Swamplandia!

What's not to like about a dysfunctional, emotionally ravaged family adrift in its once-thriving, but no longer, alligator-wrestling theme park?

A finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, the blurbs I was reading about Swamplandia! immediately hit a chord and I felt I would enjoy reading it.  I was wrong; I LOVED reading it!

There is SO much to talk about in this story primarily narrated by 12 year-old Ava, way wise beyond her years.  Ava is the youngest of three children living with their father, Chief Bigtree, at Swamplandia!, the family's rapidly failing alligator-wrestling park on a very isolated Floridian swamp.  Their mother, Hilola Bigtree, was the star performer of Swamplandia! but as the story begins, Hilola has recently died and the family as well as the park are in a state of free fall.

The debut novel of author Karen Russell, Swamplandia! is a terrifically lush story laced with magic and symbolism. If you are not a fan of magical realism, Swamplandia! may not be to your liking, although the "magical" components played a very small role in a great story!

While Ava seems the most rooted of the Bigtree family, she is achingly, incredibly lonely and misses her mother intensely. Ava's goal is to replace her mother as the star of the show and rescue the theme park.  Ava was the child her parents had pinned their hopes on in succeeding as a champion alligator wrestler, as Hilola had been in her younger days.  Even after Hilola's devastating death, Ava continues to care for the alligators and practice her skills, dreaming of her future successes.  She feels a strong attachment and sense of admiration for her dad, Chief Bigtree, and while Ava empathizes with his faltering efforts to normalize the family and failing business, she needs him to regain control and "be the chief" he once was.

Kiwi, Ava's 17 year-old brother, decides he must leave the island in search of a "real" education and job on the mainland and gets a job with a competing theme park: World of Darkness, a place that seems to have a lot in common with Dante's circles of hell.   His painful introduction into mainland life is lightened occasionally by flashes of quirky humor.

Ava's only companion is her 16 year-old sister, Osceola (Ossie), who turns to a Ouija board in her desperate attempts to communicate with the dead.  Osceola begins a romantic relationship with a ghostly suitor via the Ouija board and leaves Ava behind many nights as she disappears into the swamp searching for her "lover," returning exhausted and silent in the morning.

When the Chief announces that he, too, will be traveling to the mainland for "business purposes" and will be gone several weeks, the story takes an ominous turn.  Ossie and Ava remain behind on the grounds of Swamplandia!, as they wish to, and rely on the weekly ferry for supplies and mainland news.

The story takes another stomach-dropping turn when Ossie disappears into the swamp in search of her ghostly suitor, telling Ava that she must join him to be "free" and Ava decides she must follow and rescue her.  Ava's descent into the swamp, accompanied by a stranger known only as Bird Man ("nobody can get to hell without assistance, kid"), makes up the second half of the story and a wild ride for the reader.  Who is Bird Man? What are his intentions? Can Ossie be rescued? Will Ava survive the journey?

I found the emotional roller coaster gripping while some readers may find it exhausting.  I admired Ava so much and very much wanted a happy ending for the Bigtree Family and Swamplandia!

Did I get that?  And what is a "happy ending" anyway?

After you've read it, you tell me!!