always in fun

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Thursday, 3 March 2011

Alice in Wonderland ~~ Ava in "Swamplandia"

Posted on 22:30 by john mycal

Like Alice in her Wonderland, Ava in Swampland has much to say about the goings-on in our world. Oh, what a riot of fun and fancy! And, yet, oh, what a dark and shadowy little novel at the same time.

This dark little story is of a very odd, quasi-native american, gator wrestlin' family who makes it their life work to create a side-of-the-road gator festing, museum and theme park tourist trap. At first it's difficult to know how truly invested Chief Bigtree, the patriarch of the little family is in their Swamplandia world off the coast of Florida.


Included in the Swamplandia homestead and gator park are his two young daughters, an older teenaged son, and a wife who dies early of cancer. When the mother and primary "gator wrestling" person of the theme park dies, their lives begin to unravel and the brutal realities of grief and loss of security overcome them. Soon, the Chief disappears and the children have to manage without him. Each and every one have a story to tell and a life-view that is both genius and pitiful.

I can't remember when I've had more bittersweetness reading a book. I can't remember when a book has set me back and made me want to think about what just happened in the chapter I'd just read. And, I can't remember the last time recently I've met characters I've so thoroughly enjoyed from so many perspectives!


Ava, the youngest of the daughters, is a level-headed, precocious girl who wants to take care of everyone, and yet, who struggles with her own grief, fears and fantasies. The swamp, the spirits surrounding the family and their life options, combined with the horrors and charms of the outside world and the dying of the natural, sacred swamp grounds provides the reader with an otherworldliness as we follow the characters along this tale. Ava worked as a guide for me. She was the anchor I needed to sort through the illusions vrs the realities of her world. There was a "scary houses" carnival, nightmarish feel at times to the story.
When another "Dark World" park threatens to swallow them up, it brings with it the anxieties of the 21st century encroaching on our own lives.



The core love and sense of family these people share becomes iconic and deeply moving. There's survival and humanity so touching and terrible, so earthy and real that you'll be offended if anyone should break the spell and interrupt your reading.

Karen Russell is an author with unique talents. She is a true creator. She has something real and true to say, and if one listens and can hear her, they will find a gold nugget in this book. Like "Alice in Wonderland," Ava in Swampland has much to say about the goings on in our world. There's much to say about our environment and how deadly it is to man and beast, flora and fauna, alike.

It's an extraordinary trip to "Swamplandia," but you'll love it! Highly recommended

Let me know what your thoughts are on this one!

Deb/TheBookishDame
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Posted in Karen Russell, Women Writers, YA fiction | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • "Clarity" ~ YA Book
    GoodReads Summary: "When you can see things others can't, where do you look for the truth? This paranormal murder mystery will hav...
  • My Response: Wall St. Journal Bookshelf~YA Fiction "Darkness Too Visible"
    On June 4, 2011, The Wall Street Journal~Bookshelf section published an article by Meghan Cox Gurdon entitled: " Darkness Too Visible:...
  • Gene Splicing YA Fiction: "Tankborn" by Karen Sandler
    Publisher: TU Books of Lee & Low Books Inc. Pages: 384 Release Date: October 2011 Genre:  YA Fiction/Dystopian/Sy-Fy What They're Sa...
  • A Thanks to Publishers, Authors & Followers
    Because it's Thanksgiving, but actually because it gives me a good excuse to let them know, I'd like to extend my gratitude to the f...

Categories

  • abandonment
  • Adriana Trigiani
  • Alexandra Monir
  • Alicia Rasley
  • Amy Efaw
  • Andrea Cremer
  • Animals
  • Anita Shreve
  • Anjali Banerjee
  • Ann Aguirre
  • Anne Rice
  • art theft
  • art work
  • artist
  • Austen mashups
  • Author Interview
  • Author Jodi Picoult
  • Author Joyce Carol Oates
  • B.A. Chepaitis
  • backwoods
  • Beatrix Potter
  • Bernadette Pajer
  • best books of 2011
  • Beth Kephart
  • Bette Davis
  • Blair Richmond
  • Blog Related
  • Book Review
  • Books
  • Brenna Yoranoff
  • C.W. Gortner
  • Cameron Stracher
  • Cancer
  • Caragh M. O'Brien
  • Carole Waterhouse
  • Caroline Kennedy
  • cathedral
  • Cathy Mazur
  • celebrities
  • celebrity photos
  • Charlie Price
  • Chevy Stevens
  • Children's Book
  • Christmas
  • Classics
  • Classics and Mashups
  • Coffee
  • Colin Firth
  • colors
  • controlling mothers
  • cookbook
  • Cormac McCarthy
  • Cornelia Funke
  • crafts
  • Craig Stephan
  • Current Events
  • Cynthia Rogers Parks
  • D.E. Johnson
  • Daisy Goodwin
  • Daniel Woodrell
  • Danielle Trussoni
  • Darcy and Lizzy
  • Darien Gee
  • dead people
  • Deborah Lawrenson
  • Denise Mina
  • detectives
  • DL Fowler
  • Dogs
  • Duane Swierczynski
  • dying
  • dystopian
  • Elizabeth Bennett
  • Elizabeth Naughton
  • Ellie James
  • emery lee
  • Emma Thompson
  • Erin Morgenstern
  • Europe
  • family dynamics
  • fantasy
  • father abandonment
  • fears
  • Film Noir
  • forensics
  • Gail Giles
  • Galley Cat
  • Gary McMahon
  • General
  • General Fiction
  • ghosts
  • gifts
  • Giveaway
  • goodreads
  • Gothic
  • Gothic fiction
  • Greg Kiser
  • Grief
  • Hachette Publishing Group
  • hair story
  • Halloween
  • Harper Collins
  • heaven
  • Hemingway
  • Heroine
  • historical fiction
  • historical Japan
  • Hoarding
  • home and garden
  • horror
  • humor
  • illustrated book
  • indie lit awards
  • interior design
  • interview
  • Inzanesville
  • Iolanthe Woulff
  • James Feinstein
  • Jane Austen
  • Jane Rowan
  • Japanese art
  • Jewish culture
  • Jo Ann Beard
  • Joely Sue Burkhart
  • Jonathan Franzen
  • Journalism
  • Joyce Hostetter
  • Karen Russell
  • Karen Sandler
  • Karl Friedrich
  • Kate Atkinson
  • Katherine Spencer
  • Kathleen Kent
  • Kathryn Casey
  • Kathryn Stockett
  • Kathy Reichs
  • Kelly Jones
  • Kevin Henkes
  • Kim Harrington
  • knitting
  • Kristi Cook
  • L.A. Banks
  • laughter
  • Lauren DeStafano
  • Lauren Myracle
  • Leslie Esdile Banks
  • Literary Heroine
  • living dead doll
  • Lois Lowry
  • lost family
  • lost family members
  • love connections
  • Malinda Lo
  • Manet
  • Manhattan Project
  • Marcia Clark
  • margaret george
  • Maria Duenas
  • Maria Lucia
  • marriage
  • Mary Carter
  • Maryann Lin
  • Meg Mitchell Moore
  • Megan Abbot
  • Melissa Foster
  • Memoirs and Non-Fiction
  • Memoirs and Other
  • Michael David Lukas
  • Michael Koryta
  • Michelle Hoover
  • Michelle Zink
  • Midnight Dragonfly series
  • Moroccan
  • motherhood
  • Mr. Darcy
  • Mrs. Darcy
  • mystery
  • Nazi
  • New Mexico
  • New Orleans
  • News
  • NH
  • Nicole Krauss
  • Oppenheimer
  • Ozarks
  • palm reading
  • paranormal
  • Paula Brackston
  • Paula McLain
  • Pemberley
  • Penguin Group
  • Pete Hamill
  • Peter Rabbit
  • photos
  • Poetry
  • Polio
  • predators
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • Provence
  • psychological novel
  • psychology
  • psychosis
  • Rachel Simon
  • Ransom Riggs
  • rape
  • Reading
  • Reading Challenge
  • recommendations
  • Regan Black
  • Regency
  • reviews
  • Richard Barager
  • Richelle Mead
  • Rick Harrison
  • Robb Forman Dew
  • Sam Hilliard
  • scary
  • Sci-Fi
  • seer
  • Sensory Processing Disorder
  • Shephardic family
  • shoes
  • short stories
  • Siddahartha Mukherjee
  • Stacy Cohen
  • Starbucks
  • steampunk
  • Steve Piacente
  • supernatural
  • Susan Beth Pfeffer
  • Suspense
  • Suspense Thrillers
  • T.K. Varenko
  • T.L. James
  • Tanya Plank
  • Tara Hudson
  • teen aged dangers
  • therapy
  • TLC Book Tours
  • Tom McNeal
  • Vampires
  • Video
  • Vietnam
  • WASPs
  • werewolves
  • women in art
  • women pilots
  • Women Writers
  • woods
  • Writing
  • WWII
  • YA fiction
  • yarns

Blog Archive

  • ▼  2011 (188)
    • ►  December (15)
    • ►  November (19)
    • ►  October (26)
    • ►  September (33)
    • ►  August (18)
    • ►  July (18)
    • ►  June (14)
    • ►  May (10)
    • ►  April (14)
    • ▼  March (13)
      • "The Last Track" ~ New Suspense Author: Sam Hilliard!
      • Book:   "Riding on Empty"Author:  Craig StephanCop...
      • "Clarity" ~ YA Book
      • "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
      • "Lady Dr. Wyre: Jane Austen Austen Space Opera, Bo...
      • "After" by Amy Efaw ~ A book you'll remember!
      • "Made in America, Sold in the Nam" Book Written ...
      • "Started Early, Took My Dog" by Kate Atkinson S...
      • Jodi Picoult's Live Video Interview in NYC March...
      • Giveaway! "Haunting Jasmine" Ends April 1st, ...
      • Alice in Wonderland ~~ Ava in "Swamplandia"
      • Occult Novel: "Finding Emmaus: The Lodestarre Boo...
      • Jodi Picoult's "Sing You Home" Live Interview!!! ...
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ►  2010 (29)
    • ►  December (11)
    • ►  November (16)
    • ►  October (2)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

john mycal
View my complete profile