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Swamplandia! (2011)

by Karen Russell(Favorite Author)

3.19 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0307263991 (ISBN13: 9780307263995)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Knopf

review 1: I am not sure what caused this book to be a New York Times bestseller. It is about the crazies that live in Southern Florida, but I prefer Carl Hiassen to Karen Russel. Swamplandia was an alligator farm where tourists came to see Hiola wrestle alligators. Then she dies leaving her husband, three children, and Swamplandia behind. The family begins to fall apart but they seem to be semi-saved in the end.A bit contrived and I did not find it funny. I would like to see the red alligator, though!
review 2: A disappointing read. It has been a year of disappointing books, so this is spared the blushes of being the worst…..but another year it might have been. I have greatly enjoyed several of Russell’s short stories, so I thought this would be a decent read, but ... moreit wasn’t. At all. I kept waiting for the story to take off. It constantly showed promise, but never cashed in. I felt blindsided by the later developments of the book. With the mystical overtones , I expected the story to stay that way. Instead, the harsh reality of Ava’s rape was quite unexpected. I think the author intended to offer a sharp contrast between the mindset of a young teen and harsh reality of the grownup world, but it was not cohesive to the book. I liked Russell’s writing, she is imaginative and descriptive. But the plot fell all over itself. Kiwi’s side to the story was very uncompelling. And the Chief, leaving his kids alone…..he was a mess of a character. less

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