Unknown Title

Title:

Florida woman : a novel / Deb Rogers.

Author:

Rogers, Deb (Novelist), author.

ISBN:

9781335426895

Personal Author:

Rogers, Deb (Novelist), author.

Physical Description:

346 pages ; 24 cm.

Content Type:

text

Media Type (RDA):

unmediated

Carrier Type:

volume

Abstract:

"Jamie is a Florida Woman. She grew up on the beach, thrives in humidity, has weathered more hurricanes than she can count, and now, after going viral for an outrageous crime she never meant to commit in the first place, she has the requisite headline to her name. But when the chance comes for her to escape viral infamy and imminent jail time by taking a community service placement at Atlas, a shelter for rescued monkeys, it seems like just the fresh start Jamie needs to finally get her life back on track -- until it's not. Something sinister stirs in the palmetto woods surrounding her cabin, and secrets lurk among the three beguiling women who run the shelter and affectionately take Jamie under their wing for the summer. She hears the distant screams of monkeys each night; the staff perform cryptic, lakeside sacrifices to honor Atlas; and the land, which has long been abandoned by citrus farmers and theme park developers alike, now proves to be dangerously, relentlessly untamed. As Jamie ventures deeper into the offbeat world and rituals of Atlas, her summer is soon set to inspire an even stranger Florida headline than she ever could've imagined." -- Jacket flap

Subject Term:

Monkeys -- Fiction.

Women -- Fiction.

Wildlife refuges -- Fiction.

Criminals -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Florida -- Fiction.

Genre:

Psychological fiction.

Suspense fiction.

Thrillers (Fiction)

Format:

Books

Available:*

Library	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... North Tonawanda Public Library	34120007031301	FIC ROGERS	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"Razor-sharp... Deb Rogers writes with such verve and honesty about all the ways we stumble through life, and, like all great storytellers, gives us something wondrous when we reach the end of the journey." --Kevin Wilson, bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

An Indie Next Selection * A Fantastic Strangelings Book Club Pick * Recommended by: Harper's Bazaar * Shondaland * New York Post * Goodreads * Lambda Literary * Book Riot * Reader's Digest * LGBTQReads * Medium * Debutiful * She Reads * Autostraddle * and more!

A gleefully dark and entertaining debut for fans of Kevin Wilson and Karen Russell, about one young woman's sensational summer at a Floridian wildlife center for exotic monkeys

Jamie is a Florida Woman. She grew up on the beach, thrives in humidity, has weathered more hurricanes than she can count, and now, after going viral for an outrageous crime she never meant to commit in the first place, she has the requisite headline to her name. But when the chance comes for her to escape viral infamy and imminent jail time by taking a community service placement at Atlas, a shelter for rescued monkeys, it seems like just the fresh start Jamie needs to finally get her life back on track -- until it's not.

Something sinister stirs in the palmetto woods surrounding her cabin, and secrets lurk among the three beguiling women who run the shelter and affectionately take Jamie under their wing for the summer. She hears the distant screams of monkeys each night; the staff perform cryptic, lakeside sacrifices to honor Atlas; and the land, which has long been abandoned by citrus farmers and theme park developers alike, now proves to be dangerously, relentlessly untamed.

As Jamie ventures deeper into the offbeat world and rituals of Atlas, her summer is soon set to inspire an even stranger Florida headline than she ever could've imagined.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In Rogers's bewitching debut, a woman tries to start fresh after earning the internet moniker "Florida Woman." Jamie Hawthorne, rootless at 28, had enough of being harassed and shortchanged by her boss at a St. Augustine tiki bar. Her crime, which comes out in greater detail later in the narrative, involved a fire, autographed dollar bills, and a pelican. Now, hoping to live down her notoriety, she begins a sentence of residential service at the Atlas macaque sanctuary. Its founder, Sari, who takes care of the facility's 42 monkeys, hopes to inherit the property from her mother, Flora. Though Jamie thinks Atlas has a "grimy, isolated, snake-trap vibe" and her monitoring device chafes her ankle and soul, the place soon feels like home, and she hopes to make the most of her three-month stay. Then, awakened one night by simian shrieks, she witnesses Sari leading volunteers in what appears to be a cultlike ritual. After Jamie glimpses an emaciated Flora combing compost piles for food and is told never to go into the sanctuary's medical lab, she tries to balance her need for belonging with a growing sense of unease. In the tradition of Carl Hiaasen, Rogers relishes Florida's oddities and extremes, yet she makes Jamie quietly if quirkily sympathetic, lending the rollicking story a vulnerable heart. Readers will fall in love with this one. Agent: Hannah Brattesani, Friedrich Agency. (July)

Booklist Review

Intrigue and entertainment abound in this lighthearted if somewhat bloated debut novel. As a stereotypical "Florida Woman," Jamie has gone viral with a video of herself burning down a tiki hut and saving a pelican. When she is given the opportunity to serve her house-arrest sentence at a local monkey rescue, Atlas, she jumps at the chance. But all is not as it seems at the shelter, with a suspiciously cultlike group of women running things. This far-fetched premise leads the reader on an adventure through sacred rituals, drugs, and family drama. Almost written as a love letter to Florida--"People flood to Florida because it is the end of the country, the end of the line, last stop, last call, last chance to start again"--the book features certain plot points that feel more like afterthoughts (an LGBT romance, for one). Still, Florida Woman triumphs in keeping the reader on the hook, its twists and turns successfully surprising at almost every point.