A Salty Piece of Land
A Salty Piece of Land is a 2004 novel by bestselling author and songwriter Jimmy Buffett.[1][2] It is about a fictional American westerner, Tully Mars, who goes to work repairing an island lighthouse.[3] Buffett first introduced the character Tully Mars in his earlier work, Tales from Margaritaville. The book includes a CD single with a song of the same title as the book.
Synopsis
Tully Mars, a 40-something guide at the Lost Boys Fishing Lodge resort, takes trips around the Caribbean and is also put in charge of fixing an old lighthouse.
In this novel Buffett connects stories of science fiction (Captain Kirk), fantasy (The Lost Boys), and drama (Clark Gable) into a single Caribbean-themed epic.
Plot details
This book picks up where the story Take Another Road from the novel Tales from Margaritaville left off. Tully Mars breaks up with his girlfriend, Donna Kay, a waitress from the Chat 'N' Chew restaurant in Heat Wave, Alabama. In the previous story, he sent her a winning lottery ticket and asked her to meet him in Belize City, a date which he failed to keep.
He sails with Captain Kirk, the captain of a shrimp boat, to a mythical place known as Punta Margarita, where he becomes a fishing guide at a local resort, The Lost Boys, named after characters in Peter Pan (a lost childhood is a common theme among Buffett works). He begins to settle into a life of leisure, fishing and drinking with his Mayan friend Ix-Nay, but his world is soon turned completely upside down when Donna Kay shows up on a pink seaplane and tells him that she will marry Clark Gable, a master horse trainer featured in the previous story.
He leaves Lost Boys to take a few days off after this experience, and drunkenly falls asleep on the beach, where he is robbed in his sleep. When he wakes, a 140-foot schooner, the Lucretia, is anchored nearby. When the captain, feisty 101-year-old Cleopatra Highbourne, comes ashore, they strike up a friendship immediately and Tully is offered a job as part of the crew. Initially, he turns down this offer, but after run-ins with two bounty hunters from Wyoming, where he has outstanding warrants, he finds himself on her ship just the same. It is at that point that she takes him to Cayo Loco, the salty piece of land referred to in the book's title, which is a small mythical island that is home to an old-fashioned lighthouse. Cleopatra puts Tully to work fixing up the ruin, as she intends the island to be her final resting place.
References
- ^ "A Salty Piece Of Land". www.jimmybuffett.com. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: A SALTY PIECE OF LAND by Jimmy Buffett, Author . Little, Brown $27.95 (480p) ISBN 978-0-316-90845-0". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
- ^ Friedman, Kinky (2004-11-28). "'A Salty Piece of Land': Wise Old Jimmy Buffett". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
- v
- t
- e
- Michael Utley
- Greg "Fingers" Taylor
- Mac McAnally
- Robert Greenidge
- Deborah McColl
- Jim Mayer
- Peter Mayer
- Roger Guth
- Ralph MacDonald
- Down to Earth
- High Cumberland Jubilee
- A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean
- Living and Dying in 3/4 Time
- A1A
- Havana Daydreamin'
- Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
- Son of a Son of a Sailor
- Volcano
- Coconut Telegraph
- Somewhere over China
- One Particular Harbour
- Riddles in the Sand
- Last Mango in Paris
- Floridays
- Hot Water
- Off to See the Lizard
- Fruitcakes
- Barometer Soup
- Banana Wind
- Beach House on the Moon
- Far Side of the World
- License to Chill
- Take the Weather with You
- Buffet Hotel
- Songs from St. Somewhere
- Life on the Flip Side
- Songs You Don't Know by Heart
- Equal Strain on All Parts
- You Had to Be There
- Feeding Frenzy
- Buffett Live: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays
- Live at Texas Stadium
- encores
- Down to Earth/High Cumberland Jubilee compilations
- Greatest hits compilations: Songs You Know by Heart
- Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads (box set)
- A Pirate's Treasure
- All the Great Hits
- The Great Jimmy Buffett
- Biloxi
- Great American Summer Fun with Jimmy Buffett (EP)
- Calaloo (EP)
- Meet Me in Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection
and musical albums
- Rancho Deluxe soundtrack
- Christmas Island
- Don't Stop the Carnival (musical)
- 'Tis the SeaSon
- "Margaritaville"
- "Come Monday"
- "A Pirate Looks at Forty"
- "Volcano"
- "Fins"
- "Cheeseburger in Paradise"
- "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere"
- "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes"
- "One Particular Harbour"
- "Why Don't We Get Drunk"
- "Southern Cross"
- "Brown Eyed Girl"
- "Son of a Son of a Sailor"
- "God's Own Drunk"
- "Pencil Thin Mustache"
- "Grapefruit—Juicy Fruit"
- "Boat Drinks"
- "Gypsies in the Palace"
- "Jamaica Mistaica"
- "He Went to Paris"
- "Knee Deep"
- "The Great Filling Station Holdup"
- "Hey, Good Lookin'"
- "Surfing in a Hurricane"
- "Trip Around the Sun"
- "Math Suks"
- "Same Boat"
- Live by the Bay
- Music for Montserrat
- Live at Wrigley Field
- Live at Fenway Park
- Live in Anguilla
- The Jolly Mon
- Tales from Margaritaville
- Where Is Joe Merchant? A Novel Tale
- A Pirate Looks at Fifty
- A Salty Piece of Land
- Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville
- Margaritaville merchandising
- Mailboat Records
- Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant
- Margaritaville Casino and Restaurant
- Land Shark Lager
- Jimmy Buffett discography
- Radio Margaritaville
- Hemisphere Dancer
- Savannah Buffett
- Save the Manatee Club
- Tonsil Trouble
- "Margaritaville" (South Park)
- Escape to Margaritaville