A Salty Piece of Land By Jimmy Buffett Reviewed

By Sandy Amazeen Dec 15, 2004, 2:48 GMT

Tully Mars handed his boss; the wicked witch of the west his resignation by throwing a massage table through her plate glass window at the ranch where he had worked for most of his life. After gathering some treasured belongings together, loading his horse Mr. Twain into the trailer and hitting the road, Tully made a vow to only work for himself. He looked forward to a life of freedom. It was a good plan but didn’t take into account the lengths his crazy boss was willing to go to in order to exact her revenge upon him. Thus a series of events is set into motion that puts Tully on a whole new life path and turns a Wyoming cowboy into a lighthouse restorer.

Tully finds himself a wanted man being tracked by a couple of bounty hunters from which he narrowly escapes capture by getting work and passage for himself and his horse on a shrimp boat bound for Mexico via Key West. During this trip Tully learns an appreciation for the sea, meets renowned music star Willie Singer and gets himself a job as a fly fishing guide at Lost Boys Resort on Crocodile Rock. There Tully learns about ocean life above and below the waters and meets an ever-wider assortment of odd and interesting characters that propel him forward on the strange currents of life. The most notable of these is 101 year-old Cleopatra, ship captain of a 142 foot two masted schooner who takes Tully under her wing. 

Everyone should have some big dreams, some are just bigger, more difficult to realize then others. Cleopatra’s dream is to restore the old ramshackle lighthouse on Cayo Loco. To do this, she has dedicated a great portion of her time and money trying to locate a genuine Fresnel lens to replace original that was smashed decades ago. Against the odds and with the assistance of a motley, improbable group of fisherman, shaman, pilots, singers and guides, Tully helps Cleopatra see her dream come true. The soul of the light is restored and Cayo Loco is reborn.

This was an unusual read. The story telling is convoluted, the characters while interesting just don’t ring true to life and anyone with working knowledge of horses will find themselves shaking their heads. That’s not to say that it’s not a fun tale, just don’t expect too much from it. Buffett has built himself a following as a writer, his style quirky and quick. Personally I found the intertwining of characters just too far fetched, it took about 250 pages before I was able to get into the story. While some of the descriptions and expressions were entertaining, they weren’t enough for me to give this book a top rating.

You can see further details on the book in our database and also read a sample chapter in excerpts.

A Salty Piece of Land is available now in all good stores and via the links below.