A Book Review
By Jonathan Herbert
Coconut Cowboy, a novel by Tim Dorsey, is
both lethal and exuberant. The author
exposes unknown Florida with incredible
wit and precision and Dorsey’s anti-hero, Serge
Storms, is back with a new mission to find the lost
“American Dream” in small-town Florida.
Coleman, his indulgent wingman, joins Serge on
a motorcycle journey that begins in the Florida
Panhandle. A ’72 Mercury Comet speeds west
across the part of the Florida Panhandle in the
gravitational orbit of Alabaman where you find
vegetable stands, Dollar General stores, John 3:16
and “TIRE REPAIRS” written on a half-buried tire
in a front lawn.
“It’s all about small towns,” said Serge. “That’s
where I’ll find my answer.”
“What was the question?” asked Coleman.
“Haven’t you been listening this whole time?”
Coleman picked at a dried stain on his shirt, then
tasted it. “What?”
“The American Dream! That’s my new mission
in life – to find out where it went.”
Serge grabbed a travel mug of coffee.
“When I was growing up in a small town in the
sixties, The American Dream was all around. Back
then, if you worked hard and followed the rules
under the Declaration of Independence, you got
to pursue happiness on the weekend with a
Barcalounger and a hibachi. The mood of the
middle class came down to one word: Relaxed.”
“And today?”
“You do everything right and you’re rewarded
with a weekend of dread. Will I get a pay cut? Will
I get laid off? What if I get sick? Are we all destined
to work part-time? How will my kids do better
than me? Which other Americans did that radio
host say I should hate about this?”
“But what do small towns have to do with it?”
“They still play lawn darts in small towns.”
“Darts?”
Serge nodded.
“The sixties were a looser time.”
The movie Easy Rider was a source of inspiration
for this novel. Dorsey remembers the first time he
watched the film.
“There was a midnight screening at Auburn
University. It was the ABC movie of the week in
1981,” he said.
Serge re-enacts the famous Peter Fonda scene
where he tosses his watch on the ground before
speeding away on his chopper. The difference
comes when Serge picks up the watch because, “I
can’t be late for appointments.”
Dorsey doesn’t ride motorcycles but he does
visit small-town Florida, libraries, and speaking
engagements at Historical Societies every chance
he gets. He vicariously reminds the reader of
interesting facts through Serge Storms such as how
the Florida boarders have changed. There were
originally seven Florida perishes and a Republic of
Florida Highway, if you didn’t know.
Serge and Coleman cruise across the Florida
Panhandle on their own custom chopper with
helmet mics for music and shared dialogue. Their
chopper has to have the same ape hanger handle
bars as Fonda’s. Dorsey laughs at this thought.
“You can’t ride across America with those high
handlebars. It’s crazy to even try it. Peter Fonda’s
arms were killing him for days during the filming of
Easy Rider.”
BOOK
REVIEW