Swamplandia! By Karen Russell - Otherworldly and outstanding

 Swamplandia! By Karen Russell

Otherworldly and outstanding

One principle or rule of happiness is:

-          Diversity

We need variety to enjoy almost any activity- food has to be different- according to the Lasagna Principle coined by Professor Tal Ben Shahar from Harvard-you cannot eat lasagna all the time, even when that is your favorite food.

In terms of reading subject, Swamplandia! Offers an Incredible Escape- the location is as outlandish as possible:

-          Swamplandia! Is a very different theme park, somewhere in the wild, in a swamp, where 92 crocodiles live

Up to the end that is, where I kept wondering what happened to them; they are called Seths and I forgot why.

The plot of the story is also out of the ordinary, with two se4parate tales, told in a different way, by different narrators.

I loved the Kiwi escape, Kiwi being the son of Chief Bigtree and Hilola, who owned Swamplandia! Until things get complicated.

There are some difficult issues, which contribute to a great extent towards the complexity of this novel.

Are the parents heroes and good people or are they abusive on account of the fact that they keep their children trapped in a show that is going downhill.

And I also feel sorry for the bear, the Seths which may have a terrible life, albeit even here I am not sure.

Hilola Bigtree has a show where she jumps into a pool with alligators protected by some kind of net and then she swims to safety.

This reminds me of a documentary on killer whales and their awful life in aquatic parks, where some have killed their keepers or trainers.

The shows involve alligator wrestling and act which is supposed to be passed on to one of the girls- Ava, who has a sister with a beautiful name- Osceola.

At one point, Kiwi decides to escape, when he understands that Swamplandia! Has terrible perspectives.

He takes a few hundred dollars from his dad and is hired at the rival park, the Leviathan and where he is called:

-          Margaret Meade.

This is such an amazing incident that if I were a little bit inclined towards religion I would call it a miracle.

I have read about Margaret Meade in an extraordinary book called War, What is It Good For and then, as I try and read throughout the day from a few books I met the same scientist in another work-The Blank Slate.

And now, for the Third time in a row, in an altogether different context, there pops again the same researcher.

I am not like Osceola, for then I would say this name haunts me and the ghost of the anthropologist will show up tonight.

The part of the ghost story and the chasing of the sister who eloped to marry the dead Louis Thanksgiving was not my cup of tea.

Strangely, the story is told by Ava, but when we move on to what happens to Kiwi, we do not have the same narrator.

The tale within the tale is fabulous and I guess Kiwi is my favorite character, although Ava is at the center stage.

There are hilarious parts; in fact the whole Kiwi story is funny, even when there are dark passages, like the fight with grandpa.

I remember when there is a medical test which Kiwi Bigtree needs to pass and where family history needs to be revealed

-          What should I put…grandpa bites people, my sister sees ghosts, my mom died very young of cancer, my father imagines crazy stuff and we fight Seths, 92 alligators in our swamp…

Delightful novel