Swamplandia!

By: Karen Russell

Narrated by: Arielle Sitrick, David Ackroyd

Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

From the celebrated 29-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 number one 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 13, to manage 98 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.

©2011 Karen Russell (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

“[Russell] has thrown the whole circus of her heart onto the page, safety nets be damned. . . . Russell has deep and true talent.” ( San Francisco Chronicle)

“Vividly worded, exuberant in characterization, the novel is a wild ride. . . . This family, wrestling with their desires and demons . . . will lodge in the memories of anyone lucky enough to read Swamplandia!” ( The New York Times Book Review)

“The bewitching Swamplandia! is a tremendous achievement.”( Entertainment Weekly)

Absolutely stunning

One of the most gorgeously written books I've ever read, a beautiful, surreal, haunted masterpiece. Every page hums with vibrant energy and a sense of boundless wonder, which only makes its meditations on grief, loss, and self delusion land even more powerfully. The mere memory of this book simultaneously wrecks me and fills me with joy.

As for the Audiobook version, yes, the female nareator is not amazing. But honestly I just got used to her by the 2nd or 3rd chapter The enunciation and pronunciation improved and it didn't do anything to hide how stunning Karen Russell's prose is.

Lovely, but Can't Match Russel's Short Stories

I am a devoted fan to Karen Russel's book of short stories, Vampires in the Lemon Grove, and after devouring it for the second time and re-reading St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves as well, I still couldn't get enough of Russell, so despite not being as sucked in by the premise of Swamplandia, I decided to listen to it. I did enjoy it, but I do think Russell's best medium is short story... it just allows for more of the tender and exquisite strangeness that makes her writing a joy. Still, it is a gorgeous novel, and I was on the edge of my seat for the last 3rd or so of the book. It's a story of childhood, both the meandering joys of it and the acute stings of growing up and losing that early innocence. Fans of Russell's fantastical stories might find it a bit lacking in whimsy, as I did, but the settings (alternating between the wild swamps and a macabre underworld-themed theme park & tourist trap) are surreal and beautifully rendered, and the Bigtree family are charming and heartrendingly realized. Overall, a lovely and haunting departure, but I do hope there are more short stories to come from Karen Russell.
#quirkyfamilies #magicalrealism #comingofage #lossofinnocence #suspenseful #dark #firstnovel #haunting #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Odd, unmatched reader choices

This is a book I think I would really enjoy reading but I'm not crazy about the readers. The young woman is a good reader - for her apparent age - but I keep getting distracted by her odd emphases of sentences. The man who reads her brother's part of the story sounds so much older and has such a different style that it's quite jarring every time he comes in.

The story is really interesting and has a weird quality of magical realism that is quite enchanting.

Is this the voice of an alligator wrestler?

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

While reader David Ackroyd does justice to the rich language of this zesty tale, his fellow reader, Arielle Sitrick, subverts it by delivering her side of the story in a flat, girlish voice that lacks emotion and even enuciation (did she say physics or fitness?). I'm soldiering through, eager to know how Ackroyd's character ends up, but I wouldn't recommend listening to this version of the book if you could pick up a hard copy and imagine a grown-up woman's voice instead.

Awful

What would have made Swamplandia! better?

The you woman who narrates this book is just a terrible reader. I feel like I'm listening to a high school student who has no idea how to read out loud. The narration is so amateurish that I can't say if the novel has any merit or not. Very disappointed.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Train dreams

Would you be willing to try another one of Arielle Sitrick and David Ackroyd ’s performances?

Absolutely not

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Anger, disappointment.

Any additional comments?

Please make sure professionals are narrating these books. It's a waste of money to buy a book that is so poorly performed.

Slow and Sad

Since this story took place in a theme park, I mistakenly thought it would be upbeat. Instead it was dark and depressing. I had no idea there would be such a heavy focus on the supernatural, which was also not what I expected. It was exceedingly depressing and I even considered fast forwarding some sad and slow sections (which I NEVER do).

On the plus side, the quality of writing is very good, so if you are someone who can put up with books that make you feel horrible, go right ahead.

Swamplandia

A short story with many, many, many words. If you like descriptive writing, this novel is for you. The story, which is pretty good, could have been written in 1/4 of the book. The rest is descriptive writing. Narration is terrible.

Just Don't Get The Hype

I just didn't like it. My boyfriend and I read it together and we both felt a real sense of disappointment. Did we just not "get" the hype? Were we missing something? I felt disjointed most of the time like it was really two novels spliced together - one trying to work its way under the magical realism genre and the other a sort of coming of age humorous one. The result for me was muddled, and maybe I just don't like magical realism or maybe Russell was working just a little too hard at making this a quirky novel. It hit me hardest when I realized what was happening to Ava....and didn't care. Yup, I just didn't care what really happened to any of these characters and, in the end, that's not the way to endear the reader. Oh well.

maybe it hits close to home

If you're a fan of weak men who abandon their children to be raped by other sick men. Then by all means this is a great book for you!

Terrible Reader

I'm halfway through the book and it is ok. Not great, not terrible - ok. However, the reader's constant mispronunciation of simple words is very distracting. Gherkin = jerkin to our reader and bromeliad = bro-mi-lad. And possibly the worst of this list, the book is set in Florida so I would hope the reader would at least be able to get the pronunciation of Florida cities correct. Nope. Ocala = Oh-cah-la. Ugh. This is very disappointing and very distracting.

Her pace and tone are fine. She is young, but this is a 13 year old girl's story so I'm ok with that.

I would assume these audiobooks are edited prior to publication. Shame on the editor. Sounds like someone took a nap when they should have been listening.