Review: Boca Raton

Boca Raton by Lauren Groff
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Five gold stars for this author’s obvious ability to write. Subtract one of said stars for my own inability to “get it” (unfair, but damnit it’s my review). And then there were four. Take away another because, as I may have mentioned I DONT GET IT! I’m sure there’s an extended metaphor lurking behind the ambiguity, but I’ll be damned if I can find it....and I mean, really, I was always a prize “Where’s Waldo” competitor. That leaves us with three lovely, tin stars dipped in cheap gold plate, representing the promise of at least a plausible plot at the hands of a capable author. Nope...and it’s here that I offer a brief summary: woman is clearly aware of the effects of global warming; woman overreacts to a certainly sad but not life-altering event; woman goes mad leaving her young daughter parentless. Yep, another star shoots through the sky and blinks out unceremoniously, it’s death long past by the time we realize the light has been extinguished. Had I been able to predict that this particular crash and burn was on the horizon I would have given up trying to finish this thankfully short piece of tomfoolery. I’ll leave it at two rather tiny brassy stars, because, seriously, there’s talent here, even it it’s buried under a monolith constructed of ridiculous characters, an absurd plot and an overuse of tone in an attempt to create a sense of desperation. See? The melodrama must have been contagious.

View all my reviews