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Book Review of Swamplandia!

Swamplandia!
Swamplandia!
Author: Karen Russell
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
kellilee avatar reviewed on + 66 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


I just didn't like it. My boyfriend and I read it together and we both felt a real sense of disappointment. Did we just not "get" the hype? Were we missing something? I felt disjointed most of the time like it was really two novels spliced together - one trying to work its way under the magical realism genre and the other a sort of coming of age humorous one. The result for me was muddled, and maybe I just don't like magical realism or maybe Russell was working just a little too hard at making this a quirky novel. It hit me hardest when I realized what was happening to Ava....and didn't care. Yup, I just didn't care what really happened to any of these characters and, in the end, that's not the way to endear the reader. Oh well.