Book Review

"The novel is done, except for dotting some i's and crossing some t's. There have been thousands of words, added and crossed off, chapters lost and found and gone through the black hole of computer hell to some parallel writers universe. The world also changed forever in the middle of this literary journal after 9/11, which made me realize that now, more than ever, we don't just enjoy our escapism — we NEED it. I lost parents and friends, not to mention a multitude of bonefish and permit flies, sunglasses and space pens, yet I found Cayo Loco."

This is from the Afterword of Jimmy Buffett's novel A Salty Piece of Land. I received it as a Christmas gift and after several months of reading history, to make up for the history education many engineers never seem to get, it was a wonderful break. Jimmy Buffett's world, be it his music, novels or non-fiction is what escapism is all about. A Salty Piece of Land is no exception. Although nothing like the life I have lived it's a bit like the life I would have liked to live. Like life it really doesn't have a plot as such and if there is any hidden meaning or message it may be we take our lives a little too seriously. It is a story about a Wyoming cowboy who ends up in the Caribbean, along with his horse, and has many colorful experiences with many colorful people. In the process he gets as close as you can come to finding the meaning of life and what's really important. It is escapism at it's best. A place where you can get lost in an almost real unreal universe. Along the way you meet a lot of characters that you would have liked to meet in your little section of the Universe. If you would like to take a little trip without going anywhere this is a great ticket to a place that could have almost been.