But it also does draw, sometimes, insanity to it.” And I don’t think there’s any better way to set up this collection. Lauren Groff said during one of her readings, “I believe that landscape really does change the brain…Florida can be somewhat of an infection that gets into you.
Before I started reading, I wrote in my notes: “To me, Florida says weird, sweaty, and hazy.” While I could have done with a bit more weirdness, overall these stories delivered. I had a feeling I’d like this book (why else would I pick it up?), but I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed it. This notorious state is just the right location for talks of existential dread and climate doom-after all, Florida is being affected by climate change much more severely and noticeably than some other parts of the U.S. Swamps and humidity and sinkholes abound.
Groff’s sentences do all the work for your imagination-they are simple, yet they manage to conjure up the most vivid scenes.Įvery Florida creature is present here: snakes (lots of snakes), alligators, panthers, and mosquitoes. The imagery in each story is exacting, almost overwhelming in its specificity. The aura of Florida seems the perfect setting for Groff’s writing-it is distant, hazy, surprising, and at times suffocating. There is an atmosphere of hopelessness, or, rather, a futile hopefulness.
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