I am almost finished reading “Don’t Stop the Carnival” by Herman Wouk. Wouk also wrote the “Caine Mutiny” and so I was expecting a more serious exploration of life in the Caribbean. Boy, was I wrong! This book is hilarious! If you’ve never read it and you are at all interested in life in the tropics, owning a hotel or just want to laugh out loud, you should read this book. I definitely think I should add it to my list of favorite Tropical books.

Apparently Herman Wouk met a man in real life who told him some fantastic stories about life as a proprietor of a tropical hotel resort in the Caribbean. Wouk encouraged him to write a book about it, but the man declined. So, Wouk decides to go check out the Caribbean and falls in love with it himself. He goes and lives on one of the islands of the US Virgin Islands for some 6 or 7 years. “Don’t Stop the Carnival” is a mixing of the crazy stories both he and this man had while living in the Caribbean. He writes about a New York man with a mid-life crisis who buys a hotel resort in the fictional island of “Amerigo” or “Kinja”. From power outages to piles of ants climbing his body, from kooky toothless gondoliers to glamourous movie actresses, this book has it all. And Wouk does a great job of pulling you into each of the characters’ lives, especially that of Norman Paperman, the protagonist.  

I would strongly recommend it!