Swamplandia - Softcover

Russell, Karen

3.27

57,182 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1594135746 ISBN 13: 9781594135743

Publisher: Large Print Press, 2012

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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.

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Review:

Praise for Karen Russell's "Swamplandia!
""Karen Russell is young and talented, and has been given just about every age-appropriate honor there is--Best Young American Novelists, 20 Under 40, 5 Under 35. With her debut novel, though, she's leaving the kids' table forever. The bewitching "Swamplandia!" is a tremendous achievement for anyone, period. . . . Effortless prose and [a] small, beautifully drawn cast of characters . . . as densely organic as the swamp in which it is set."
--Keith Staskiewicz, " Entertainment Weekly, A-
""If no such thing as the Great Floridian Novel already existed, consider it done. Karen Russell, anointed by "Granta "and "The New Yorker" as one our most brilliant young writers, fulfills the promise of her fiercely original 2006 story collection [with] a novel of idiosyncratic and eloquent language; hyperreal, Technicolor settings; and larger-than-life characters who are nonetheless heartbreakingly vulnerable and keenly emotional. It's as

"Absolutely irresistible. . . . A suspenseful, deeply haunted book. . . . A marvel." --"The New York Times"
"[Russell] has thrown the whole circus of her heart onto the page, safety nets be damned. . . . Russell has deep and true talent." --"San Francisco Chronicle "
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"Vividly worded, exuberant in characterization, the novel is a wild ride. . . . This family, wrestling with their desires and demons . . . will lodge in the memories of anyone lucky enough to read "Swamplandia"!" --"The New York Times Book Review "
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"The bewitching "Swamplandia! "is a tremendous achievement." --"Entertainment Weekly "
"Seduces before you've turned the first page." --"People "

"If no such thing as the Great Floridian Novel already existed, consider it done. . . . A novel of idiosyncratic and eloquent language; hyperreal, Technicolor settings; and larger-than-life characters who are nonetheless heartbreakingly vulnerable and keenly emotional. It's a tour de force." --"Elle "
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"Beautiful, dark, and funny." --"Rolling Stone "
"A spook-house masterpiece." --"Atlanta Journal-Constitution "

"Dazzlingly original. . . . Like the state itself, "Swamplandia!" is a crossroads where the wild and the tame, the spectacular and the mundane meet; underneath the hubbub of the fantastic lies a family of misfits at sea in their grief--theirs is a story that is as ordinary as it is heartbreaking." --"Boston Globe"
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"Wonderfully imaginative." --"The Seattle Times "
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"A rich and humid world of spirits and dreams, buzzing mosquitoes and prehistoric reptiles, baby-green cocoplums and marsh rabbits, and musty old tomes about heroes and spells. With Ava [Russell] has created a goofy and self-conscious girl who is young enough to hope that all darkness has an answering lightness." --"The Economist "

"A lusciously written phantasmagorical treat." --"Palm Beach Post
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""Swamplandia! "flashes brilliantly--holographically--bet

Book Description:

A triumphant debut novel and follow-up to Karen Russell's universally acclaimed short story collection St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.

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