‘Faith was a power
that arose from inside you, I thought, and doubt was exogenous, a speck in your
eye. A black mote from the sad world of adults.’
Ava Bigtree,
alligator-wrestler-in-training, will need plenty of faith, or something, to
survive the sudden changes at Swamplandia!, her lifelong home. Swamplandia! is
under threat from a new and unexpected competitor, a theme park called the
World of Darkness. When Ava’s mother, a champion alligator-wrestler and the
star attraction of Swamplandia! dies suddenly of cancer, her husband and three
children are left to face both the dwindling number of paying visitors, and the
inconceivable force of their grief.
Somehow,
thirteen-year-old Ava begins to disappear from view as far as her remaining
family members are concerned. Her older brother Kiwi, determinedly intellectual
in a naïve kind of way, sets off for the mainland (Florida) to save their home.
Ava’s sister, the middle child Osceola, develops a fascination for the spirit
world and falls is in love with one ghost after another. Their father, the
Chief, also heads for the mainland, ostensibly for some obscure business
purpose, leaving the two girls alone.
Swamplandia! is an extension of a short story published in Karen Russell’s earlier,
and highly recommended, St Lucy’s Home
for Girls Raised by Wolves. The stories in that collection focus largely on
children and young people, with whom Russell evidently has a particular
affinity. Reading Russell’s writing is a bit like looking into a mirror, and finding
a reflection that is recognisable, but somehow larger and more colourful than
the reality. She has a unique ability for surprising metaphor and description.
Ava Bigtree is a
likeable heroine, a strong-minded, intelligent person who loves her family
fiercely. It is easy to feel protective of her, as she struggles with all the
unprecedented upheaval at Swamplandia!, and works to keep the members of her
family safe and together in the same place. Unfortunately, neither Ava nor the
reader can control what happens in this novel; Russell is skilled at exposing
all the chinks in our emotional armour, and testing them painfully. This novel departs
from likelihood at many junctures, but remains unflinchingly honest.
