A great premise, but this book really foundered along the way. Each author tried to make it harder for the next one to continue the story, while planting what they thought were land mines along the way. It made for a jumbled mess, for me, and I didn't think it was very funny, either. Some of the authors were quite boring, and I read too many authors to mention.
It would have worked if Carl Hiaasen took the whole thing and wrote it himself. Yes, I am a HUGE fan of his writing. But this would have been more to my liking. I agree with others that there were too many heads, as well. And, I think even Hiaasen was annoyed and rolled his eyes at least a little, on how the others made the manatee so human-like..

A great novel to get a feel for other writers you've never read before. ( )

I forgot to record this when I read it, but I recall being underwhelmed. I think it was praobaly around 2004. ( )

Fun book, interesting way to get a bunch of authors to write one book together. But at the same time...you get a bunch of authors to write one book and a couple of your authors are buttheads. I love Carl Haiasson and Dave Barry, but there are a couple of authors in the book who's chapters took a complete 180 away from main story.

Luckily for us Carl Haiasson ends the book and so he's able to take all the loose ends and weave them into a final ending that does the book justice.

Another good read. Gritty and silly, a good book for the summer. ( )

The structure of "Naked came the Manatee" reminds me of a game we played in primary school; Person A writes something, passes it onto Person B, who adds to Person A's story, etc., so it ends up like Chinese Whispers. The end result of "Naked came the manatee" is somewhat better written than what my fellow students and I came up with but reading it made me nostalgic for books with a single author.

It was disjointed but it was also not overly interesting and it was only a testament to my staying power that I finished the book. Still, others with more nostalgic memories of their primary school class writing projects may enjoy it more. ( )

The concept is more fun than the book. If I knew some of the characters from other books written by some of these authors, I might have liked it more. Fidel Castro and international conspiracies figure in this fast-paced, humorous story. ( )