some reviewers gave it a "yawn" -- I guess they don't like White's vivid descriptions -- but I love them. I can see, feel and taste the real Florida (and the not so real Florida) when I read this book.

I like Randy Wayne White. I started late with his books so I had not yet read some of his earlier works. I just finished The Man Who Invented Florida. I kept waiting for something to happen. Nothing ever did. It was just a rambling mess composed of several loosely connected stories. There was no tension or drama. Nothing interesting, funny or exciting went on. Had this been the first (or even second or third) Doc Ford book I had read, it would almost certainly have been the last.

Unless you have an obsessive/compulsive personality and just have to read everything an author produces, I strongly recommend giving this one a pass.

All Randy White books are great reading. The Striker books were obviously written under duress and if I had read them first, well, I would not have finished the first one. Luckily for me I began with the Doc Ford series of which I consider " The Man Who Invented Florida " to be the best of them all! I started with Doc Ford which is what I suggest to everyone because you won't believe the same person wrote the Striker's; In fact, they didn't.

As mentioned by previous reviewers, this novel is more about Doc's Uncle Tuck than it is Doc Ford. So of course, it's in the third person and is the funniest one that I've read yet.This is Doc Ford #3, and I definitely recommend reading THE HEAT ISLANDS and SANSIBEL FLATS first.

Typical Randy White noval. I have read almost all of them and he is just a great writter.

As a historian who loves a good Florida story, this Randy Wayne White novel really tickled my funny bone. I was not at all put off that it was not a "typical" White novel, but enjoyed every minute of its bizarre twists and turns, its leg-pullin' blended with understandings of Florida's environmental systems. I found it captivating from start to finish. Having waded into the heart of the Fakahatchee Strand, slogged through mangrove swamps in Tampa Bay, and searched Florida archives, I can relate to much of White's tale. This is probably not a book for city-slickers, but by reading it Florida's northern transplants might learn a few lessons as to why Florida is so incredible.