Swamplandia!

By: Karen Russell

Narrated by: Arielle Sitrick, David Ackroyd

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.

Interesting. Not my favorite

It kept me interested throughout, but just wasn't the outcome I hoped so strongly for. Hard to listen to at some points, but features real life struggles for many people/families.

Beautiful stage, not much else

The first half of this book is so delicious. Sadly, all the intricate and lovely world building does not seem to go anywhere.

Spoiled by bad reading.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book was hard to stick with. The sentences were read in a repetetive dropping cadence that did nothing for the rich vocabulary of the writing. The young girl reading had no training or editing, mispronouncing many words.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The story was interesting, the descriptions were unusual and conveyed emotion and intelligence. Wish I could have read it instead.

Was Swamplandia! worth the listening time?

Had to do it to fulfill a Book Club requirement while traveling. It was vexing.

Any additional comments?

As others have stated, I'm annoyed with Audible, and the book publishers,for this poor effort.

Awesome writer, garbled female narrator

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Every once in a while, I listen to a great book that I have to stop listening to and buy the written version. This is such an audible book. I am enthralled by the writing of this book and the story (the unique setting and characters) but I miss so much of the narration that I have to continuously rewind to catch what the narrator is saying and sometimes, even after two tries, I still cannot get it. The narrator sounds like the character she is speaking but her diction is so imprecise that it has spoiled the audible book for me. After listening to well over 100 Audible books, this is the only the second time this has happened.

Could you see Swamplandia! being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Given the banality of what Hollywood puts out, this book would be a welcome film.

Beautifully written tale about family

I thought this was a magical, beautifully written book-- I found it engrossing. Karen Russell is clearly extraordinarily talented.

Regarding the narrator: At first I was also put off by her voice and tone, but I quickly got over it. For me, the narration definitely did not ruin the book. As most of the book is written in the voice of a 14 year old girl, the narrator was probably an appropriate choice, even though I didn't love her performance.