11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tart Noir at its Best, 10 Dec 2000
By Victor Gischler - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Voluntary Madness (Hardcover)
Sexy, gritty and raw, yet at the same time intelligent and touching, VOLUNTARY MADNESS proves Vicki Hendricks is the queen of noir. The novel is the story of young Juliette and her relationships with the characters around her - especially her drunken, would-be novelist boyfriend Punch. Their plan is to defy the futility of the world by "living wild" in Key West, Florida for a year until their money runs out at which time they will unite in a spectacular, public double suicide. This is a hardboiled book, with vivid, tough prose and crime elements that build as the tale progresses, but the genius of the story is the novel's struggle to differentiate between art and life, and the conflict inherent when these terms become mutually exclusive. A quick and frank read with the ability to cull weak readers from literary herd.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A tongue-in-cheek tour- de- farce of Key West!, 9 Oct 2000
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Voluntary Madness (Hardcover)
Wow! What a tipsy ride through town this was. Hendrick's has really captured the unsavory, but oh so captivating life in Key West. She paints such vibrant characters in this book: a failed flasher--ho!ho!(she can't seem to stun the KW gay guys with her exposed beaver); a pathetic but lovable, suicidal diabetic who is a Hemingway wanna-be; and a Lesbian witch who makes you want to race out and have sex no matter what your prefrences are...
The main duo in the book pull off the zaniest capers. They're literally all over town. If you know Key West you'll love the mixture of real and imagined characters. There's these robberies where the best of Key West food is the target. Chefs all over the island are hoping not to be left out. It's funnier than reading the Key West Citizen's crime report. It's written with more literary pizzazz than Hendrick's has ever shown before.
A parrothead's must. The perfect book to take with you when you visit. The perfect book to remember Key West life...
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Us against the world, babycakes!, 1 Nov 2001
By Vena "Vena's Art Lounge" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Voluntary Madness (Hardcover)
I couldn't believe I actually cried through the last 3 chapters of the book! Ah, the bitter sweetness of true love. The characters were so unapologetically dysfunctional that it made the story that much more real and that much more beautiful. Hendricks makes you feel like you're watching a homemade video of a real-life couple's tragic story.