Sunshine State: Essays

A&,nbsp,Paris Review&,nbsp,Staff Pick&,nbsp,-&,nbsp,A&,nbsp,Chicago Tribune&,nbsp,Exciting Book for 2017&,nbsp,-&,nbsp,A&,nbsp,Rolling StoneCulture Index Reccomendation&,nbsp,-&,nbsp,A&,nbsp,Buzzfeed&,nbsp,Most Exciting Book for 2017&,nbsp,-&,nbsp,A&,nbsp,The MillionsGreat 2017 Book Preview Pick-&,nbsp,A&,nbsp,Huffington Post&,nbsp,2017 Preview Pick&,nbsp,-&,nbsp,A&,nbsp,NYLON&,nbsp,Best 10 Books of the Month&,nbsp,-&,nbsp,A&,nbsp,Lit Hub&,nbsp,15 Books to Read This Month A&,nbsp,Poets &,amp, Writers&,nbsp,New and Noteworth Selection&,nbsp,-&,nbsp,A&,nbsp,PW&,nbsp,Top 10 Spring Pick in Essays &,amp, Literary Criticism&,nbsp,-&,nbsp,An Emma Straub reccomendation on PBS ",One of the themes of 'Sunshine State, ' Sarah Gerard's striking book of essays, is how Florida can unmoor you and make you reach for shoddy, off-the-shelf solutions to your psychic unease.... The first essay is a knockout, a lurid red heart wrapped in barbed wire.... This essay draws blood.", -- Dwight Garner,&,nbsp,New York Times ",Unflinchingly candid memoir bolstered by thoughtfully researched history.... A nuanced and subtly intimate mosaic... her writing, lucid yet atmospheric, takes on a timeless ebb and flow.", -- Jason Heller, NPR.org ",Stunning.", --&,nbsp,Rolling Stone ",Gerard's prose is unlabored, flatly observational, and the interwoven mini stories are at once tender and cold, exhilarating and regrettable--each undermining the one that precedes it.", -- Nicole Rudick,&,nbsp,Paris Review ",Brave, keenly observational, and humanitarian.... Gerard's collection leaves an indelible impression.", --&,nbsp,Publishers Weekly, starred review ",These large-hearted, meticulous essays offer an uncanny x-ray of our national psyche... showing us both the grand beauty of our American dreams and the heartbreaking devastation they wreak.", -- Garth Greenwell, author of&,nbsp,What Belongs to You Sarah Gerard follows her breakout novel,&,nbsp,Binary Star, with the dynamic essay collection&,nbsp,Sunshine State, which explores Florida as a microcosm of the most pressing economic and environmental perils haunting our society. In the collection's title essay, Gerard volunteers at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, a world renowned bird refuge. There she meets its founder, who once modeled with a pelican on his arm for a Dewar's Scotch campaign but has since declined into a pit of fraud and madness. He becomes our embezzling protagonist whose tales about the birds he ",rescues", never quite add up. Gerard's personal stories are no less eerie or poignant: An essay that begins as a look at Gerard's first relationship becomes a heart-wrenching exploration of acquaintance rape and consent. An account of intimate female friendship pivots midway through, morphing into a meditation on jealousy and class. With the personal insight of&,nbsp,The Empathy Exams, the societal exposal of&,nbsp,Nickel and Dimed, and the stylistic innovation and intensity of her own break-out debut novel&,nbsp,Binary Star, Sarah Gerard's&,nbsp,Sunshine State&,nbsp,uses the intimately personal to unearth the deep reservoirs of humanity buried in the corners of our world often hardest to face.