Preview
  • Sunshine State

  • Essays
  • By: Sarah Gerard
  • Narrated by: Madeleine Maby
  • Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (22 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Sunshine State

By: Sarah Gerard
Narrated by: Madeleine Maby
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.49

Buy for $22.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Rising literary star and Los Angeles Times First Fiction Award finalist Sarah Gerard uses her experiences growing up along Florida's Gulf Coast to illuminate the struggles of modern human survival - physical, emotional, environmental - through a collection of essays exploring intimacy, addiction, obsession, religion, homelessness, and incarceration.

With the personal insight of The Empathy Exams, the societal exposal of Nickel and Dimed, and the stylistic innovation and intensity of her own breakout debut novel, Binary Star, Sarah Gerard's Sunshine State uses the intimately personal to unearth the deep reservoirs of humanity buried in the corners of our world that are often hardest to face.

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.

Sunshine State offers a unique look at Florida, a state whose economically and environmentally imperiled culture serves as a lens through which we can examine some of the most pressing issues haunting our nation.

©2017 Sarah Gerard (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"Narrator Madeleine Maby has the rare gift of a light, strong voice, soft at the edges but very clear as she delivers topics that document the author's evolving point of view...Maby inhabits the very personal space Gerard creates in her essays. Her pacing is unhurried but always consistent. Author and narrator are a powerful combination." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about Sunshine State

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Quirky and Interesting

Unique, quirky, interesting, and entertaining. The first and last essays were odd and confusing, but everything in between was fascinating.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

not about the sunshine state

What disappointed you about Sunshine State?

It is a whiny dialog by someone who believes herself to have omniscient powers of being able to read into other peoples minds. Poorly written and melodramatic.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I would read something that is at least related to the title.

Would you be willing to try another one of Madeleine Maby’s performances?

no

What character would you cut from Sunshine State?

The main character would have to go.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful