LuisVilla reviewed Florida by Lauren Groff
Review of 'Florida' on 'Goodreads'
Gripping. Haunting. Disturbing. Wrenching. I feel wrung out whenever I finish one of these.
paperback, 288 pages
Published May 21, 2019 by Riverhead Books.
Florida
by Lauren Groff
4 stars
(10 reviews)
In her vigorous and moving new book, Lauren Groff brings her electric storytelling and intelligence to a world in which storms, snakes, and sinkholes lurk at the edges of everyday life, but the greater threats and mysteries are of a human, emotional, and psychological nature. Among those navigating it all are a resourceful pair of abandoned sisters; a lonely boy, grown up; a restless, childless couple; a searching, homeless woman; and an unforgettable, recurring character – a steely and conflicted wife and mother.
The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida—its landscape, climate, history, and state of mind—becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as much as a place of residence. Groff transports the reader, then jolts us alert with a crackle of wit, a wave of sadness, a flash of cruelty, as she writes about loneliness, rage, family, and the passage of time. …
In her vigorous and moving new book, Lauren Groff brings her electric storytelling and intelligence to a world in which storms, snakes, and sinkholes lurk at the edges of everyday life, but the greater threats and mysteries are of a human, emotional, and psychological nature. Among those navigating it all are a resourceful pair of abandoned sisters; a lonely boy, grown up; a restless, childless couple; a searching, homeless woman; and an unforgettable, recurring character – a steely and conflicted wife and mother.
The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida—its landscape, climate, history, and state of mind—becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as much as a place of residence. Groff transports the reader, then jolts us alert with a crackle of wit, a wave of sadness, a flash of cruelty, as she writes about loneliness, rage, family, and the passage of time. With shocking accuracy and effect, she pinpoints the moments and decisions and connections behind human pleasure and pain, hope and despair, love and fury—the moments that make us alive. Startling, precise, and affecting, Florida is a magnificent achievement.
Winner of the Story Prize. Finalist for the National Book Award, Kirkus Prize, and Southern Book Prize. Stories from this collection previously appeared in Best American Short Stories 2014, 2016, and 2017, the 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, PEN/ O. Henry Prize Stories 2012, The New Yorker, Tin House, Subtropics, American Short Fiction, Esquire, and in Granta’s 2017 Best of Young American Novelists issue. Named one of the best books of 2018 by over two dozen publications. Published in thirteen foreign markets. ([source][1])
Contains: Ghosts and Empties At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners Dogs Go Wolf Midnight Zone Eyewall For the God of Love, for the Love of God Salvador Flower Hunters Above and Below Snake Stories Yport
Realgnomidad reviewed Florida by Lauren Groff
Review of 'Florida' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Engrossing, sad, wistful, sometimes joyful, worth reading. Probably a bit depressing, but in a bad way.
