Swamplandia

by Karen Russell  336 pages

Swamplandia is a tourist attraction in the 10,000 Islands in southwest Florida that's seen better days. Ava Bigtree, 12, is trying to figure out how to grieve after her mother's death from cancer, and how to help her family resurrect their dying business. Ava is a vivid and sympathetic character, who is forced by her father's benign neglect to become self reliant. As Ava trains to become an alligator wrestler like her mother, she also has to deal with her sister, who is in love with a ghost, and her brother who runs off to the mainland to work for a rival theme park in an attempt to raise money for his family's debt.

 As the children become exposed to the outside world, they learn what an isolated existence they have been living, and realize they need more help than their father can provide. This is primarily a quirky coming of age story, but it also contains Ava's nightmarish (and disturbing) journey through the swamps with the Birdman, who turns out to be a very sinister character. I enjoyed Swamplandia's vivid characters and settings, but I would have preferred a more hopeful ending.