When Hilola dies, Chief Bigtree abandons his family, Kiwi leaves to work for a competing park on the mainland, Osceola disappears, and 13-year-old Ava is left to fend for herself and save Swamplandia! from disaster.Īva is a tragically optimistic and insightful protagonist, pushed too soon to the edge of the chasm separating childhood and adulthood. Chief Bigtree is the family’s patriarch, and his wife, Hilola, and three children-Kiwi, Osceola, and Ava-wrestle alligators, sell artifacts of their often made-up past in the gift shop, and keep each other company on the secluded island where their park is located. The novel traces the story of “the Bigtree tribe of Ten Thousand Islands,” a family who runs Swamplandia!, “the Number One Gator-Themed Park and Swamp Café” in their area.
However, its murky plot and tiresome back-and-forth narration overwhelm Russell’s stylish prose and the charm of her characters, and the novel sinks into a swampy, convoluted mess. It is a deep and thorough exploration of the illusions that individuals, families, and societies construct to fight off the often-ugly truth of reality.
At times, Karen Russell’s “Swamplandia!” is an ode to prose, filled with clever turns of phrase, sharp insight, and language so rich and detailed that images of an isolated Florida swamp seem to jump from the pages of the book directly into the mind. Magical prose operates like glamour, hiding thin plot and poor narrative construction beneath language so beautiful and breathless that it allows faults to go nearly unnoticed.
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