The Stench of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure

This silly social and literary parody is a rich success and a fun read. It's not really sophisticated humor, just silly. Do not hesitate to get a copy then lend it to everyone this summer, if you want to raise the level of comedy. Very subversively funny. The timing and content of humor is a perfect balance, clearly the prose of someone with real wit. But not necessarily an avid reader. OK here's the problem, though I give the book five stars. 240 pages in large print = 140 pages of fewer in normal print. The book is too expense in all formats. Author or publisher, please drop the price to $9.99. Then I'll buy copies for friends and leave a copy in the guest bedroom and take a copy to the beach house. This is a very funny novel to be shared.

Step One: Realize that this book was written by Jack Handey, the man responsible for the hilarious series of Deep Thoughts that were hits on both SNL as well as bookstores. The man also wrote some of SNL's best sketches (some of which can be found in his other book, a collection of essays called What I'd Say to the Martians ). If you know about the Deep Thoughts and dislike them, then what the heck are you doing on this page? You go now. Step Two: Still with me? Good. Here's the plot. It follows an unnamed narrator (basically the speaker of all of the Deep Thoughts: a guy with a best friend named Don, a wife named Marta, and a penchant for funny cowboy dances) as he travels to Hawaii(i) to find a Golden Monkey. Hawaii(i), in the novel, is a fetid, disgusting place filled with vicious pirates and natives and an absurdly helpful Tourism Board. The story is full of slapstick, puns, violence, and incredibly silly jokes. If you like your humor to have brows of the highest variety, then you go now. Step Three: Have you ever read any of John Swartzwelder's books? He's the guy that has, so far, written the largest number (and many would argue, the most consistently funny) Simpsons episodes. He has a series of books that are -- in tone, pacing, prose, and style -- nearly identical to this book. If you dislike the Simpsons, or if you've read Swartzwelder's books and dislike them, or if you are just annoyed by how often I've written the name "Swartzwelder" and are beginning to get headachy, then you go now. Step Four: If you are expecting this book to deliver the punchy humor of Deep Thoughts on every page, go ahead and lower that expectation a bit. Handey himself commented in a recent interview that his writing style is about brevity, and that even one deep thought would take him hours to perfect, and would come at the end of a whole lotta failures. Trying to draw that magic out for even the length of this pretty short book is asking a lot more than you should. That being said: I laughed out loud quite a bit when reading this book. I also rolled my eyes a lot, and there were long stretches where I found my enthusiasm for the book dipping down. It's funny. It's just not as funny as I'd wanted it to be. That's my fault, raising my expectations to Deep Thoughts level. I was still entertained and do not regret my purchase, but I also can't honestly say it's as good a book as I think Handey actually has in him to do. End result: if you're not the kind of person who knows how to lower their expectations a few notches, then you must have a spectacular string of failed relationships in your life, and you go now. There. If you're still here, buy the book. It's good stuff. It's not comedy gold, but if it were, it would probably be more expensive, and you wouldn't buy it anyway.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book - it's a quick read, full of campy, silly, dry humor that had me laughing out loud throughout the book! The setting is ostensibly Honolulu... but it's not... it's really kind of a 1950s style B-movie tropical island setting, with amazon-type native women, cannibals, mad scientists and strange creatures. Very campy and funny - similar to an artist who paints a happy squirrel with a few quick brushstrokes, the author brings this setting and these characters to life with only a few vivid words. The style is very dry -- the narrator is a goof, the kind of guy who is very impressed with himself while those around him just shake their heads. He's an unreliable narrator - he describes situations and provides his explanations of what's going on, but his explanations don't quite match up to what the reader understands is really happening, which all goes to great comic effect. The plot itself is sort of an adventure-mystery, but the goal doesn't really matter - it's the trip that's so fun! If you enjoy campy humor, B-movies and silly fun, you will enjoy this book! If you don't really get why TV shows like Batman or movies like Airplane! are so funny, then you should probably skip this one.

The Stench of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure is one of those unique books that must be taken with a grain of salt. Humorist and Author Jack Handey provides a tongue-in-cheek take on travel and leisure writing, and with that sentiment, read for merely sheer pleasure with the least seriousness. This is Handey’s first novel, and having watched the short snippets of “Deep Thoughts” read by SNL cast member Phil Hartman, Handey’s writings are quite funny in their somewhat sarcastic way. But as one reads the book, each chapter comprise of short snippets that resonate of novelty and subtle stereotypes that any general reader may identify with within the lines of popular culture. The image on the cover of the book speaks for itself of the hula girl dashboard and to follow that, thoughts of the Tiki Bar of cocktails with miniature parasols. Basically, the book is a stream of comments and conversations between main character Don and his friend Mr. Slurps decide to take a free trip to Hawaii. And their entire experience are their observations of two friends on a trip that encounter a slew of unusual but interesting observations that any person would talk about in a place that they seldom or never have visited before; jokes and banter of the utmost unpredictability and uncensored. From bizarre encounters in an exotic land, a bit of romance and action and adventure, of over 50 different scenes; and if one over thinks of what each compare to, possibly close to a “Fantasy Island” episode without Mr. Roarke but with a heavy dose of humor. The approach that Handey writes reminds this reader of stories that may have appeared in MAD books or magazine articles or even National Lampoon, an amorous amount of humor that after reading the book, one will wonder where did the time go. The Stench may be the perfect book to take on a road trip or a simply to pass the time away for as little than a day.

Never read anything quite like it. Get past the first few chapters and in the groove of the writing and humour then you are in for a fun adventure. Many laugh out loud moments. Hope there is a follow up. Great read.

Thank you Anthony Jeselnik for pointing me to this.

Vous aimez les histoires ineptes, les personnages creux, les fausses sorties, les mauvais jeux de mots et les mises en abîme à fonctionnement (très) limité, alors vous aimerez The Stench of Honolulu. Jack Handey est le champion d'une forme de minimalisme comique qui flirte avec le foutage de gueule. Humour au troisième degré garanti. Le livre devrait bientôt paraître en français.

Jack Handy is very funny. He's funnier than you are. He's funnier than most. This book proves it.

The humor is pretty basic