A SALTY PIECE OF LAND

Reviewed 2/02/2013

A Salty Piece of Land, by Jimmy Buffett
Cover art by Lonnie Busch
A SALTY PIECE OF LAND
Jimmy Buffett
New York: Little, Brown and Company, November 2004

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN-13 978-0-316-90845-0
ISBN 0-316-90845-2 368pp. HC $9.99

If you like the taste of a lobster stew
Served by a window with an ocean view...1

If you like hearing about exotic places like the islands of the Caribbean Sea...

If you like learning about historic events involving pirates like Jean LaFitte...

You're sure to fall in love with this book.

Its characters are bizarre, and its events are highly improbable. But then, real life is often like that. It throws you curve after curve; it sometimes throws you for a loop. As Jimmy Buffet's tale reminds us, good friends bail you out of life's penalty box, whether you are there through some goofy move of your own or not. And just as real as the doors life slams in your face are the sudden coincidental meetings that open a new path before you.

Jimmy Buffett came to public attention as a singer-songwriter. He is primarily known for his hit "Wastin' Away in Margaritaville" and other songs. But he also has several books to his credit. This one takes us along with protagonist Tully Mars on his journey to find himself and the true love of his life — be that a woman or some task to which he can dedicate himself.

The characters include Cleopatra Highbourne, a still-spry woman of 101 years who has a most interesting past and currently cruises around on a schooner named the Lucretia, and Kirk Patterson, captain of the Caribbean Soul, a tramp steamer on which Tully and his horse Mr. Twain ride to the island of Punta Margarita. Tully never fails to address him as "Captain Kirk."2 There also are: Ix-Nay, the Maya shaman with a degree in archaeology; Donna Kay Dunbar, whom Tully thought might be the love of his life, but life intervened; Waldo and Wilton Stilton, sometime bounty hunters who were a part of the intervention — contracted by "modern-day witch Thelma Barston."

And then there are those tidbits of history:

"Back in 1518, a Spanish expedition led by Juan de Grijalva bobbed on the waters of the Caribbean. They set their gazes shoreward upon a high cliff wedged between the indigo sky and the turquoise sea. There, a city of red, white, and blue buildings stretched so far down the coast that Tulum appeared to them as large as the city of Seville back across the sea in the land of the Inquisition.

"It took the Spaniards a while before they ever set foot in Tulum, due mainly to the fierce determination of the Mayans not to be conquered. But in the end, gunpowder trumped arrowheads, and that was that. The old 'Excuse me, Great Nations of Europe coming through' machismo overpowered the Indians, and the gun-toting, armor-laden, overreligious, disease-ridden, gold-lusting, self-appointed crusaders from the civilized world finally managed to get ashore. Funny thing was, after all that bloodshed in the name of God and Country, it was the mosquitoes that sent them packing after three months."

– Pages 119-120

Tully is a man who loves his freedom. He loves the tropics — loves to fish and to sail and has an innate talent for both. In reading his adventures you can smell the wind foretell a storm; you can feel the ocean fall and rise, and see its raging glory; you can hear the rhythms of reggae or rock'n'roll.3

There's not a whole lot of angst or drama in this novel. It's about people solving problems as they come up, but otherwise getting on with enjoying life to the full. As such, it's nothing very profound. But it is very enjoyable, worthy of full marks. Rather than a keeper, however, I'd call it a book you read and pass to a friend — perhaps one who's been thrown a curve of his own by life.

1 "Old Cape Cod" was one of the songs for which Miss Patti Page was known (Her signature song was "The Tennessee Waltz."). I added this implicit tribute to her because she died on 1 January 2013 and Buffett in an Author's Note dedicates the novel to George Harrison, Fred Neil, Gardner Mckay, and James Delaney Buffett & Mary Loraine Peets Buffett, observing that "Mortality marches on.".
2 And there are some other Star Trek references.
3 Words from songs by Lyle Lovett, Warren Zevon, and Jimi Hendrix enliven the narrative. However, the song "Brandy" (originally recorded by Looking Glass) is not mentioned.
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