Florida is a strange place, unlike anywhere else: humid, feral, exotic, overwhelming. After reading Karen Russell鈥檚 novel Swamplandia!, which contrastFlorida is a strange place, unlike anywhere else: humid, feral, exotic, overwhelming. After reading Karen Russell鈥檚 novel Swamplandia!, which contrasts the wild, untamable natural world of the Everglades against the dehumanized, gray, concrete, manmade world of the Florida suburbs鈥攁nd then Russell鈥檚 short story collection Vampires in the Lemon Grove, in which many characters and stories showcased Floridians, cantankerous and as colorful as the local wildlife鈥擨 have become interested in this unusual state and the role it plays in storytelling.
Lauren Groff鈥檚 book of short stories, Florida, does not disappoint. It juxtaposes the sultry, unpredictable weather and wildlife against the equally unpredictable inner life of women, mostly middle aged and mostly wearied with the heaviness and futility of modern marriage and existence. A sole story features a strange and neglected man, who eventually marries a good woman but ends up going deaf and living only in his inner world鈥攁 foreshadowing of the male lack of attention and nuanced inner worlds to come in subsequent stories.
An angst-filled mother with a largely absent husband and two young sons who she loves fiercely shows up in at least five of the eleven stories, including the first and the last. She is neurotic and dramatic; she is uncomfortable in her own skin and drives other away with her incessant talking and worrying. She verbalizes the fears and insecurities we all live with but do not admit; she rolls them around in her head, examining them.
The stories articulate a rich inner world, taking us through the thought patterns, feelings and random observations of their characters in a way I didn鈥檛 know was possible in writing. Groff is a talented writer; her language is deft and there are phrases and paragraphs of unbridled brilliance throughout the book. Her writing style can also be dense at times; I likely missed enough that I need to read the book again.
My favorite stories are the first, about a young woman who runs through the neighborhood to settle her mind and looks into the lives of her neighbors as she does so; a story about a woman who suffers a hard fall in a cabin in the woods with only her two young sons to help; and a story about a young Ph.D.鈥檚 slide into homelessness鈥攄riven by a lack of money鈥攖hat was heartbreaking and yet utterly relatable....more
This is my fourth Russell book. I read, in order, Orange World, Swamplandia, St. Lucy鈥檚 Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, and now Vampires in the LemonThis is my fourth Russell book. I read, in order, Orange World, Swamplandia, St. Lucy鈥檚 Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, and now Vampires in the Lemon Grove. So, by now, I should be well-used to Russell鈥檚 brand of fabulism.
As always, I am struck by her language. The stories vary in how well I connect with them, and how powerful they are, but there is always a wonderful phrase or two or many in each story that makes a moment come to life in an entirely new way. The book is about change and transformation; some of it natural and some of it forced, but all of it resulting in a new way of being.
I took on this book as a buddy read, which means my friend and I read a chapter each week and then discussed it on Fridays via text. When we had completed the book, we got together for coffee and talked about it holistically. I had a much richer understanding of the book because of this approach.
I want to approach this review a little differently than usual. I鈥檓 going to list the title of each of the eight short stories, how I rank it, a one- or two- sentence description of it, my biggest takeaway, and one of my favorite phrases from the story.
鈥 鈥淰ampires in the Lemon Grove.鈥 Sixth favorite. An ancient married vampire couple grow weary of one another and can鈥檛 agree, which has much different implications and consequences then for non-immortal couples. After centuries of teetotaling, the vampire male has a midlife crisis and behaves badly.
鈥 鈥淩eeling for the Empire.鈥 A close second. Japanese women who don鈥檛 matter to their family are lured into working at a silk factory for an extremely high wage, then turned into living silk worms by an ominous and selfish businessman. They metamorphosize physically and mentally; ending in the ultimate revenge.
鈥 鈥淪eagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979.鈥 Not sure I really liked this very much, so it ranks seventh. Poor, unhappy, awkward but academically gifted teenage boy lusts after his brother鈥檚 girlfriend and meets a flock of seagulls who steal items from the future. He hopes to interact with the birds to change his future as well. It鈥檚 about consciousness and trying to change reality by changing others without changing yourself. Nal, the teenager, is able to manipulate the universe in small ways, but in the end, nothing really changes for him.
Quote: 鈥淭he feeling of arrival Nal was after kept receding like a charcoal line on bright water."
鈥 鈥淧roving Up鈥. My very favorite story. Described as 鈥淟ittle House on the Prairie鈥 meets 鈥淭he Shining.鈥 Nebraska homesteaders endure unspeakable conditions in order to prove up and claim their land. As they begin to go mad, the youngest son of one of these families visits another family with an item guaranteed to help them truly own their land, but is intercepted by an evil spirit. Ultimately, the story is about acquisition and what we give up in order to gain more.
鈥 鈥淭he Barn at the End of Our Term.鈥 Fifth favorite. Makes gentle fun of presidents, a unique species of politician who has won the ultimate race, and muses on where they might go after they die. They see it as the ultimate insult to become a horse in a barn on a farm, and many of them try to escape from their humbling circumstances to no avail鈥 until one former president lets go of his ambitions and surrenders to the now. Absurd but yet strangely prescient.
Quote (describing former president Rutherford鈥榮 death): 鈥淭hen Rutherford's throat begin to close, shutting him off from all words, and he felt himself filling with silence. The silence was a field of cotton growing white and forever inside him."
鈥 鈥淒ougbert Shackleton鈥檚 Rules for Antarctic Tailgating.鈥 My least favorite. It ranks last or eighth. I don鈥檛 like tailgating, I don鈥檛 like Antarctica and I don鈥檛 like shrimp. This very much seemed like a caustic look on being the David versus Goliath, but losing every time. Seemed somewhat pointless. I didn鈥檛 have any favorite quotes.
鈥 鈥淣ew Veterans.鈥 My third favorite. A massage therapist realizes she can manipulate a young veteran鈥檚 tattoo to relieve him of his horrifying war memories that are causing PTSD. However, she finds she has absorbed the memories and is reliving them in lieu of him.
鈥 鈥淭he Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis鈥. My fourth favorite, but a close tie for third. Young high school bullies receive a huge scare around Eric, a mentally challenged young man they beat and emotionally tortured in middle school. One of the bullies goes beyond what the others have done and makes the hurt personal, forcing Eric to give up the thing he holds most dear: his pet bunny.
Sometimes funny, sometimes frightening, always thoughtful, these stories certainly kept my attention....more
What drives the use of certain cover art? Swamplandia鈥檚 cover "uses a sublimely perfect 1899 illustration by Luther Daniels Bradley depicting a swamp,What drives the use of certain cover art? Swamplandia鈥檚 cover "uses a sublimely perfect 1899 illustration by Luther Daniels Bradley depicting a swamp, a dark-coated man, an innocent girl and the open jaws of a colossal gator." Luther Daniels Bradley (d. 1917) was an illustrator political cartoonist for the Chicago Daily News + wrote and illustrated children's books. The art sets up the absurdity and the specificity of the story inside.
The book seems to be semi-magic realism鈥ussell鈥檚 genre is really hard to pin down. However, in book length, her style is more accessible than in her short stories. Her language is so descriptive and unusual, and you notice that more in a novel. I found it a lovely canvas for her writing.
The Everglades, where the book is set (and where Russell is from) is a somewhat bizarre part of America鈥攁lmost like another planet. It suits the book well. This alien, otherworldly environment, with an ecology that makes it hard to inhabit, is a place where native species are crowded out by non-native species: giant pythons, iguanas, and other invasive, transplanted creatures. Plant life is also encroached upon by outside species; The book details how Melaleuca trees were sown in order to soak up the swamp; they end up taking over, endlessly growing back as the Bigtree family endlessly tries to cut them down.
This background adds a magical backdrop to the story of a dysfunctional family. The Bigtree children have been homeschooled, barely taught anything, in order to run the family鈥檚 theme park. Ages 11, 16 and 18, they have known no other life but a semi-neglected one. Their mother has died of cancer. Their father disappears for weeks on end with no way to get in touch with him, leaving the children to fend for themselves. The eldest brother, Kiwi, is highly gifted and devours any kind of book he can get his hands on. He鈥檚 the only one who understands the family is going bankrupt, and leaves their island for the mainland and a competing theme park in order to earn money to try to support his family.
This is where things start to go wrong. After Kiwi leaves, Chief Bigtree, the family patriarch, disappears to take care of some business. The 16-year-old sister, Ossie, has ghostly lovers who possess her. In a normal family, she would be treated for mental illness. On the Bigtree island, she is simply left to wander. The youngest daughter, Ava, is left to manage things as best she can. Unfortunately, her older sister disappears鈥 eloping with one of her ghosts and leaving a note. When Ava meets a mysterious Birdman, she thinks he may be able to help. Do you trust her reasoning? She is only 11.
The Bigtrees themselves are transplants, non-native to Florida. Their forefathers came to Florida to escape money problems, took on the guise of an Indian tribe (cultural appropriation at its finest) and began a gator wrestling theme park that the whole family is involved in. 鈥淎lthough there was not a drop of Seminole blood in us, the chief always costumed us in tribal apparel for the photographs he took. He said we were 鈥榦ur own Indians鈥.鈥
The whole set up is so wacky, we wonder what was wrong with the mother. Why did she marry into this insane family and continue the insanity with her own children? You never find out, but as any family unit minus a mother is wont to do, the Bigtrees begin to fall apart.
When Kiwi leaves secretly to work for the rival theme park, the World of Darkness, Russell begins to use an acerbic teenage voice that is darkly detailed and hilariously scripted. Kiwi鈥檚 observations skewer corporate America and the absurdities of lower level managers everywhere. He is never able to get ahead, since he is charged for the awful dormitory he lives in and the polyester uniforms they make him wear.
Ava鈥榮 voice, as a contrast, is prescient and wise. She is old for her years, and you believe her wisdom until later in the book when something terrible happens. Is it unexpected? Maybe not if you were viewing things as an adult. But viewing things through Ava鈥檚 eyes, yes.
The tone begins to fall apart towards the end. We start the book鈥攁nd travel through it鈥攂elieving in magic realism; this approach is abandoned at the end and leaves us wondering if we have been hoodwinked. Are the Everglades the environment that is uninhabitable? Or is this an allegory for just how uninhabitable the modern city can be? Swamplandia is full of contradictions.
There are interesting gender dynamics at play, with the male characters all lying or attempting to conceal something, and the women supportive of others to the point of not caring for themselves.
The book also plays into mythmaking鈥 both family myth making and American myth making. How we see ourselves, how we came to be, is not always aligned with the truth鈥 for example, the Bigtrees鈥 鈥渁ncestral homeland鈥 is Ohio. The children participate in the mythmaking, partially because they don鈥檛 know any better. What they see is real to them, and they understand differently than many kids do given their lack of exposure to normality.
鈥淭he beginning of the end can feel a lot like the middle when you are living in it. When I was a kid, I couldn鈥檛 see any of these ridges. It was only after Swamplandia鈥檚 fall that time folded into a story with a beginning, middle, and an ending. If you鈥檙e short on time, that would be the two word version of our story: we fell.鈥
I thought quite a bit about identity development, self authorship, and psychosocial growth while reading this book. There were so many societal supports missing for the Bigtree children; yet at least some of them not only survived, but thrived. Swamplandia is partly a meditation on memories, on childhood, on time, on grief and on reality. As Ava explains at the end of the book: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 seem to draw a stable picture in my mind鈥檚 eye anymore 鈥 it feels like trying to light a candle on a rainy night, your hands cupped and your cheeks puffed and the whole wide world conspiring to snatch the flame away from you.鈥 She is talking about her lost pet alligator, but could well be describing her mother, or her childhood.
Memories are what you make of them, as is reality. As the last line of the book muses, 鈥淲e used to have this cardboard clock on Swamplandia, and you could move the tiny red hands to whatever time you wanted, NEXT SHOW AT ____:____ O鈥機LOCK.鈥
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