Summer reads usually guide you through adventure, romance, or mystery, taking place in a far-off land. But what about the murky, unsightly parts that make us human? Florida, by Lauren Groff, not only explores these elements but weaves them into eleven short stories that show a different side of Florida: not the one that would appear on a beach reading list and not the one that tourists typically flock to. Rather, she reveals the swampy, bug-infested, heat-stricken Florida summers that natives know and love. They are stories of realism set against a backdrop that is the true Florida. You will see into the hearts of these characters and whether their storms with them, both internal and external.
We can also see the Floridian nature and culture that they carry with them to other distant places. So, even when they are not physically there, the Floridian swamps persist and beckon within them. With her short stories, Groff touches on elements of motherhood, loss, life changes, abandonment, and the journey we inevitably embark on to understand ourselves better. Florida is the ultimate summer read and will have you forever encompassed and enthralled by the tendrils of the Floridian swamps.