Oh, boy. This is not my kind of book. I really struggled to get though the whole thing.

This is a series of unconnected short stories that have Florida as their common link. Lauren Groff writes about the damp oppressiveness of the Floridian climate. She writes of hurricanes, alligators, and snakes. She writes of wilderness and city life. She is fairly pessimistic, really, and I get the feeling she doesn’t like Florida very much. She also seems to be not too keen on men and fairly dismissive of motherhood. Mainly, though, I get the feeling she thinks herself to be very clever and a notch above everyone else in her mastery of words.

The prose is dense and filled with words. I know, all prose is filled with words, right? But, there are far too many in this book. The stories are smothered and suffocated with the author’s attempts to write cleverly. It feels like there is no substance to the stories. All surface; no feeling. The characters are, basically, indistinguishable from one another. I felt no emotional connection to them, which meant I really didn’t care what happened to them. They were dull and bland.

On an intellectual level, I appreciate Groff’s beautiful imagery and descriptions. I know there are people who will think her writing the best in this short story genre. But not me. It didn’t hold my attention. I was bored.

I chose this book because it gave its description as fantasy. While this is true for aspects of the stories, I wasn’t entirely sure it fit. The phrase “magical realism” is the one that comes to mind.

Ultimately, if you love literary fiction, you will probably love this. If you prefer action, move on.

Lovers of literary fiction. People who don't require a plot, or fleshed-out characters. People who read to not fall asleep.

Nope. There's nothing. Oh, actually, Groff can write a good description every now and then.

The writing style. The characters. The stories. I'm sorry; I hate to be this negative about someone's creation, but I really didn't like anything about it.

Scream! Find a good book to read.

Angry.

Lauren Groff. I had read good things about her. I do not agree with any of them.

I don't. Unless you're a big literary fiction fan.

It's boring. The only reason I can see for writing this was to try to show how clever and highbrow the writer believes she is.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Florida   from Amazon.Com!

Created Jan 15, 2022 at 7:38am • Submit your own review...