Jimmy Buffett (1946–2023)

You don't have to be a Jimmy Buffett fan to enjoy this breezy tale of adventure set around the Caribbean, but it helps if you know his music catalog--why, I will explain in a minute. Part Joseph Conrad and part Gabriel Garcia Marquez with a bit of Indiana Jones thrown in, Buffett draws upon his various literary inspirations to craft this story of a down-on-his-luck seaplane pilot who, on his way to ditching his creditors by relocating to Alaska from Key West, gets tangled up in a mess show more involving a deposed dictator wanna-be and a long-thought-dead rock star--all to make amends with his former girlfriend, with whom he had a tumultuous relationship (but what protagonist hasn't had at least one of those?). Along the way, Frank Bama (yes, it's the same name of the pilot that Buffett occasionally portrays on the revamped Hawaii Five-O) runs into and afoul of a number of shady and shifty characters, a few of whom may have inhabited some of Buffett's songs. One interesting technique Buffett employs is an alternating point of view: when Bama is involved in the story, it is told in first person, but when he is not, it shifts to third person (I detect a Robert Louis Stevenson influence at work). A note of caution--don't take too long between sittings (it is a fast read), because Buffett introduces a number of characters in the story (although not quite Pynchon-esque), and it's easy to forget who is who and what they did. As for knowing Buffett's catalog, he liberally sprinkles song titles and lines from his songs (at least those he had produced prior to 1992) throughout the novel, and it's fun if you can pick up on those. show less

Like many people my age, I first became aware of Buffett thanks to the song "Margaritaville" and the album Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude. And while I have never denied enjoying his raucous party tunes, over the years I have come to appreciate and even prefer his quieter, more introspective songs. With lyrics such as "...painting liquid brushstrokes like Renoir" ("Beautiful Swimmers") and "...then sent me a smile as she reached for Flaubert" ("Love in the Library"), you know the show more man is well-read and--dare I say it?--cultured.

I have wanted to read this book ever since it came out in 1996, but I have held off until this year because, well, I turned 50. Now I am no pirate, and I am not sure I really have a desire to be one, but I was more than curious to see how someone whose work--musical, political, and philanthropic--I admire spent his half-century mark. And spend it well he did, taking family members and friends--along with his two planes--on a jaunt around Central and South America, describing the scenes and situations as only someone with Buffett's eye for the unusual and the sublime can. Along the way, he provides short flashbacks into events of his life, but he doesn't dwell on them, nor does he turn this into a full-blown memoir. Rather, he provides them as back-story into the whys and wheres of this particular escapade, giving the reader glimpses into the people, places, and things that shaped his world.

A Pirate Looks at Fifty is an easy, enjoyable read--perfect for the beach or the hammock, the two spots which I read the bulk of the book. One doesn't need to be a Parrothead, much less a casual Buffett fan, to enjoy this little adventure. All one needs is a taste for the unusual and the ability to sit back and see the world through the eyes of someone "...who has found/If you leave it then somebody else is bound/To find that treasure, that moment of pleasure/When yours it could have been...."

Find this treasure and make it your own. show less

Man, I love Jimmy Buffet. The man is a storyteller extraordinaire and his books just serve to bolster that reputation.

Take a cowboy from Wyoming, transport him to the Caribbean by way of New Orleans and Key West, throw in a Mayan shaman, a 101-year-old sailor with a schooner AND a country singer on a quest and you have one hell of a tale. Highly recommended.

This sat on my shelf for a long time but when JB passed I thought I should read it.
Imagine scattered pieces of brightly colored and bejeweled paper glued together in a kaleidoscopic manner. Wonderous to the eye but with very little depth. I love Jimmy Buffet and his thoughts and style, but his writing, though colorful, is too full of perfect. Perfect people and places and coincidences. But he does bring some of his life and wonderings and wanderings into these collection's of chapters that show more I do enjoy. The atmosphere and habit of spending a life on beaches and seas around the world and having this outlook occasionally made it into the book. RIP JB. show less