A third of the way through I thought, "oh crap, this is a coming of age novel that's going to end ambiguously" - not my favorite genre. I'm pretty glad I slogged through though, the book has some spunk and I've caught myself thinking of gators as "Seths" lately.

An account by a spunky child about life in an unusual family. It does turn a corner into the very weird toward the end, but along the way it is filled with interesting insights of a family struggling to make ends meet and manage after the death of a parent.

I wanted to like this novel, after all it boasts a favorable blurb from Stephen King (a fine writer, never mind all the horror), but after slogging through half, found it too "swampy" -- many tedious, hard-to-wade-through sections, few engaging ones. My verdict: As Nancy Pearl says, "Life is short and the library is large;" I moved on without a backward glance.

I almost put this book down as it seemed to be going in a direction that I wasn't enjoying, but I pushed on and actually ended up liking this book! I learned a lot about the history of Florida and what it may be like for a young girl to be caught in a situation as Ava does. I did think that it ended quite quickly, and I would have liked it if some of the story lines were extended a bit more. Stick this one out- it is worth it in the end!

Karen Russell's debut novel centers on Swamplandia!, a fictional 100-acre theme park in Florida that is run by the alligator-wrestling Bigtree clan. As is the case with most good entertainment, much of Swamplandia! and the Bigtree family is all smoke and mirrors. The head of the family, a man called Chief, has absolutely no Indian heritage; rather he is descended from Ohio coal miners. His wife, Hilola knows how to charm an alligator and an audience, but when Hilola dies, business literally goes to hell as tourists switch their allegiance to the World of Darkness, a competing park. As it follows each member of the Bigtree family and how they try to save the family business, this wonderfully wacky work of Florida fiction becomes a poignant examination of family relationships.

This book was the first I'd heard of Karen Russell, and now I am hooked! Her poetic writing is as entrancing to me as the Bird Man's call is to Ava. It's just plain beautiful, funny, enchanting and heartbreaking. I can't wait to read more by Ms. Russell.

I don't think I've ever read a book that was quite as quirky as this one was. Although I will admit, the end seemed to wrap up very quickly (i.e. conveniently), the story itself was captivating. My favorite part of the novel was that everything that occurs, to set up the story, is very 'fantastic.' However, nothing can be defined as fantasy and the book does a wonderful job of keeping everything grounded in reality. The almost unbelievable events and characters work perfectly for the story because, as a young girl is forced to face the world as an adult, the reader understands this is not at all a fantasy.