Swamplandia! is a tourist attraction in swampy Florida where a family of alligator wrestlers and showpeople have thrilled audiences for many years. Hilola Bigtree makes a splash, literally, by jumping from a tall platform into a pit of alligators and swimming to safety several times a day. But when Hilola is downed by cancer instead of alligators, the family is sent into a tailspin and they scatter, each according to their own way into pilgrimages strange, damaging, and sometimes enlightening. There's more than a little magical realism in this book and some beautifully lyrical words. It's hard not to see this story as a cautionary tale for all of us and the world at large rather than just the small insulated world of Swamplandia! That makes it all the more poignant and scary.
Kim
