Stench of Honolulu

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.

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.

Yes, Jack Handy is a person. Non-comic writer nerds remember "Deep Thoughts" on SNL, but those in the know remember him as the creator of Toonces the driving cat and many other weird SNL sketches that usually went over people's heads.This book is a lot like if you took a bunch of Deep Thoughts one-liners and smashed them together in a novel. It's a very pure form of absurdity that is sure to make a small percentage of people appreciate Handy's true genius, and completely alienate the other 90-some percent of people that try to read it. Not every joke hits, but there are some good ones in there. It looks like it would be a light read, with short chapters and big fonts, but it's amazingly dense and probably works better if you don't try to read the whole thing in one shot.There's a very loose plot line here, involving an adventure to find a golden monkey on the lost tropical island of Hawaii, but don't assume anything you know about Honolulu translates here. Handy creates this bizarro version of the island filled with running gags that make the place sound like some awful version of the jungles of Apocalypse Now instead of the land of Don Ho. If you're the kind of person that loves high-concept, plotted fiction with likable characters and building and resolving tension so perfectly timed you could find the page number where item #14 in the Blake Snyder plot outline, you will not like this book. But if Deep Thoughts was more than just a desktop calendar series for you and you can appreciate his bizarre sense of humor, this book is genius.

I bought this book on the very strong recommendation of the Absolute Radio presenter Christian O'Connell, who one morning on his show was saying how much he loved it, that it was one of his favourite books, that he reads it again each year, and that this is the book he gifts to people because it is that funny. I cannot express how disappointed I was with this book. This was the worst book I have ever had the misfortune to read. It is shockingly bad and unfunny. I did not manage to snigger once. Christian said that he loves funny books, well he must love the humour of an adolescent boy because this book appears to be aimed at that demographic. The very poor jokes are set up from a mile away and the punchlines are awful. The protagonist and his friend Don are written as the most stupid people in the world, and the plot is ludicrous. I am amazed that such a terrible book was ever published.

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

Good fun read. A bit mental

The story is driven by a racist and ill-humored main character, telling his vulgar story in absurd ways. The narration is not bad but everything else is.