Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws and the Demise of an American Dream [Paperback]

Dennis Covington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2005

From the author of National Book Award finalist Salvation on Sand Mountain, a "bracingly original American adventure story" (Publishers Weekly) about a quest for a (very) small piece of the American Dream After his father's death, Dennis Covington plunges into a Florida shootout to claim his only inheritance, two and a half worthless acres of land that his father bought in a real estate scam-but the more determined he becomes to share his father's dream with his own children, the more it seems that his true legacy is bad judgment in real estate. In a tale filled with characters drawn from a Florida like Flannery O'Connor's Georgia, Covington finds his life threatened, his truck torched, and his small cabin shot up and vandalized, but he clings to his inheritance with heartbreaking tenacity. Redneck Riviera is at once a comic and tender celebration of family, a brilliant look at the clash of values tearing much of rural America apart, and a bittersweet comment on our age-old passion to possess and transform the land.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rednecks, armadillos and outlaws all play only ancillary roles in National Book Award nominee (for Salvation on Sand Mountain) Covington's touching, meandering tribute to his father. And although the title is somewhat misleading, the American dream is front and center as two generations of the Covingtons tenaciously pursue it. In 1965, the elder Covington bought a two-and-half-acre plot in River Ranch Acres, a Florida real estate scam. The land was worthless, never surveyed, miles from the nearest road, and when his father died in 1988, the younger Covington inherited it. Unfortunately, a band of locals, hunters and ne'er-do-wells calling themselves The Hunt Club had since fenced off the entire area and, with guns, restricted access to outsiders. Undeterred, deed in hand, the author sets out to understand, then realize, his father's dream. He chases "the crazy idea that any inheritance might be worth claiming, no matter how small, no matter the cost." Though this is a bracingly original American adventure story, there's too much padding in this short, generously spaced book. Covington is an able observer and skilled writer, but his detours-especially to Idaho toward the end of the book-prevent cohesiveness.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"A lively tale packed with swampy southern weirdness, Redneck Riviera eloquently illustrates a primal urge in all of us." -- Outside Magazine

"A rollicking good story." -- St. Petersburg Times

"Covington is a brilliant writer." -- Birmingham News

"Thanks should be given that he stayed alive to tell this strange, headstrong tale." -- Kirkus Reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (January 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582432961
• ISBN-13: 978-1582432960
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,634,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, in fits and starts, March 4, 2004

By 

S. Rosen (NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws, and the Demise of an American Dream (Hardcover)

The core of the book, which is the author's wrongheaded and doomed attempt to reclaim his father's land -- now dominated by local hunters, outlaws and vaguely corrupt law enforcement officials -- is fascinating. Covington's attempt to transfer his dream of recapturing his inheritance to the wilds of Idaho is somewhat less interesting. Most dissapointing, though, is the attempt to string together a narrative over what must be about a decade's chronology. All told, a few key days on his father's land makes up the core of the story, and you don't get a sense of how long or how hard Covington's efforts were.

Interestingly, this area in Florida where the book takes place seems to dovetail with the swamps covered in Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief," which also gives a brief history of the land scam that sets this book's plot in motion.

I'm glad I read the book, though it's less compelling than "Salvation on Sand Mountain," Covington's earlier book on snake-handling and other religiously-driven fervor.

5.0 out of 5 stars Am I showing my age?, January 10, 2011

By 

Cynthia S. Marquez (Miami) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws and the Demise of an American Dream (Paperback)

I'll start by saying I think Dennis Covington is a fabulous storyteller, so keep that bias in mind. His recounting of his youth brings back such viceral memories of family vacations, family dinamics and his relationship with his father, that you almost feel this book rather than read it. The pleasure is in the telling, not the plot.

I have read this book twice and selected it in book on tape form for our last road trip. Just loved it again.

Have also given it as a gift with satisfying results.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent small book!, November 16, 2004

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Redneck Riviera: Armadillos, Outlaws, and the Demise of an American Dream (Hardcover)

Despite its relative lack of heft, this book makes for rich reading. You will learn a lot and think about what Mr. Covington has to say on the subjects of family, land, and place.