Lauren Groff | Book Chatter

Florida (stories)
By Lauren Groff
Riverhead Books, 9781594634512, June 2018, 288pp.

The Short of It:

Really enjoyed this collection.

The Rest of It:

This review has been a long-time coming. I don’t know what it is but story collections are never read by me in any normal kind of way. I chip away at them. Bit by bit. Sometimes not even story by story. I pick them up, and put them down. That was how it was with Florida, although it was no reflection on the stories themselves because I really enjoyed them.

I read some of these stories too long ago to give you details but the overall feel of them pulled me in and they had this rawness which stuck with me. The stories are so personal. They are the kind that call to you when you least expect it. I like to feel something when I read and I definitely do when I read Groff’s work.

Have you read this collection?

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Fates and Furies
By Lauren Groff
Riverhead Books, Hardcover, 9781594634475, September 2015, 400pp.

The Short of It:

Imperfect people joined together in marriage makes for some entertaining reading.

The Rest of It:

Lancelot is this gorgeous, Greek god of a guy. He marries his female equivalent, Mathilde and the two, although quite young, throw caution to the wind and create a happy marriage for themselves.

Or, do they?

This book has gotten a lot of attention! Mainly, due to President Obama naming it his favorite book of 2015. But even without that endorsement, I can see why this book became popular with readers.

It’s well-written
Has a somewhat complex story structure to wrap your brain around
It has a lot of gratuitous sex
It contains Greek mythology references
It’s a page-turner
Flawed characters galore
It has a lot of gratuitous sex (oh, did I already say that?)

I don’t think the book has been optioned for a movie yet, but I can absolutely see that happening. The story is twisty and a bit deceptive and a little dark without being too dark. As a movie, I think it could be quite good.

My book club read and discussed it last week and there was a lot to discuss. Yeah, the sex came up quite a bit but the really big question we all had:

What makes a good marriage good?

Do love and trust come into it? Is it a good marriage if the end result is somewhat shallow in nature as long as both parties are happy with the end result?

We also spent a lot of time talking about the narrative structure. The story is told in two halves, one being Fates and the other being Furies. As interesting as these halves were, some members of the group felt manipulated by this structure.

Overall, I found it to be a fun book to discuss but a bit tedious with all the sex scenes. Well-written, but a little slow in the middle because of the repetitive nature of some of the content but overall, very entertaining.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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