Swamplandia

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Average customer rating 4.5 (28 comments)

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this is the kind of book that is a pleasure to begin reading - you know you are in the hands of a good writer. the subject matter(crazy 'circus' family and their conflicts) is also a pleasure - i love idiosyncratic families, that are really like everyone else, only more so. kind of reminds me of john irving's fantastical morality plays, but not as preachy. i also like books that are filled with details about stuff i don't know about - like florida geography and folklore. i highly recommend this for anyone who likes a good yarn -

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Savory and masterful, Swamplandia is like nothing I've ever read before, and I can't wait to read it again!

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I expected so much more from this novel: magical realism, Southern gothic, the kitsch of Florida. Instead I found a story that started off powerfully, but straggled into a tired, ordinary tale that overstayed its welcome -- by the time Ava makes her trip into Hell, the reader is already there. I expected much better from the author of St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.

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The writing here is beautiful, but there's something kitschy about the plot and characters. The magical can feel forced, quirky for its own sake. Read it for its creativity and prose.

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Some may have been dissuaded by the obscurity of alligator wrestling but that was the aspect that enticed me most and also disappointed me. The writing was nice and clear but I just wanted more circusy things, maybe I'm a needy reader

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I did not want to read this book - alligator wresting? - but I succumbed based on Karen Russell's previous novel and short stories. Swamplandia's delicious prose and humor, its fully drawn characters, plus a juicy story add up to the perfect read.

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I read Swamplandia! almost a year ago and was immediately impressed by Karen Russell's unique voice and awkward, yet irresistible characters. After just a few chapters, I declared myself a devoted fan and, as soon as I'd finished the novel, went on to devour Russell's collection of short stories (St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves) which were equally as bright, wild, and entrancing. I've read many excellent books this past year, but none have evoked that same awe and delight I found in the worlds of Russell’s creation--worlds which are somehow simultaneously familiar and exotic, new and so very ancient. She is a true Storyteller and I can’t wait to see what beast (be it alligator or Minotaur) she tackles next.

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Karen Russell has an imagination that goes beyond imagination! She is a brilliant writer who has an incredible grasp of language, art, plot, and voice. Her characters are so strong and intriguing that you never want a sentence to end. I read this book very slowly, as I dreaded the ending, not knowing when I would hear from Ms. Russell again. I fell in love with each character from sentence one. It is no wonder she was chosen New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of the Year, and NPR'S favorite. This novel is nothing less that Brilliant!

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A wonderful eclectic adventure. Great read!

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With dreamlike and poetic language, Karen Russell draws surreal but utterly believable pictures of love, loss, family, and alligators.

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Utterly strange, completely believable, the best swamp ever made of words.

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I just finished reading Swamplandia! and I finished it mainly because of all the buzz around the novel. But I have to say I was sorely disappointed. The novel may be beautifully written in parts, but at a certain point the narrative becomes an all too predictable and problematic one about sexual victimization and silence.

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This is a great story for early teens and teens to personally relate with Ava, life, and all that is believed true through young eyes. In addition, the eyes of experience also find this action packed childhood story of family, self, love, life, control or lack thereof, one that they want to share and recount; finding it uniquely pertaining to their life too.

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Swamplandia is an absolutely brilliant, thrilling ride. It is an engaging story in itself, but also pointed social commentary. Read it for fun, read it for cathartic effect. Fall in love with the characters and the setting and the ridiculous place names. Just read it!

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Funny, surreal, heart breaking. An amazing first novel.

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Strange and very funny. Having lived in Florida and escaped to Montana I sometimes miss the stange people that have lived in the wilderness of Florida for generations.

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Great characters, thoroughly engaging.

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I read this book several months ago, and the characters and places still tug at my imagination--Ava, Osceola, Kiwi, and the whole Bigtree clan fighting to stay a family in the midst of the beautiful and ruinous Everglades.

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This expansive, inventive, delicious and poignant novel should be your first read in 2012! Dive in!

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This inventive debut novel is ripe with all the things that make a great novel, including a juicy setting in the Florida Everglades, and a main character whose 13 yr. old voice exudes vulnerability and toughness. The book explores the classic ideas of death and change, through the voice of one of the most compelling characters I've come across in a long time.

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Great story of a family trying to stay together and the mysterious Everglades.

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Of all the books I read this year, Swamplandia was the one that stood out in my mind from all the others. Karen Russell's vivid writing and all of the details she used to create the world of this book, along with the character of the narrator, Ava Bigtree, are what made this my favorite read of 2011. Two of my favorite authors are Flannery O'Connor and Carson McCullers and I would add Russell to their company.

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Wonderful adventure, fabulous young protagonist and incredible history and natural history.

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Quirky, engaging, poignant, and funny. Russell is never judgemental of her characters, characters who are beautifully and tenderly developed.

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This one took me by surprise, I always consider a writer to be especially talented if they can take me to a place I would not have ordinarily found interesting (alligator theme park, who knew?)and so enthrall me that I couldn't put the book down, yet dreaded finishing it. Excellent combination of family drama, humor and a bit magical as well.

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With lush, lyrical prose Russell weaves a rich tale of family, love, loss and coming of age in south Florida.

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I wanted to like this so much more! It felt like a Louise Erdrich novel in a Tom Robbins dress...once you strip off the milieu and makeup, it's about a lonely precocious girl (sigh) with a dead mom and a grief-stricken father (mm hmm...) who isn't getting help from her similarly confused siblings (really?). She's been up nights reading George Saunders and Michael Chabon, but this novel could have (and may once have) been 3 or 4 short stories about lost teens--I hope her next effort is more concise.

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Russell's debut novel is in a literary class of its own. Swamplandia! is a mystical, fascinating coming-of-age story told from the perspective of the charming 13-year-old Ava. I highly recommend this book!