Some of the reviews I’ve read refer to the story as magical realism. To me the Swamplandia! story is irresistible. Soon a new more modern amusement park called “The World of Darkness” opens up on the mainland of Florida, and it quickly takes most of the customers away from Swamplandia! Soon Kiwi leaves home and gets a job at The World of Darkness. Ava wants to take over the alligator wrestling, since her mother had taught her the techniques. Early on in the story, the mother Lola gets cancer, and one day when she is starting her alligator wrestling show, she dives into the black swamp pond and doesn’t comes up. Then there are the three children, the 17-year old boy Kiwi, the 16-year old girl Osceola, and the youngest daughter 13-year old Ava who tells much of the story. There is the mother Lola BigTree who is billed as “the foremost lady alligator wrestler in the world”. For quite a while they did all right and even had a souvenir store where they sold alligator caps, t-shirts, and toys. They opened it to the public and even put together a daily show for the people who came. About ten years ago, they bought this rundown shabby alligator farm in the Everglade swamps of southern Florida. They are originally from southern Alabama. The BigTree family in “Swamplandia!” are not real Indians they dress like Indians and have fake Indian names all for the show. “Swamplandia!” by Karen Russell (2011) – 316 pages
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