The novel is set in the Ten Thousand Islands, off the southwest coast of Florida, it tells the story of the Bigtree family of alligator wrestlers who live in Swamplandia an alligator-wrestling theme park. It would be easy if there were just a giant alligator Ava and her brother and sister could wrestle, instead of cancer and bankruptcy. Swamplandia is a 2011 novel by the American writer Karen Russell. And then there's this alternate zone where there's an external enemy you can fight. Here is the second half of our extended interview with Russell, in which she talks about everything from overdosing on chicken McNuggets to our fear of death. In your own life, you're pretty powerless. Like the Narnia stories, which I loved: You're a dorky, anemic kid in Britain, and you go through a closet, and you're a king. Sloane Crosleys ' I Was Told Thered Be Cake ,' Jonthan Franzens ' The Corrections ' and Chad Harbachs ' The Art of Fielding ' are. A lot of those books play to a child's egotism: Your kid resources are enough to slay the dragon and save the kingdom. HBO is currently developing quite a few series based on books. Were there such stories you liked as a kid?Ī: Not that this is meant to be a corrective to those stories, but Ava's understanding of the world is shaped by them. A New York Times Best Book of the YearOne of Grantas Best Youn. Q: The novel plays with the traditional children's adventure-story plot. Read 8,070 reviews from the worlds largest community for readers.

The premium cable network has picked up a Swamplandia, a drama project from Rudin based on Karen Russell s book of the same name. My friends and I would tromp around and find cool stuff in the water - a raft that might have been abandoned by a Cuban refugee. HBO is going to Florida with Scott Rudin.

When I was a kid and sort of a loner, I would ride my bike to a marshy area where mangroves grew. A: I guess my analogue to Ava's experience would be that we grew up near the water, near Biscayne Bay.

Swamplandia hbo