A review by andtheitoldyousos
Boca Raton by Lauren Groff

4.0

No one can get into an unraveling mind quite like Lauren Groff. Fates and Furies and The Monsters of Templeton are two of my favorite pieces of contemporary literature, and “Boca Raton” crams everything that I love about those two pieces into a tiny but devastating package. A woman in a small Florida Cottage attempts to come to terms with climate change, hurricanes, religious fanatics, motherhood, loss, history, and insomnia while working on a research project for a museum of history at a small college. Her journey is depressing, enlightening, thrilling, and hysterical. Sometimes it feels good to feel bad! There has been so much talk of the “Cool Girl” and her many tropes, but Lauren Groff is not interested in “cool”. Cool in intense situations, yes. Cool when faced with absolute tragedy, yes. Cool within her own feelings and actions- a cool that is detached, other, and alien. Lauren Groff’s “cool” is something that you admire from a distance but regard with fear in your heart.