A review by sicksadlit
Florida by Lauren Groff

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Ok this is a Lauren Groff fan account now.

When I tell you this book was so exquisite, so profoundly moving and visceral that I dreaded finishing it because I didn’t want it to be over.

Forget favourite book of the year, this might just be the book of my LIFE.

As you know, I am proudly a diehard LG stan. Her writing is like music to my brain and eyeballs and imo she should probably just run for president.

And that was before reading Florida.

Now, if she started a cult I would be the first to sign up and handover my life’s worth.

Florida is a collection of short stories and that in itself is surprising because I do not usually care for short stories!!!

The thing about this collection though, is that each one was like a mini-LG book. Every individual story was complete, moving and engaging on their own. As a short story hater usually, I found myself getting lost in every one and experiencing them like Groff’s novels.

It also made me want to visit Florida which was definitely not on my 2024 bingo card.

Florida is a powerful collection exploring the complexities of family, motherhood, climate change and more with her lyrical prose and dark humour and wit.

Groff somehow manages to make me feel almost the full spectrum of human emotions with all of her writing. Florida is not a book to fall asleep reading as you will not want to miss a single word or moment.

I took my time with this book, luxuriating in every sentence, rereading passages to make it last longer. 

I borrowed my copy from the library but I loved it so much, I’ll be purchasing one to keep so I can go back to these stories time and time again.

I really can’t rave enough about it but I’ll leave you with one final thought:

If I had to choose one single book to read for the rest of my life, it would be this one.