#Florida Book Review: ‘Tropical Disturbance’ by Theodore Pratt
Tropical Disturbance by Theodore Pratt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
An uneven book of sex and a monster hurricane in Florida.
The sex: For a 1961 book, this is very explicit in, what might be called, a soft-core kind of way. If the focus was the sexual activity of a small town, the amount of pages of sexual activity might make sense. But a hurricane is the plot of the novel and the excess adds nothing to the overall story.
The hurricane: in my opinion, this book has the best explained hurricane and affects to an area I’ve read outside of non-fiction. Even MacDonald’s ‘Condominium’ doesn’t measure up to Pratt’s more thorough approach.
Pratt sets up the story with folks from out of state to learn from the Florida Cracker. From the Cracker’s introduction, Pratt lays out a How-to-be-a-Cracker, which is informative, but a bit too academic at times.
The characters are pretty stereotypical across the board. Though well written stereotypical. The setting is extremely well done. Especially as the hurricane settles in.
The book ends abruptly for some reason leaving too many loose ends and making the entire experience unsatisfactory.
For the hurricane part: I recommend the book
As a whole: i don’t recommend the book. 4 out of 10 points.
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