Florida by Lauren Groff

Summary from Goodreads:
The New York Times-bestselling author of Fates and Furies returns, bringing the reader into a physical world that is at once domestic and wild—a place where the hazards of the natural world lie waiting to pounce, yet the greatest threats and mysteries are still of an emotional, psychological nature. A family retreat can be derailed by a prowling panther, or by a sexual secret. Among those navigating this place 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.

A funny thing, books. And authors. I read Lauren Groff’s debut novel, The Monsters of Templeton, as part of an early reader group and wound up DNF-ing it. I could not get into it, I didn’t care about the main character, etc. I didn’t read anything else she wrote for a good while. I only started a galley of Fates and Furies because at least four people whose opinions and taste I respect said it was good; I tore through it on a layover at O’Hare. And then I backed up to read Arcadia. Apparently, she’s a pretty good writer, more fool I.

Groff’s new story collection Florida is very “Lauren Groff” – well-written narratives with well-educated female narrators who are often in unhappy relationships and/or ambivalent about motherhood even though they love their kids. It was a good collection to read one story per day. If you’ve never read Lauren’s novels this is a good way to get a taste of her writing.

(I still haven’t re-tackled Monsters…but I do have that galley squirreled away in my desk, just in case.)

Florida is available June 5.

Dear FTC: I read a digital galley from the publisher via Edelweiss.