this audiobook was my first audible purchase that i really didn't *love* - the narration switches back and forth from a teenage girl (as ava) and an older man narrating brother kiwi's part of the book. i had read the *rave* reviews in entertainment weekly about this book - so i decided to download it and it just did not keep my interest. the family dynamic is well-written but just was not that great to keep my interest. sad that this was my first audiobook purchase that i didn't absolutely adore. usually i can't *wait* to get back to listening to my audiobooks and this one took me a long time to get through just because it wasn't that good.

To me, this book is about the impact of the death of a mother on a young girl and her isolated, eccentric, unworldly brother and sister. Ava the brave one, Ava the designated successor to her mother as the next great female alligator wrestler, Ava the fearless, sees herself as carrying on her mother's (disappearing) legacy. Her brother, Kiwi, has similar dreams (unrealistic) of saving the family business. And Osceola falls into an unreal world of her own. And in the end, Ava's fearlessness and Kiwi's dumb luck (the result of his unrelenting efforts to make something of himself) save the three of them. There's one surprisingly disturbing scene, but I guess it was necessary. I grew to like the female narrator, realizing that her young girl's voice was right for the role. And I liked the male narrator's interjection of energy and disbelief in reading the chapters about Kiwi's adventures.

mysterious precocious rollercoaster

The "you know what" part made me sad, but it also made it real.

character appropriate

No, too much to absorb. I needed a chapter at a time

This was one of those books that made me sad when it was over. I wanted it to listen to it forever.

The wonderful, screwy fabulous Bigtree family.Before circumstances send them spinning out of control, I wanted to be one of them, wrestling alligators, and running wild in the Florida everglades.

Ava Bigtree of course. Precocious, funny, brave, the loss of her mother leaves her untethered and vulnerable to evil.

The narrators vividly capture the voices of Karen Russell's wonderful characters

Unforgetable

This is a wonderful, wonderful book, one of my favorites of all time. Everyone should read it. That said, I thought that Russell didn't know how to end it. I found the last bit of the book weaker than the start, but it is still an a fabulously imagined world with characters that jump off the page, voices that will stay with you for the rest of your life. How can a book be side splittingly funny, and heartbreakingly tragic.

I was disappointed because for me it was a fictional story that had too much unpleasant , unresolved reality to it . Alltough the narrators were excellent.

This book is unlistenable. I gave up after 5 minutes because of the flat, emotionless narration. The book itself is an original, delightful story, but I read it on the Kindle after mistakenly trying to listen to this recording.

I am currently listening to this book but am so irritated and distracted by the female reader that I wonder if I can continue. It is hard to be objective about the book when the reader is so poor. The male reader is very good, as expected in an audio book.
She does not know how to pronounce some fairly common words, and has a flat tone that sounds exactly as if she is reading it, not performing it as we expect in a well executed audio book.
I hope I can finish the book, as I am otherwise enjoying it. Please do not use this reader again!

I really enjoyed the book very much, great book please listen, I really enjoyed the book very much, great book please listen