Swamplandia!, Part 2

Swamplandia! update: I finished this fabulous book earlier in the week, and it was well worth it.  I did not have to sleep with the lights on, but remember when I said it was dark?  Oh, I hadn't even gotten to the darkest part yet. Ava's journey, both metaphorical and literal, is breathtaking.  I can't reveal any more without ruining a few plot twists, but Ava's trip will leave her (and you, the reader) changed.

A word of warning - those of you who like a big, fat bow at the end will be disappointed.  The book does wrap up most of the loose ends, but questions remain unanswered.  That being said, Swamplandia! is worth every squirming moment.  Swamplandia! is an ideal candidate for me to slip into book letdown, but Kate Atkinson's newest, Started Early, Took My Dog is calling out for me to dive in!

Swamplandia! Part 1

Every year I wait with great anticipation for Steven King's "Best Books of the Year" article in Entertainment Weekly.  Karen Russell's book Swamplandia! made the cut for 2010, and since Mr. King hasn't steered me wrong yet, I was eager to read it. The advance praise on Swamplandia! described it as both quirky and dark.  The quirky part I got - Swamplandia! is about a family-run wildlife park in Florida where the main act includes wrestling alligators.  But I was about halfway through before I started to see the dark side.  And it is dark, my friends - very dark.

The Bigtree family's matriarch has died of cancer, and the surviving family - father (Chief), son Kiwi, and daughters Ossie and Ava - are left to pick up the pieces and get the park back on track.  With few visitors, the park is forced to close.  The family becomes completely unraveled when Kiwi leaves for the mainland, where he gets a job as a janitor at Swamplandia's largest and nearest competitor, the creepy "World of Darkness" park that features the rings of Hell.  Ossie begins using a Ouija board to start dating ghosts, and goes into a trance on a daily basis. Chief leaves to go find financing to help get the park out of debt. Things take an even darker turn when Ossie begins sneaking out nightly to meet her ghostly date, and 13-year-old Ava must take matters into her own hands.

You know that feeling when you are reading a book and you know whatever comes next is going to be really bad?  I have had that feeling of dread for about 30 pages now in Swamplandia!, and it's only going to get worse.   Russell's descriptions of the primordial swamp where the Bigtree family lives, the malevolent buzzards that reappear throughout  the book, and the World of Darkness park are so vivid, it makes you feel as if you are there yourself.  It all adds up to one really disturbing story.

But how can I stop?  Even though I am literally squirming with anticipation, I have to keep reading - how else will I know what happens to Ava, and the fate of Swamplandia! and the entire Bigtree family?  Stay tuned and  I'll let you know how it all turns out - and how many nights I had to sleep with the light on.  Happy reading!