Hansel & Gretel & Gators
From Amazon's description:
A New York Times Best Book of the Year
One of Granta's Best Young American Novelists
Selected for the New Yorker's 20 Under 40
Nominated for the Orange Prize
Thirteen-year-old Ava Bigtree has lived her entire life at Swamplandia!, her family’s island home and gator-wrestling theme park in the Florida Everglades. But when illness fells Ava’s mother, the park’s indomitable headliner, the family is plunged into chaos; her father withdraws, her sister falls in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, defects to a rival park called The World of Darkness. As Ava sets out on a mission through the magical swamps to save them all, we are drawn into a lush and bravely imagined debut that takes us to the shimmering edge of reality.
Oh. My. God. I just finished this book at about 3 in the morning last night and my head is still swimming in this other, richer, stranger world. This is what a fairy tale is at it's core, something dark and lonely and true and still somehow hopeful. If the brothers Grimm had their MFA in Creative Writing and lived in Florida's wetlands, this is what they'd be churning out. I really want to read the author's book of short stories now, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. I have the feeling she could usurp someone on my fave authors list if she keeps up the craft.
I have nothing bad to say about this novel: it sucked me in and ruined the reading experience I was trying to have with the nonfiction books i was attempting to juggle. Which is quite a feat. I find most books mutable, easy to put down and start back up when I'm free. Swamplandia! kept calling me. It's the difference between normal canned soups and the thick and hearty varieties, only for books. The writing is, Lord, sublime. Even if the story had been lackluster, the language alone could carry it. I love you, Karen Russell. And I love the Bigtree Tribe.
A note: while this is labelled as Award Winning, that's a misnomer, but so near the truth as to be indistinguishable from it. READ THIS BOOK.
I have nothing bad to say about this novel: it sucked me in and ruined the reading experience I was trying to have with the nonfiction books i was attempting to juggle. Which is quite a feat. I find most books mutable, easy to put down and start back up when I'm free. Swamplandia! kept calling me. It's the difference between normal canned soups and the thick and hearty varieties, only for books. The writing is, Lord, sublime. Even if the story had been lackluster, the language alone could carry it. I love you, Karen Russell. And I love the Bigtree Tribe.
A note: while this is labelled as Award Winning, that's a misnomer, but so near the truth as to be indistinguishable from it. READ THIS BOOK.
I'm following along with the Tournament of Books list this year, but Swamplandia first came to my attention when it was nominated for the Orange. I can't believe I've put off reading it this long. Glad it worked for you, and I can't wait to start it!
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