Swamplandia!

For years, the Swamplandia! theme park has drawn tourists to an island off the coast of Florida to witness the alligator wrestling exploits of Hilola Bigtree. But in the wake of her early death from cancer, the park’s business has dried up and the Bigtree family is in pieces. Park founder Grandpa Sawtooth has been unceremoniously dumped in a retirement home. His son, “Chief” Sam Bigtree, is in denial about the park’s financial situation. Kiwi, the Chief’s son, has taken a job with a rival theme park to earn money for the family. Kiwi’s sister Osceola has become dangerously infatuated with a ghost. It then falls on the youngest Bigtree, 13-year-old Ava, to keep what remains of Swamplandia! afloat.

“Prodigal” isn’t a term to be thrown around lightly, but given that Karen Russell published Swamplandia! at the ripe old age of 29 after already debuting a short story collection at 26, it might be apt here. If nothing else, Russell continues to demonstrate an almost uncanny command of language. But as many seasoned readers know, it takes more than good writing to make a good novel, and what might work in a shorter format might not work in a longer one.

Swamplandia! is, on many levels, both haunted and haunting. Hilola’s demise casts a long shadow over all of the characters, and that acutely captured grief moves us as well. We feel her loss in the choices her family members make in her absence. At the same time, Swamplandia! is steeped, convincingly, in a world that allows for ghosts (amid all other kinds of strangeness. “Alligator wrestling theme park” is just the tip of the iceberg). Russell excels at creating an otherworldly texture that can be felt across every page.

But while the backdrop is strange, Swamplandia! is more than just a collection of carnival freaks. The characters, funny as they are, embody all the contradictions of humanity. Kiwi’s exploits on the mainland are fitfully amusing due to his naiveté, but you can’t help but pity his Sisyphean task. Chief Bigtree straddles the line between buffoonish petty tyrant and consummate showman/sad clown in a way that leaves you guessing as to his true nature and intentions. Oddly, as a focal character, Ava suffers in comparison. She is absolutely the right choice for a narrator – the world of Swamplandia! would only make sense through a child’s eyes – but the height of Russell’s diction deprives her of a more organic voice.

The one thing Swamplandia! lacks is a definite sense of direction. There’s a structure in place (alternating chapters between Kiwi and Ava’s parallel adventures), and things do happen, but it’s almost as if Russell loses interest in exploring the implications of those occurrences. Too much unfolds here via chance or circumstance, characters move in and out of focus, and there is a hazy treatment of time. The ending, which is both ridiculous and unsatisfying, leaves far too much unanswered and unresolved.

Pulitzer consideration aside, Swamplandia! is hardly a great novel. However, it does make for a bizarrely captivating diversion, and it continues to showcase Russell’s skill as a stylist. Here’s hoping that she figures out plotting and pacing in time for her next release.

7.25/10