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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
dark
tense
slow-paced
A coming of age story in a complicated family. It’s dark, interesting, and thoughtful. I loved Kay, the spitfire principal character.
Oh, was I ever looking forward to reading The Floating Girls. I had a feeling it would have Crawdads vibes, and it did because of the setting. If you’ve spent any time in the marshes of the south, Lo Patrick has brought them to life with every sense and so much atmosphere.
Kay is twelve years old, and this is her story, growing up deep in the marshes of coastal Georgia. She gets new neighbors, and her parents become suspects in a murder and kidnapping. Kay’s story is a tough one. She has a lot on her plate for a child her age. The first half of the story really shines, and I was hooked. It’s a quiet story, a slow burn, and Kay’s narration gave it a slight young adult feel. She is definitely a memorable character, and I would love to hear more more from her in a sequel!
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
Kay is twelve years old, and this is her story, growing up deep in the marshes of coastal Georgia. She gets new neighbors, and her parents become suspects in a murder and kidnapping. Kay’s story is a tough one. She has a lot on her plate for a child her age. The first half of the story really shines, and I was hooked. It’s a quiet story, a slow burn, and Kay’s narration gave it a slight young adult feel. She is definitely a memorable character, and I would love to hear more more from her in a sequel!
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
You can not have a mystery novel with no actual end to the mystery
This book started out fairly well. Had great potential. Then the mystery came, not much of a mystery and in the middle of the book, the whole thing started to fall apart. The ending was absolutely terrible. Very disappointed with this read.
2.5 stars
This book was really hard to rate. I almost DNF’d several times but it was just intriguing enough to keep going.
The narrator is 12 year old Kay Whitaker from Bledsoe Georgia.. and so the whole book you are stuck in her head- it’s all over the place. Once I realized that this was on purpose, I did start to enjoy it more, but it did feel quite confusing.
Kay lives with her three older siblings. Their family is incredibly impoverished but neither of their parents work, they are despondent and kind of useless.
When Kay befriends a boy she met in the march by her house, her dad tells her to stay away from him. Before too long, there is suspicion of who killed the boy’s mother years before, and then Kay’s older sister goes missing.
I read a few reviews that said that there were many questions that went unanswered, but I think everything was wrapped up pretty well.
My biggest frustration was that it was pretty dull for the first 90% of the book. There were a lot of words for not a lot of action.
The main character was extremely obnoxious, but slightly funny. I felt like some of the character’s personalities were very consistent- especially the dad.
I probably would not recommend this to a friend, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. But… I do think this might be an interesting book club book because it was kind of confusing and I think it would be a great conversation book to hear how others interpreted different events.
This book was really hard to rate. I almost DNF’d several times but it was just intriguing enough to keep going.
The narrator is 12 year old Kay Whitaker from Bledsoe Georgia.. and so the whole book you are stuck in her head- it’s all over the place. Once I realized that this was on purpose, I did start to enjoy it more, but it did feel quite confusing.
Kay lives with her three older siblings. Their family is incredibly impoverished but neither of their parents work, they are despondent and kind of useless.
When Kay befriends a boy she met in the march by her house, her dad tells her to stay away from him. Before too long, there is suspicion of who killed the boy’s mother years before, and then Kay’s older sister goes missing.
I read a few reviews that said that there were many questions that went unanswered, but I think everything was wrapped up pretty well.
My biggest frustration was that it was pretty dull for the first 90% of the book. There were a lot of words for not a lot of action.
The main character was extremely obnoxious, but slightly funny. I felt like some of the character’s personalities were very consistent- especially the dad.
I probably would not recommend this to a friend, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. But… I do think this might be an interesting book club book because it was kind of confusing and I think it would be a great conversation book to hear how others interpreted different events.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Similar landscape and tone as Where the Crawdads Sing. A bit slow paced for me personally but still a solid read.
I grabbed The Floating Girls because it gave me Where the Crawdads Sing vibes just by reading the blurb. While where are some similarities… it didn’t hook me like Crawdads did.
Kay is a 12 year old girl living in the marshes of Bledsoe, Georgia. Her family is poor and dealing with a number of things. She meets the neighbor boy, who’s about her age, and takes a liking to him very quickly.
Her two brothers, Peter & Freddy, are also a huge part of the story. Peter acts like a third parent & Freddy tries to do right all the time.
Sarah-Anne, her sister, is said to be a weird child who never talks and always stares into space. Kay doesn’t seem to care too much about Sarah- Anne and claims she’s never “there”.
Her parents, Clay & Sue-Bess, are spacey, as well. Clay can’t hold a job.. Sue-Bess sleeps all the time.
The Floating Girls is told from Kay’s POV which at times was hard to follow because she would be talked about present tense and then start talking about something that’s happened in the past & has been talked about numerous times already.
The story took a while to hook me and the ending.. left me with more questions.
Kay is a 12 year old girl living in the marshes of Bledsoe, Georgia. Her family is poor and dealing with a number of things. She meets the neighbor boy, who’s about her age, and takes a liking to him very quickly.
Her two brothers, Peter & Freddy, are also a huge part of the story. Peter acts like a third parent & Freddy tries to do right all the time.
Sarah-Anne, her sister, is said to be a weird child who never talks and always stares into space. Kay doesn’t seem to care too much about Sarah- Anne and claims she’s never “there”.
Her parents, Clay & Sue-Bess, are spacey, as well. Clay can’t hold a job.. Sue-Bess sleeps all the time.
The Floating Girls is told from Kay’s POV which at times was hard to follow because she would be talked about present tense and then start talking about something that’s happened in the past & has been talked about numerous times already.
The story took a while to hook me and the ending.. left me with more questions.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overall Score: The Floating Girls
- Plot - 1
- Characters - .5
- Setting - 1
- Writing Style - 1
- Pacing - 0
- Theme - .5
- Originality - 1
- Emotional Impact - .5
- Overall Enjoyment - .5
- Ending - .5
Spice Level? 0/5 🌶️
Spooky Level? 0/5 👻
Total Score? 3.25/5 ⭐️
Notes:
📖 I start at 0, add half or full points (up to one point per category), then divide by 2!
📖 Regarding “Pacing”: This book felt slow until the last 30-50 pages when everything was revealed, and I just don’t care for that style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse