Structure

Sunshine State is comprised of eight non-fiction essays: "BFF," "Mother-Father God," "Going Diamond," "Records," "The Mayor of Williams Park,' "Sunshine State," "Rabbit," and "Before: An Inventory." The collection is 306 pages in length with another 50 pages to include the acknowledgements, bibliography, and endnotes.

The author is featured in each other essay, and all but "The Mayor of Williams Park" and "Sunshine State" are intimate looks at the author and her family. These two essays show the author investigating and learning about others. The essays are featured in the center part of the book, allowing the author’s personal experiences to bookend these essays.

With the exception of "BFF" and "Before: An Inventory," the essays are long essays, averaging around 40 pages in length. Even in the more familial essays, such as "Mother-Father God" and "Going Diamond," the author includes research for historical context, current events that impact the...