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Title details for Swamplandia! by Karen Russell - Wait list

Swamplandia!

by Karen Russell
Arielle Sitrick
Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 12 weeks
Place a hold Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 12 weeks
From the celebrated twenty-nine-year-old author of the everywhere-heralded short-story collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (“How I wish these were my own words, instead of the breakneck demon writer Karen Russell’s . . . Run for your life. This girl is on fire”—Los Angeles Times Book Review) comes a blazingly original debut novel that takes us back to the swamps of the Florida Everglades, and introduces us to Ava Bigtree, an unforgettable young heroine.
The Bigtree alligator-wrestling dynasty is in decline, and Swamplandia!, their island home and gator-wrestling theme park, formerly #1 in the region, is swiftly being encroached upon by a fearsome and sophisticated competitor called the World of Darkness. Ava’s mother, the park’s indomitable headliner, has just died; her sister, Ossie, has fallen in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, who may or may not be an actual ghost; and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, who dreams of becoming a scholar, has just defected to the World of Darkness in a last-ditch effort to keep their family business from going under. Ava’s father, affectionately known as Chief Bigtree, is AWOL; and that leaves Ava, a resourceful but terrified thirteen, to manage ninety-eight gators and the vast, inscrutable landscape of her own grief.
Against a backdrop of hauntingly fecund plant life animated by ancient lizards and lawless hungers, Karen Russell has written an utterly singular novel about a family’s struggle to stay afloat in a world that is inexorably sinking. An arrestingly beautiful and inventive work from a vibrant new voice in fiction.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    February 1, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780307748904
      • File size: 378185 KB
      • Duration: 13:07:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 900
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Russell's book features two types of people: members of the Bigtree family and mainlanders. Ava Bigtree is the youngest of a storied family, the founders of Swamplandia, an alligator-wrestling theme park. When the park is threatened by drastic changes and competing Florida attractions, the family is thrown into turmoil. Arielle Sitrick's portrayal of Ava is appealingly childlike yet mature, na•ve yet oddly wise. Her clear, youthful voice makes Ava sympathetic and heroic. David Ackroyd narrates Kiwi's story, which is told in the third person, a more distant point of view that reflects Kiwi's struggle to find his place among the mainlanders. Both narrators confidently explore a bizarre mélange of elements, including ghosts, 'gators, Ouija boards, and the underworld. Between the irresistible writing and the stellar performances, this is a remarkable production. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 6, 2010
      Few novelists debut with as much hearty recommendation as Russell, a New Yorker 20-under-40 whose cunning first novel germinates a seed planted in her much-loved collection, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. We return to Swamplandia!, the once-thriving Florida tourist attraction where the Bigtree clan—Ava, Ossie, Kiwi, and the Chief—wrestles alligators. After the death of mother Hilola—the park's star alligator wrestler—Ava, the youngest Bigtree, takes her place in the spotlight while her sister, Ossie, elopes with a ghostly man named Louis Thanksgiving, and brother Kiwi winds up sweeping floors at Swamplandia!'s competition. Worst of all is the disappearance of the Chief, spurring Ava to embark upon a rescue mission that will take her from the Gulf of Mexico to the gates of hell, occasionally assisted by an unlikely extended family that includes the geriatric Grandpa Sawtooth, the Bird Man, and a tiny red alligator with the potential to save the park. Russell's willingness to lend flesh and blood to her fanciful, fantastical creations gives this spry novel a potent punch and announces an enthralling new beginning for a quickly evolving young author.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:900
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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