Karen Russell may not be a classic American novelist, but she's certainly earned her place among great writers. As read in this New York Times article, Karen Russell earned a place on the "2005 list of 27 New Yorkers under the age of 26" (Maslin, The New York Times). She also received awards for having 5 novels under the ago of 35 and 20 under 40. Swamplandia! was and is her gateway to such success.
For those interested, Karen Russell's Swamplandia! was inspired from a short story she has previously written called, "Ava Wrestles the Alligator".
- "There are echoes of many of the stories in “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” in “Swamplandia!”—the most obvious being “Ava Wrestles the Alligator.” When did you realize you wanted to flesh-out some of that story’s themes in a novel?
You know, when I originally started expanding the short story, I was probably thinking less in terms of fleshing out themes and driven more by my own desire to find out, “What is going to happen to Ava and Ossie?” Later, during revision, I worked to develop some of the themes that also appear in the Ava story, but at first I was thinking more like a future reader" (Hurn, The New Yorker).
More about this and some answers to questions about Swamplandia! can be found in this article, written for The New Yorker.
In this article for NPR Books, Ciabattari writes of the details included in the first few paragraphs of Swamplandia!. I can certainly agree that the first chapter of the novel is one of the most important sections, especially for Swamplandia!. The book opens with the fact of Hilola's death being pressed upon the family. This changes the life of every family member of the Bigtrees.
Overall, Karen Russell's Swamplandia! has come across as an impressive piece of fiction that I still admit to not completely understanding. It's a book that makes you ponder the truth and reality in general. It makes you question the importance of family and how much one can really care for another, even when he or she doesn't believe in caring at all.
I would recommend this book to any adult looking for a strange, but surprisingly touching story of a broken family.
