Book Review

By Derryll White

Hiaason, Carl (2006). Nature Girl.

As is usually the case, Carl Hiaason is on a rant in this novel – several actually. How many times have you been disturbed at supper by telemarketers calling blind? “Hi, I have the simply best deal for you!” Or if not your supper, then your cuddling time, or when you are happily blind-ass drunk, or when you are deep in sleep? Well, Boyd Shreave, working for Relentless Telemarketing Resources, here gets all the payback you could ever imagine when he harasses Honey Santana.

Then there is the whole question of marital fidelity – from both perspectives. I don’t know if Hiaason is married or not, but I cannot help laughing at his comments on sexual relationships. I think he gets it – we are not monogamous and kill ourselves conforming to the social norms. He always makes me laugh more than I intend to, while at the same time forcing me to think through my own life.

Hiaason makes many strong, clear statements about what is and what is not acceptable behaviour between a man and a woman. He also delves deeply into just what love is, or might be. ‘Nature Girl’ is likely to make many men think back on their life and past loves. Equally it might encourage some women to rethink their attitudes and behaviour with regard to men.

In the end it is a fun story with sharp wit, sometimes elastic morals, and an extremely high entertainment value.

****

Excerpts from the novel:

SEMINOLE WAR – Absurdly outnumbered, braves would lure the white infantry deep into the boggy swamps and pine barrens, then attack in lightning flurries. The strategy proved highly effective at first, but in the end the Indians were overrun. Their home camps were razed, hundreds of families were wiped out and nearly four thousand tribal members were deported to Indian Country, the bleak plains of Oklahoma. Nevertheless, the small numbers of Seminoles who remained in Florida refused to surrender, and to this day their descendants have never signed a peace treaty with Washington, D.C.

BUSINESS IN AMERICA – “They talk about free enterprise but in America it’s a myth. They talk about a level playing field, ha! It’s tilted sideways,” Sacco declared, “so that every last penny rolls into Bill Gates’ pocket. That four-eyed fucker’s wired himself a monopoly over the whole damned universe!”

BEMUSED SEX – Eugenie was determined not to repeat the big mistake she’d made with Van Bonneville, which was to underestimate the besotting power of routine sex. Certain men could misread the most perfunctory hand job as a pledge of lifetime devotion. Although Boyd Shreave wasn’t the type to rush out and murder his wife, he was probably capable of other lust-crazed misbehaviour.

THE LESSON – Honey thanked her and continued: “I always tell my son, ‘The world is crawling with creeps and greedheads. Don’t you dare grow up to be one of them.’ And what I mean is: be a responsible person. Is that so hard? To be generous, not greedy…. Compassionate, not indifferent. My God, is there a worse sin than indifference?”

– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them.  When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.

Article Share