Swamplandia! is losing tourists to another theme park and tourists just don't want to see people wrestling alligators anymore.
During this downturn at Swamplandia, Osceola (Ossy) takes off in the Florida everglades after a ghost that she believes is inhabiting her body. Ava, afraid that Ossy will be lost forever runs after her and tries to find Ossy with the help of a stranger called the Birdman. The Birdman is a wandering worker who chases away birds from peoples properties when the birds get too thick. Kiwi, afraid that his parents are going to lose their property, ends up taking a job at the competing theme park.
You would think that with all of these interesting plot lines that this would be an absorbing book. And I guess it was - despite the fact that it took me a month to read it. The book just made me mad. It took me 1/2 the book to actually care about the characters in the story and they should have grabbed my attention and made me care from the get-go.
Some of the things that happened in the book made me mad. I didn't want them to happen to the characters in the book. Not that I cared THAT much about the characters, just that it felt like some of these things belonged in a different story. They should have happened somewhere else and in some other time - just not in this book.
Some things never rang true in this book. For one, they called the alligators 'Seths'. All alligators were called this, not just one. Everytime this was mentioned in the book it was jarring.
And I was mad at the ending. It was great up until the last sentence. The author should have left the last sentence off because it didn't make any sense.
Grrr. Arggh!! I hate books like this!
Rating: 3 / 10
ISBN: 9780307263995
Publisher: Borzoi Books
Year Published: 2011