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whatsbookinjenni's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I purchased this during a weekend in Florida, and read much of it also during that weekend, so it was a Florida-centric time all around! Sarah Gerard writes personal narratives in the way I enjoy (mixing personal with also larger societal conversations/research), and it was particularly interesting to see this book as one that was in conversation with a lot of what were big topics of 2017 (when this book was published).
Favorite essays were BFF, Going Diamond, Mayor of Williams Park, and Rabbit, but I’d overall also recommend the collection as a whole!
Favorite essays were BFF, Going Diamond, Mayor of Williams Park, and Rabbit, but I’d overall also recommend the collection as a whole!
aelong1399's review against another edition
4.0
I don’t read a lot of creative nonfiction, so this took me a while to get through. But it was very good, and though I don’t think it was exactly the author’s intention, it brought back a lot of memories and feelings I’d forgotten about my time growing up in Tampa.
mayamariemartin's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
marireadstoomuch's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
This book was a challenge for me due to the length of the essays, which ran to 50+ pages. Though they ranged in topics, I struggled to get through lengthy essays on topics that didn’t really interest me, personally, and found even those that I was interested in to be quite a bit longer than explicitly necessary.
adam_armstrong_yu's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't able to travel to Florida this summer, so this book was the perfect alternative--an incisive, perceptive, disquieting, and heartening portrait of the state through finely observed, well-detailed essays. Here's hoping that another trip to Florida isn't too far into my future.
hannahrose21's review against another edition
1.0
I love books about Florida. This was the worst one I’ve read. I resorted to skimming and didn’t finish some of the essays. I felt like they lacked depth and like something was missing. One other reviewer said it read like a dissertation and I couldn’t agree more.