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Jan 04, 2012

oriana rated it:

Hey, it's my latest (and meanest) review for CCLaP! I also put this on my CCLaP best-of-2011 list—for best total disappointment.

Perhaps Swamplandia! is a case of being careful what you wish for. Perhaps it was a back-handed slap against wish-fulfillment. Perhaps it should force me to reexamine deeply held prejudices, or at least preferences, which would make me grow as a reader and a person, ultimately making me more open-minded, forgiving, and calm.

Or maybe it’s just a b More...

55 comments like (86 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2012

Sarah Ryburn rated it:

**** 3/4

getting into this story was a bit of a task. somewhere around page 89, however, i realized that i didn't want to put it down. russell is an excellent writer, despite the occasional split infinitive (english teacher's pet peeve), and her story sparked some truly rich and engaging discussion one particularly fine april evening. this is a novel that lends itself to discussion and not of the "i liked it when..." variety. russell's approach is subtle; she is a master of More...

4 comments like (9 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2011

Krok Zero rated it:

So where did Swamplandia! go wrong? Was it the point at which the narrative branches off into two tracks, following the separate adventures of the protagonist's wayward brother? Was it the inclusion of a play-within-the-play, suddenly covering the life story of a new character? Was it the general shift in tone from quirkily heartfelt family novel to weak magical-realism about ghosts? Or did the real trouble begin at conception, when promising young fictionist Karen Russell had the idea to expand More...

7 comments like (26 people liked it)

Mar 08, 2011

Pattie rated it:

Whenever I read a review on good reads that starts: "This was too dark" I just roll my eyes. Bring on the complexity, bring on the darkness. But this may have been too dark and sad even for me, not saved by an end that felt tacked-on. Darkness and sadness this deep needs some hint of humor to make it bearable, and this story is almost completely unrelievedly, unremittingly dark. (Well, okay, the World of
Darkness was pretty funny).

I loved "St Lucy's Home for Gi More...

1 comment like (24 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2011

Jill rated it:

Swamplandia! is its very own Rorschach test. A reader can see in it most anything he or she wants. Is it a terrifying supernatural thriller? A fast-paced adventure story? An elegiac narrative about a dysfunctional family slowly spinning out of control? A cautionary tale about the perils of being an outsider? Or a quirky and dream-like parable using the swamp as a mythic archetype?

In fact, it’s all these things. Yet above all else, Swamplandia! is a lavishly imagined and highly More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2011

A.J. rated it:

Swamplandia! begs George Saunders references. Karen Russell shares Saunders fascination with the peculiar Americana of the tourist trap. The titular attraction here is the island home of the Bigtree Tribe, a family of eratz Indian alligator wrestlers. However, whereas the attractions become characters of Saunders' stories, Russell's characters are themselves the attractions of Swamplandia. Their faces appear on the billboards and promotional material and one of the attractions is a museum devot

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0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2011

Marco rated it:

No one writes sentences quite like Karen Russell. They are charming, mysterious, and miles from normal. Here, she vividly describes a meal made by Chief Bigtree, the wayward father of the book: “Tiny broccoli florets floated in the gluey cheese like a forest consumed by lava." The sky, “yawned blue at us, then disappeared.” Another one of my favorite sky sentences, “A huge hole in the middle of the ceiling opened into the clear night sky: it looked as if some great predator had peeled the t More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Jenna rated it:

I really wanted to like this book. It came with high praises and witty blurbs. It came with a cool cover. It started out fun and quirky; a family of alligator wrestlers living on a Florida island running their own crazed theme park. But being more than halfway into the story, I'm stranded in the swampland. Stranded not by fierce monster gators, but by beautiful pointless writing with no movement toward either crisis or resolution. It's a mystery to me why this doesn't work, but it just doesn't. More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2011

Jack rated it:

“The best book I’ve read in ten years,” exclaimed my older brother, Phil. Given that he is a bit weird, as are his tastes, I took his words with a shaker of salt. Phil was one of the very first hippies in Kansas, back when they were ostracized as if they had some deadly communicable disease. He has always marched to his own drum beat, a bizarre cadence that I often don’t hear or fully understand. So I assumed that Karen Russell’s Swamplandia would be as unconventional as my brother. But I h More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 01, 2011

Paula rated it:

A lushly written, quirky, and oddly compelling book, although I felt a little cheated after finishing it, mainly because of the loosely-ended plot. The setting is one of the best I've seen in fiction -- a steamy, mucky Florida swampland theme park called Swamplandia! hosted by the Bigtrees, a family of alligator wrestlers. The main character, Ava, is plucky and devoted to her family, which unravels when her mother, whose dives into an alligator-infested pond is the chief attraction at Swamplandi More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 07, 2011

Jonathan rated it:

I have read two of Russell's short stories in the Best American Short Story anthologies, but I have not read her published collection. Still, the stories that I read lead me to buy Swamplandia! within days of it's release. This book continues in a similar, although more realistic, vain as the title story of her collection -- St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.

The premise of Swamplandia! -- a family of alligator wrestlers, running a struggling amusement park on a desolate is More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2011

Deborah rated it:

Oh, what a riot of fun and fancy! "Swamplandia" is more than a novel, it's an "Alice in Wonderland" ish tale that is surely going to stay with readers long after we've put the book down.

This the story of a very odd, quasi-native american family who makes it their life work to create a side-of-the-road Swampland touring, gator wrestling, museum and fun park for people. Difficult to know how serious the patriarch, Chief Bigtree, is about the "establishment" More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 26, 2011

Olivia rated it:

Geez, Karen Russell. WTF?

I loved the idea of 'Swamplandia!' so much. The story is strange, the title is awesome, and the setting and characters are completely foreign to me ... alligators! swamps! ghosts! a bird man! Florida! lots of exclamation points used with wild abandon! ... Swamplandia! woo hoo, right?

Unfortunately, no. There is no "woo hoo" in this book at all. Russell is clearly a talented writer with a cutting sense of humor (of which she shows a few hi More...

3 comments like (20 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Darren rated it:

SWAMPLANDIA!
Karen Russell
315 pages. Alfred A. Knopf. $24.95

I have searched for writers, musicians and artists from Florida for the past year in an effort to uncover a native Florida culture. I am searching for the Florida that callous tourists, philandering golfers and deceitful politicians have concreted over.

My family heritage goes six generations back into that unforgiving country. We left Florida for Texas as I entered my teenage years. My memories fade.
More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 18, 2011

Debra rated it:

Stephen King says: "Sisters Ava and Ossie Bigtree are left in charge of their family’s fading Everglades theme park, Swamplandia!, when a flashier attraction (World of Darkness — think hell with roller coasters) opens nearby. Russell is a tremendously gifted writer, and Swamplandia! goes rollicking right along...until you get to the bone-chilling second half, which is as terrifying as Deliverance. It’ll be published in early 2011. Don’t miss it."

I thought this book wa More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2011

EZRead rated it:

My expectations were rings-of-Saturn high for “Swamplandia!” after finishing Karen Russell’s “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.” However, nothing but suffering and gnashing of teeth can come from high expectations, and I was bummed beyond bummed with “Swamplandia!” Where I found “St. Lucy’s” to be fresh and weird, I thought “Swamplandia!” was just a lengthier re-hash of the short story with all kinds of sad “bonuses.”

“Swampandia!” follows alligator-wrestling sisters Ava an More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2011

E rated it:

When I found out that Russell's first novel would be an expansion of the story "Ava Wrestles the Alligator" from St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, my anticipation was somewhat dampened. Lucy's is one of my favorite story collections -- I've read it twice straight through -- but I didn't love Ava's story. If it were my choice, it wouldn't be the story I'd want expanded. Still, I was super excited for this book.

But then I started reading it and realized there are t More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2011

Rachael rated it:

I've been looking forward to this novel for years and it wasn't quite what I was hoping for -- and I'm not entirely sure why. I felt like Russell might perhaps not have known where she wanted the Bigtrees to end up and so, as a result, they end up nowhere. This novel feels like it begins too late, after the actual story in a way, and moves without a clear focus. Even though magical realism and the supernatural is never what I want from a novel, Russell had me all ready to want that and then, whe More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2012

Lisa rated it:

I was reluctant to read this, because it looked strange. I gave in, because I kept seeing rave reviews for it. I should have followed my instinct. It IS strange. It's imaginative, to be sure, with an unusual premise, fantastical features and good writing. But it can also be laborious, dark and mysterious - not in a good way. Toward the end, something very unexpected and horrible happens, which is then glossed over. The end is rushed and unsatisfying. I'm glad to have emerged from this swamp of a More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2011

Kevin marked it as to-read

I'm guessing this will be awesome. Plus, she's actually coming to Portland for a Powell's reading!

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Tracy rated it:

This is a 4 star review of generosity, although I alligator-wrestled with giving it 3. But I had a lot of pure joy and entertainment out of the book, so I nudged it to the higher star.

Things that I loved: the characters, the world, the swamp, the mystery ... the strange, surreal world that almost edged over into a mirror-verse of ours [the creation of The World of Darkness alone!] - the family itself. Ava in particular and her toughness.

The story that grew, the narrat More...

0 comments like

Feb 15, 2012

Judith rated it:

This is another one of those books deemed "Best of 2011" by NYT. I attempted to read their top four and this is the only one I completed. And I only completed it because I was listening to the audio version in my car and it was better than the radio. This is the story of a family of 3 teen age children, a mom who dies of cancer in the first chapter, and a dad who is more of a shadowy figure than a real character. The family live on an alligator farm in the Florida Everglades and More...

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Feb 14, 2012

Jennifer added it

hmmm. Overall this book was good - a unique story line, quirky & likable characters, etc - but it had some major flaws. Apparently this novel started off as a short story (which I did not read.) While the descriptions of the environment and backstories is lovely, it felt as though the author did not have enough material/content/plot to fully expand on the tale hence the great details on the little things.

I like that it does not have the typical Hollywood happy ending. I just felt th More...

0 comments like

Feb 10, 2012

Michelle rated it:

SEE MORE REVIEWS AT: WWW.INSEARCHOFTHEENDOFTHESIDEWALK.COM

I don’t know. That is my initial response after reading Karen Russell’s Swamplandia! As a contender on many of the “Best of 2011” book lists, I initially thought that this novel would be a homerun, but it just goes to show how much subjectivity there is in the world of writing.

The book follows two main storylines: that of Ava Bigtree, a young girl who works at her family’s failing alligator-wrestling theme park a More...

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Feb 08, 2012

Heather rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Feb 04, 2012

Frank rated it:

This one was quite a ride! It takes place in the world of Carl Hiaasen and in many ways, it reminded me of a Hiaasen novel with its quirky characters and the ecological problems in Florida, however, there the similarities end. This book was very murky and creepy and did not contain any of the humor of a Hiaasen story. It reminded me more of "To Kill a Mockingbird" or "Night of the Hunter" given that both of these novels were set in the South and told from the perspective of a More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Nicolemauerman rated it:

The premise of this book is great. The book takes place in Florida at Swamplandia! a gator park. Ava is the lead narrator telling us of her families struggles to attract tourist with the death of her mother. Her brother, Kiwi decides to take financial manners into his own hands and leaves the family to find work. After that the family pretty much dissolves, with everyone following money, their dreams, or one another.

The start of this book was awesome. I was totally into it and wasn’ More...

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Jan 30, 2012

Michael rated it:

In recent times (although not recent enough that everyone packs an iPhone), the Bigtree Family and their alligator-wrestling roadside attraction Swamplandia! are going down.

For one Swamplandia! is only reachable by ferry. A mainland attraction featuring a ride where you get gulped by a whale has stolen Swamplandia's thunder; but more tragically the Bigtree family matriach, whose swimming with the gators act packed in the decidedly downmarket crowds, has died of cancer. As Swamplandi More...

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Jan 29, 2012

M. rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Deborah rated it:

Quirky! I liked this tale of gators, ghosts, and grief, although my expectations were set a little too high after reading rave blurbs about Swamplandia! and author Karen Russell. The book follows the Bigtree family and the fate of their home: an island tourist attraction where the family wrestled alligators until Hilola Bigtree, the family’s matriarch, died of cancer. After Hilola’s death, her husband Chief Bigtree, retreats to the mainland to try and save Swamplandia! from financial ruin. The o More...

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