Insane City by Dave Barry

Usually when I choose a book to read, I have heard a little about it beforehand and I have a notion that I'm going to enjoy it. However, in the case of this one I chose it because I knew Dave Barry as a humorist and was curious about his fiction writing.

Insane City takes place during the weekend of Seth and Tina's destination wedding in Key Biscayne, Florida, near Miami. Seth is accompanied by his immature Groom Posse who inevitably convince him to drink irresponsibly during his bachelor party. This was all too reminiscent of the movie The Hangover, with the exception that the groom is the protagonist of Barry's hijinks rather than being relegated to a side character.

The debauchery at local bars leads Seth to be separated from his groomsmen and for the Groom Posse to be separated from their luggage and some of the clothes they were wearing. After smoking pot with his fiancee's sister, Seth saves a Haitian family in the ocean who we'd been introduced to in some earlier, humor-free chapters just so they wouldn't joining the narrative out of "nowhere." Seth sets up the refugee family in his hotel room along with a "stripper" his friends hired and her intimidating but lazy "boyfriend." (Really a prostitute and her pimp.)

Through a series of contrived circumstances, Tina's wedding ring ends up in the hands of an orangutan named Trevor, with Seth trying desperately to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Tina's rich father buys a couple of restaurants after getting high on pot brownies brought to the rehearsal dinner by Seth's mother. And Seth has a series of misadventures with a wannabe model who both think the orangutan is a gorilla.

I'm sorry to say that most of Barry's attempts at comedic situations felt predictable and his characters were all cliches. From the drug humor to the wedding shenanigans to the very presence of a primate, it all seems like things I've seen before and have no desire to ever read again.