What a read! Karen Russell takes us to the Florida swamp to Swamplandia! A theme park featuring Hilola Bigtree, a champion alligator wrestler from the Bigtree tribe. That was definitely odd, but even moreso, they were not even indiginous. Maybe to the swamp but not to any tribe. Sam Bigtree, Hilola’s husband ran the park with his father, Sawtooth - who established the park - and their three children: Ava, Osceola, and their older brother Kiwi. Ava, the youngest Bigtree, is the narrator of their story from her memories of that time. For a period of time, they were just surviving. Sam Bigtree had big ideas for the park, for expanding it, for his kids becoming alligator wrestlers. Kiwi, more erudite than just about anyone, wasn’t really enthused about that. Osceola, a teenage dreamer, was also not into it and was more that a little mixed up. She believed she was possessed by ghosts and as the story progresses, ‘falls in love with a ghost and runs off to marry him’. Ava, the youngest, watches it all as everything falls apart.
When her mother dies after a relatively short illness, the family is devastated. This becomes a theme running through the rest of the story. No one talks about their feelings, but memories surface from time to time. Then a rival theme park opened on the mainland -The first person to leave Swamplandia! is their father. Bills have piled up and he takes ‘one of his trips’ to talk with investors. The children are left on their own. Because he has made such ‘trips’ before, they expected him back soon. Then Kiwi, recognizing how deeply in debt they were, left for the mainland and a job at the World of Darkness, the rival theme park. His plan? To make enough money to save Swamplandia! He was sadly mistaken. It was after this, that Osceola left to follow her ‘ghost’, leaving Ava alone.
The second part of the story is very different. Ava introduces us to The Birdman, a man who travels the swamps moving unwanted flocks of birds. He was apparently known throughout the swamps for this service. Ava is desperate to find her sister, who she believes has gone to the Underworld. The Birdman is kind to her and he travels the swamp. Wearing a cloak of black feathers, he takes her far from her home. For a long time she feels safe with him, helping to paddle and to portage. The farther away they get, with no sign of this Underworld, she begins to feel afraid.
I’ll leave my review there. Can’t give away the tragedies that follow and the rescues that follow! My second read of this book was as difficult as the first! It’s not a happy, feel good read but did I put it down? No, I continued reading each day.
“But if you kept thinking about a fight you’d lost, Mom said,
you’re programming yourself to lose again.”
~ Karen Russell, Swamplandia!
Title: Swamplandia!
Author: Karen Russell
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Vintage Books
Type: Fiction
Format: Soft cover
ISBN - 978-0307-27668-1
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