What do you think?
Rate this book
Florida Frenzy
"Fourteen essays and articles and three short stories that will hit you right between the eyes. Crews writing is informed by a deep love of language, literature, nature, blood sports, and his own kind of people--namely rural, southern, hard-drinking, honest-measure hell-raisers. We are all lucky to have him to tell us about cockfighting, dogfighting, mending an injured hawk, becoming a great jockey, poaching gators, and taking ourselves much too seriously"-- Chicago Tribune "The author’s gifts include an elegant and easy style, a knack for telling a good story, and a wry and riotous sense of humor. . . . Unforgettable characters whose preoccupations evoke such memorable detail. Despite the concreteness of his descriptions, his sports cronies and the bar rats he encounters take on a universality in his graceful prose."-- Newsday
In this collection of fiction and essays, Crews focuses on the people and places of Florida--full of natural wonders and other, grimier delights that make perfect grist for his forceful style, Southern Gothic sensibilities, and rowdy sense of humor. From poaching gators, to the Gatornationals, to cockfighting--a must-have collection for Harry Crews fans new and old.
In this collection of fiction and essays, Crews focuses on the people and places of Florida--full of natural wonders and other, grimier delights that make perfect grist for his forceful style, Southern Gothic sensibilities, and rowdy sense of humor. From poaching gators, to the Gatornationals, to cockfighting--a must-have collection for Harry Crews fans new and old.
138 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1982
11 people are currently reading
403 people want to read
About the author
Harry Crews
68 books646 followersHarry Eugene Crews was born during the Great Depression to sharecroppers in Bacon County, Georgia. His father died when he was an infant and his mother quickly remarried. His mother later moved her sons to Jacksonville, Florida. Crews is twice divorced and is the father of two sons. His eldest son drowned in 1964.
Crews served in the Korean War and, following the war, enrolled at the University of Florida under the G.I. Bill. After two years of school, Crews set out on an extended road trip. He returned to the University of Florida in 1958. Later, after graduating from the master's program, Crews was denied entrance to the graduate program for Creative Writing. He moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he taught English at Broward Community College. In 1968, Crews' first novel, The Gospel Singer, was published. Crews returned to the University of Florida as an English faculty member.
In spring of 1997, Crews retired from UF to devote himself fully to writing. Crews published continuously since his first novel, on average of one novel per year. He died in 2012, at the age of 78.
Crews served in the Korean War and, following the war, enrolled at the University of Florida under the G.I. Bill. After two years of school, Crews set out on an extended road trip. He returned to the University of Florida in 1958. Later, after graduating from the master's program, Crews was denied entrance to the graduate program for Creative Writing. He moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he taught English at Broward Community College. In 1968, Crews' first novel, The Gospel Singer, was published. Crews returned to the University of Florida as an English faculty member.
In spring of 1997, Crews retired from UF to devote himself fully to writing. Crews published continuously since his first novel, on average of one novel per year. He died in 2012, at the age of 78.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
June 16, 2019
These are stories from magazine articles in the 1970s, 1980s, etc... mostly nonfiction. I'm a huge fan of Crews, and I love his nonfiction. He is a little like Hunter Thompson, getting in and becoming part of his stories, but without the histrionics. He gets his facts straight from the source, and you will learn the truth (without the moralistic spin) of cock fighting, car racing, dog fighting, horse racing, women chasing, brawling, hunting, crocodile poaching, mansweat bodybuilding, etc... Harry will get you in there to your elbows, with blood and pain pulsating - one of the fiction pieces was surely a prototype of "The Gypsy's Curse", one of my favorites of his.
After reading a lot of highbrow / history, I needed me a little viscera - and Crews always satisfies. Especially in the deep south, with humidity and fresh, natural and manmade horrors all close to the skin.
After reading a lot of highbrow / history, I needed me a little viscera - and Crews always satisfies. Especially in the deep south, with humidity and fresh, natural and manmade horrors all close to the skin.
August 26, 2017
Thirteen short essays (four reprinted from Blood and Grits) and anecdotes from Crews' adult life in and around Gainesville, Florida. Between cockfights, fistfights and dogfights there's hard drinking, gator hunts, drag racing and an interview with a horse jockey. I'll take exception to Crews' line-in-the-sand stance that all science fiction is garbage (as are the people that read said books), but the rest is his story to tell of growing up poor in a violent redneck (grits) world.
The collection also contains three pieces of fiction: a well written short story ("The Enthusiast") along with a chapter from "Naked in Garden Hills" and "The Hawk is Dying" - both sadly out of print.
The collection also contains three pieces of fiction: a well written short story ("The Enthusiast") along with a chapter from "Naked in Garden Hills" and "The Hawk is Dying" - both sadly out of print.
March 8, 2008
I don't see this book very often so I snagged it when I spotted it on the shelf. I've liked his non-fiction quite a bit in the past and he is one of my all-time favorite novelists. I'm also hoping to find time to read his latest book, American Family, soon as well.
Post-read: Crews non-fiction selections are pretty tight little stories. But I think the highlight was actually the last piece, a short fiction called The Enthusiast. Seeing Crews write a tale about a lawyer playing handball and imagining a sexual olympics confirms to me that his range can be pretty startling. Good stuff.
Post-read: Crews non-fiction selections are pretty tight little stories. But I think the highlight was actually the last piece, a short fiction called The Enthusiast. Seeing Crews write a tale about a lawyer playing handball and imagining a sexual olympics confirms to me that his range can be pretty startling. Good stuff.
May 21, 2010
Strong prose written straight from below the belt. He writes without the need for hovering moral judgment or politeness about so many taboo subjects of a hidden America.
October 27, 2017
Great journo collection of Harry's wilderness years, during which he grew a son. Largely sweet, Crews was everything Hemingway wanted to be but was far too big a(n) _____ to pull off.
September 1, 2020
Harry Crews is one of my literary heroes. In this collection of 13 essays and articles and 3 short stories you will see why Crews was one of a kind. The majority of the essays come from his time spent writing for Esquire magazine when it was still concerned with publishing interesting articles. I wish that Crews was still alive so that I could write him a fan letter and tell him how deeply his writing affected me. A true first class world beater, his biography, A Childhood, is a unique heartbreaking account of growing up in South Georgia in a place that god had long forgotten about. Crews writes from the heart and there is no sugar coating, no wasted words, no pandering to his audience. Read this book and have the scales fall from your eyes; mourn the loss of an extraordinary talent and rejoice that there were certain publishers that were wise enough to recognize true genius.
February 11, 2023
I’m a little confused why FLORIDA FRENZY was published. It only contains one original essay, “Teaching and Writing at the University.” The other twelve were previously published in various magazines, and five of them were already collected in BLOOD AND GRITS, which was published only three years earlier than FLORIDA FRENZY. One of the three fiction selections, “The Enthusiast,” is a reworking of the opening of Part 2 of the novel A FEAST OF SNAKES, and, coincidentally, also serves as the opener to the novel ALL WE NEED OF HELL, published five years later. Of the last three Crews books I’ve read (FLORIDA, FEAST, and ALL WE NEED), this scene of Duffy Deeter’s genocidal sexual fantasies has been in each one of them, nearly verbatim. I mention this because FLORIDA FRENZY makes it obvious that Crews had a knack for recycling his own material. There’s so much repetition of theme and prose in FLORIDA FRENZY that you’d think Crews strung the essays together from a master-list of phrases he had already published but liked so much he wanted to use them once more. For instance, “Why I Live Where I Live” and “Goat Day Olympics” share a word-for-word paragraph about Crews’s love for the South. “Cockfighting” and “A Day at the Dogfights” are also essentially the same essay about man’s immoral bloodlust, just swapping cocks for pitbulls. On the other hand, “The Hawk is Flying,” “Tip on a Live Jockey,” and “Tuesday Night” are pretty great and mostly original, although they’re outliers in the collection. Ultimately, even though it’s extremely short, reading FLORIDA FRENZY leaves you feeling like you’re reading the same two or three essays over and over again. Definitely not the best output from Crews, unfortunately.
May 13, 2023
3.5 stars. Some good stuff here. Crews comes across as a stereotypical “man’s man” with essays about gator poaching and horse racing. Mostly essays in this book with three fictional stories or excerpts at the end. Final story contained characters from the book All We Need of Hell.
May 1, 2011
I guess Harry hitched to Jacksonville, or maybe it was St. Augustine, a trip to see Frank Slaughter...
could be off on the name, Frank Slaughter, but he did make a trip to see some guy, a writer, and I dunno if the guy came out in a bathrobe, or what...one of those watershed events...to think that a writer needed to take a shower on occasion.
heh!
so, there I was, hoping to matriculate to UF, look at what's available, and I see this creative writing course w/Harry. as I recall, some lady at the table said something about needing permission from the man, or something of that nature.
so. i get in the car...this after working up the gumption--look at him---and maybe a beer for fortitude, drive north on 13th...small shack on stilts, not much in the way of light--this is at night, right? small dog yapping away. pull in, leave the headlights on, go and knock.
and knock.
dog is yapping.
finally, i figure, well, he must be out and about.
i head back to the car, this big boat from detroit, and i hear, 'you lookin for something, dude?'
not in an altogether friendly tone of voice.
--i mean---look at him.
heh. i say, yeah! i'm lookin for harry crews!
that changed everything. he comes down off the front porch, barefoot....in a bathrobe...white...terrycloth. the dog is still yapping. he hollers for it to be quiet. the dog gives him a couple more and quiets.
anyway, come to find out that the course was not be be offered that summer. damn. and so later it happened, the course, a course.
but what i figure is to tie it all up, anonymous, tie it to a concrete block, hammer-throw through a publisher's window. get their attention. see what happens.
harry writes some great yarns. check him out.
could be off on the name, Frank Slaughter, but he did make a trip to see some guy, a writer, and I dunno if the guy came out in a bathrobe, or what...one of those watershed events...to think that a writer needed to take a shower on occasion.
heh!
so, there I was, hoping to matriculate to UF, look at what's available, and I see this creative writing course w/Harry. as I recall, some lady at the table said something about needing permission from the man, or something of that nature.
so. i get in the car...this after working up the gumption--look at him---and maybe a beer for fortitude, drive north on 13th...small shack on stilts, not much in the way of light--this is at night, right? small dog yapping away. pull in, leave the headlights on, go and knock.
and knock.
dog is yapping.
finally, i figure, well, he must be out and about.
i head back to the car, this big boat from detroit, and i hear, 'you lookin for something, dude?'
not in an altogether friendly tone of voice.
--i mean---look at him.
heh. i say, yeah! i'm lookin for harry crews!
that changed everything. he comes down off the front porch, barefoot....in a bathrobe...white...terrycloth. the dog is still yapping. he hollers for it to be quiet. the dog gives him a couple more and quiets.
anyway, come to find out that the course was not be be offered that summer. damn. and so later it happened, the course, a course.
but what i figure is to tie it all up, anonymous, tie it to a concrete block, hammer-throw through a publisher's window. get their attention. see what happens.
harry writes some great yarns. check him out.
February 19, 2019
I had already read the fiction part of the book, consisting of selections from The Enthusiast (a novella that itself formed the first part of All We Need of Hell), The Hawk is Dying, and Naked in Garden Hills. The earlier half of Florida Frenzy consists of articles written, with one exception, for various magazines and the topics of which are focused on drinking, fornication and other blood sports such as cockfighting and dogfighting.
All of this is classic Crews. My favorite article, however, was the first, and the only one specially commissioned for the book. That one is about creative writing, and it makes you realize just how much heart Harry Crews had, and why people who took his class were fortunate indeed.
All of this is classic Crews. My favorite article, however, was the first, and the only one specially commissioned for the book. That one is about creative writing, and it makes you realize just how much heart Harry Crews had, and why people who took his class were fortunate indeed.
September 2, 2016
Harry Crews is a magnificent wordsmith...no other author could induce me to read about cock fighting, fox running, dog fighting, drag racing or field butchering. The man was a genius. In some ways he was every bit as much of a chauvinist pig as Hemingway, and I'm uncomfortable with his cavalier acceptance of domestic violence, but I'm still able to read his work for the wonderful/awful pictures he paints. He takes grotesque Southern Gothic to new heights...Flannery O'Connor eat you heart out!
January 21, 2024
As I finished each chapter, I put the book down and said, "I love you, Harry Crews". I've always loved his fiction but the essays in this collection were my favorite. Crews is the truest form of Southern Grit Lit.
March 4, 2020
First published in 1969, this was my first book by Harry Crews. In a format that lends truthful credence to life and legend, it's a memoir of compelling stories written during the time he taught at the University of Florida. (The book also contains several excerpts from some of his fictional works.)
Crews seems to fit the prototypical every man good ole' hard-drinking writing genius southern boy outlaw type. His writing sparsity reminds me of Hemingway as does the central focus on devotion to alcohol and his writing about topics that are about men that appeal to men. In this book, Crews sought out adventures and people to write about. His subject matter is informed by his backwoods Georgia youth and observations of life and weirdness that is Florida. His stories include those about falconry, fox hunting, crocodile poaching, cockfights, and dogfights. Many protagonists are hard-living bad-asses who offer no impunity if crossed. Interestingly, he gives equal treatment to subjects allowing for the judicial use fisticuffs yet also writes of looking out for his friends. He loves and befriends women yet allows for subjects of their abuse and of their abusiveness. He writes of his love of blood sports yet is repulsed in several stories by man's inhumanity.
Crew's use of metaphor is noteworthy and fun. I felt some stories ended too abruptly and I note occasional phrase repetition in some stories. Both these seem to point to overlooked editing.
One must enjoy these stories with the frame of reference of place and time. The stories are good, truthful. Words are not minced. In one of the stories, Crews wrote, "I know it is unfashionable to speak openly of such things today, but being unfashionable doesn't cause me to lose a lot of sleep." Indeed, then and now. But good for him. That standard alone is a high-value take away and makes him a worth study.
The lead review on the back of the book is from Playboy magazine that wrote with their usual sniff, "Although it would be hard for us to imagine, some of you may not be familiar with the first-rate writing talent of Harry Crews. Here's fiction and non-fiction for both the neophyte and the seasoned fan."
Crews' work is a well-seasoned addition to literature.
Here are a few quotes.
"But at some point I did become just perceptive enough to recognize b******* when I was neck deep in it."
"With the leather glove covering my wrist, I touched her legs from behind, and as all hawks will do, she immediately stepped up and back, her talons gripping my arm tightly enough to hurt through the quarter inch leather. It has always seemed an awesome mystery to me that any hooded hawk anywhere in the world will step in precisely the same way when the backs of its legs are touched. It was true when Attila the Hun carried hawks on his wrist, and it is still true. Presumably it is something that will be true forever."
"I know it is unfashionable to speak openly of such things today, but being unfashionable doesn't cause me to lose a lot of sleep."
"The first grease spitting into thick beds of glowing coals sent the crisp, steaming smell of meat over the entire morning, a smell mean enough to make a restless man leave home."
"He was nearly two axe handles broad at the shoulder, with a belly that had cost him several thousand dollars worth of beer."
Crews seems to fit the prototypical every man good ole' hard-drinking writing genius southern boy outlaw type. His writing sparsity reminds me of Hemingway as does the central focus on devotion to alcohol and his writing about topics that are about men that appeal to men. In this book, Crews sought out adventures and people to write about. His subject matter is informed by his backwoods Georgia youth and observations of life and weirdness that is Florida. His stories include those about falconry, fox hunting, crocodile poaching, cockfights, and dogfights. Many protagonists are hard-living bad-asses who offer no impunity if crossed. Interestingly, he gives equal treatment to subjects allowing for the judicial use fisticuffs yet also writes of looking out for his friends. He loves and befriends women yet allows for subjects of their abuse and of their abusiveness. He writes of his love of blood sports yet is repulsed in several stories by man's inhumanity.
Crew's use of metaphor is noteworthy and fun. I felt some stories ended too abruptly and I note occasional phrase repetition in some stories. Both these seem to point to overlooked editing.
One must enjoy these stories with the frame of reference of place and time. The stories are good, truthful. Words are not minced. In one of the stories, Crews wrote, "I know it is unfashionable to speak openly of such things today, but being unfashionable doesn't cause me to lose a lot of sleep." Indeed, then and now. But good for him. That standard alone is a high-value take away and makes him a worth study.
The lead review on the back of the book is from Playboy magazine that wrote with their usual sniff, "Although it would be hard for us to imagine, some of you may not be familiar with the first-rate writing talent of Harry Crews. Here's fiction and non-fiction for both the neophyte and the seasoned fan."
Crews' work is a well-seasoned addition to literature.
Here are a few quotes.
"But at some point I did become just perceptive enough to recognize b******* when I was neck deep in it."
"With the leather glove covering my wrist, I touched her legs from behind, and as all hawks will do, she immediately stepped up and back, her talons gripping my arm tightly enough to hurt through the quarter inch leather. It has always seemed an awesome mystery to me that any hooded hawk anywhere in the world will step in precisely the same way when the backs of its legs are touched. It was true when Attila the Hun carried hawks on his wrist, and it is still true. Presumably it is something that will be true forever."
"I know it is unfashionable to speak openly of such things today, but being unfashionable doesn't cause me to lose a lot of sleep."
"The first grease spitting into thick beds of glowing coals sent the crisp, steaming smell of meat over the entire morning, a smell mean enough to make a restless man leave home."
"He was nearly two axe handles broad at the shoulder, with a belly that had cost him several thousand dollars worth of beer."
August 31, 2023
Harry Crews often writes about the horrid and grotesque, but the way he writes about it is polished and beautiful. This is generally a good thing, however I worry that at times it comes at the expense of a nuanced perspective on some of the topics which he chose to write about. Then again maybe I just need to be a little more "Florida Man".
The quality of Crews' writing comes through just as much, if not more, when he isn't writing about screwed up stuff. His descriptions of the camaraderie between men and the fascinating intricacies of various unusual careers (horse jockeys, gator poachers, drag racers) are all delightful.
As some other reviews have pointed out, this collection has largely been printed elsewhere, but if you are looking to hop on the Crews cruise and sail into a Florida shaped sea of blood, guts and beer then this is certainly a fine start.
The quality of Crews' writing comes through just as much, if not more, when he isn't writing about screwed up stuff. His descriptions of the camaraderie between men and the fascinating intricacies of various unusual careers (horse jockeys, gator poachers, drag racers) are all delightful.
As some other reviews have pointed out, this collection has largely been printed elsewhere, but if you are looking to hop on the Crews cruise and sail into a Florida shaped sea of blood, guts and beer then this is certainly a fine start.
August 28, 2021
Florida Frenzy by Harry Crews (University Presses of Florida 1982) (813.54) (3563).
This is my fourth foray into the world of Harry Crews. He’s a grizzled Southern author who mines the same vein as James Dickey. Crews is the writer that Pat Conroy wished to be.
This is a collection of essays and three fictional excerpts. Some of the subjects include cockfighting, falconry, drunken brawling, drag racing, dog fighting, horse racing, one’s first car, fox hunting, and political correctness.
He is not one of my favorite authors, but his writing always has the ring of authenticity.
My rating: 7/10, finished 8/28/21 (3563).
May 6, 2024
A truly amazing writer. The nonfiction collected here is the type of "journalism" we don't see anymore. I love it. Chronicles of forgotten people in the USA. It's wonderful. On a sentence level, Crews is one of the greats. He writes clearly and succinctly, but there is still so much meat on the bones. He often gets called a manly man. I don't really see it that way. He's too poetic and nuanced a writer for that. As a person, I'm sure he's a nightmare. I've heard story of him threatening to kill a writer after an interview was published of which he was not too fond. Luckily I don't have to hang out with him and I can just read the work.
July 30, 2023
This collection of Harry Crews’ essays and three fiction pieces reminds the reader that Crews is not only essential reading but an honest and unique writer, in a way that sets him apart from many in his southern fiction genre. His books and short stories blend seamlessly into his essays, because all of it is written from a perspective of truth, no matter how violent, seductive or challenging that may be.
I enjoyed The Enthusiast the most. Followed by Crews’ essays, Why I Live Where I Live and Teaching and Writing in the University.
I enjoyed The Enthusiast the most. Followed by Crews’ essays, Why I Live Where I Live and Teaching and Writing in the University.
May 8, 2023
The first essay is promising. It's about his philosophy of teaching. Then we get more information than I ever wanted about abject cruelty to animals for sport and the glorification of squalid ignorance. Hey—I know this is the world of Harry Crews. It's what I love about his novels. But there was very little here that held my interest. The three "short stories" at the end appear to merely be stand-alone chapters from novels of his I've already read.
December 5, 2021
A couple brilliant essays. The writing is always good. Got tired of hearing about animals fighting. The one about nursing the hawk back to health was my favorite.
May 16, 2024
This guy! If anyone could make me want to change my name and disappear into a Floridian swamp it's Harry Crews.
November 16, 2025
Excellent, entertaining collection of essays and fiction from a master of American letters.
November 25, 2025
harry fucking crews
June 25, 2007
A collection of some great essay about Florida. However, it is not the bright, beachy touristy Florida that is celebrated here, it is the backwoods, swampy, gritty, bloodsport, redneck florida cracker lifestyle that is embraced. It is the Florida I spent the majority of my childhood growing in. It is the Florida I identify with and love.
Crews manages to cover a number of topics: Gainesville, horse racing, hawks, cock fighting, bar fights, running foxes, dogfights, gator hunting, race tracks, later night/early morning adventures....
Crews manages to cover a number of topics: Gainesville, horse racing, hawks, cock fighting, bar fights, running foxes, dogfights, gator hunting, race tracks, later night/early morning adventures....
August 8, 2011
Learned a few things about cockfighting, dog fighting, gator hunting, and drag racing. People call Harry Crews' world a wild one. I just think he writes about those all around me here in South Georgia and North Florida. He makes our people quite the literary figures. Good read. Changes pace often and covers a lot of topics. It contains 13 essays mostly reprinted from magazines he wrote for in the 1970's. If you like southern literature or reading about the everydayman of the south, this is a good book for you.
April 12, 2013
The nonfiction essays are all quite well composed (a word to the wise, however: several of them will give animal rights activists the fits). The fiction is less compelling, despite Crews being better known as a novelist than an essayist. Several of these pieces are also available in "Blood & Grits," but there are enough other ones to warrant picking this up if you enjoyed that book. Crews wrote about the dirty, everyday South. He also had a self-confessed love for blood sports. And his use of the language cut straight to the reddest meat. Not pretty, but certainly fascinating.
May 19, 2016
I’m glad I read this book. Crews is easy to read and I like his prose. These are mainly non-fiction pieces, with a few fiction pieces at the end. I like his sharp and thoughtful eye. I don’t agree with him about everything, but he doesn’t force you too. He writes about life around Florida - capturing the ethos and culture there - not the high culture, but the regular person. He writes about bars and horse tracks and dog fights.
December 1, 2014
The first time I read this book I remember being offended by this guy. But I guess I'm not as sensitive now, because I didn't mind his macho attitude as much and actually found some of the writing pretty interesting. Even though I'm still not super interested in drag racing, gator wrestling, etc. per se.
June 28, 2015
I am baffled that a writer as good as Harry Crews is unnoticed, and a writer as bad as E.L. James is worth millions. Holy Hannah, Crews is a great writer. HIs writing is painstakingly crafted to flow naturally and easily off the page, like a good conversation with an old friend. The prose is about as spare, lean, and honest as you're going to find anywhere.
December 25, 2020
I remember a line from this book, there’s nothing as boring as another man’s grief. Years of self pity were removed from me upon reading that.
This book is very graphic about all of its topics. Sone of them are more graphic then others, especially his descriptions of how fighting pit bulls are trained.
I absolutely recommend this book...unless you’re squeamish.
This book is very graphic about all of its topics. Sone of them are more graphic then others, especially his descriptions of how fighting pit bulls are trained.
I absolutely recommend this book...unless you’re squeamish.
June 30, 2007
This is the first Harry Crews novel I have read and honestly he came across as more of a "man's man". However, he writes well enough that I could be interested in subjects that I normally wouldn't be - like cock fighting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews