Product Description

DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL is Herman Wouk's comedy about living out your fantasies on an exotic Caribbean island.Norman Paperman, a successful Broadway publicity agent, has long dreamed of escaping his high-pressure Manhattan life.In a fit of bravado, he chucks it all and buys an old hotel on tiny, primitive, lush Amerigo island.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22093 in Books
• Published on: 1992-05-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From the Publisher
10 1.5-hour cassettes

About the Author
Herman Wouk (born May 27, 1915) is an bestselling American author, with a number of notable novels to his credit, including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance. He was born in New York City, into a Jewish family that had immigrated from Russia, and received an A.B. from Columbia University. He was first a radio scriptwriter, and worked with Fred Allen, then in 1941 worked for the US government on radio spots selling war bonds. Wouk then joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific Theater, an experience he later characterized as educational; "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." His first ship was the USS Zane, then he was second-in-command on the Southard. He started his writing career onboard, working on a novel during his off-duty hours. He married Betty Sarah Brown in 1945, with whom he had three sons, became a fulltime writer in 1946, and published his debut novel, Aurora Dawn in 1947. In 1952, The Caine Mutiny received the Pulitzer Prize. In 1998, he received the Guardian of Zion Award.

Customer Reviews

Don't stop the Carnival
Haven't had a chance to read this book but am anticipating the read. Book presents nicely

A delightful splash of reality
This is the book for anyone who has considered throwing it all in and running away to the Caribbean. Wouk paints a hilarious picture of a mainlander trying to make it as a resort operator in "paradise." We soon learn that swaying palms and stunning sunsets aren't always what they're cracked up to be. Although "Don't Stop the Carnival" is fiction (right down to the name of island where it takes place) it's a wonderful behind the scenes look at what could be going on while you're basking on the beach sipping your rum punch on vacation. I highly recommend this book.

More suspenseful than I'd expected
I finally got around to reading this after years of listening to the Jimmy Buffett musical (which, contrary to what some earlier reviewers seem to think, already exists). I therefore already knew how the story ended, but with a hundred or so pages left to go I was involved enough to hope they'd changed it from the book. No dice, unfortunately, but it's still a far more engaging story than I was expecting.

If you're wondering - as I was - how a story of a guy who buys a hotel could possibly be entertaining, don't worry. I don't know quite how Wouk did it, but he did. The sequence of events sometimes does seem a bit Hollywood-ish, in the sense that you think things can't possibly get any worse for Norman Paperman and friends, but oh look, they just did. For that matter, they sometimes also get better faster than you'd ever expect in real life. Still, the story does draw you in and make you root for Norman to tough it out regardless of what the island and its cast of loony characters throw at him next. Speaking of which, Wouk is a genius when it comes to original yet strangely convincing characters. Even if the action dragged (which it doesn't), the book would be a fun read for them alone.

Through it all, you just might find yourself wanting to run off to the tropics and start life over again too. Perhaps unintentionally on Wouk's part, the Papermans' lifestyle back in New York comes across as so dreary that it's easy to believe Norman would rather cope with disaster after disaster than go home! It is, of course, easier to say that when we're only reading about the big adventure rather than living it. But it does make for a fun read.