I just finished reading the incredibly popular novel, Where the Crawdads Sing. I picked this one up on Audible and I honestly loved it enough that I’m probably going to buy a hardcover. This novel was originally published back in 2018 and the movie is coming out in July of 2022. You can check out the trailer for the movie here. While I, of course, have some reservations about how well this book will translate to the big screen, I’m very excited about the movie. It features Daisy Edgar-Jones, who I just saw in Under the Banner of Heaven, and I’m sure she will do an amazing job.
But, back to the book!
Title: Where the Crawdads Sing
Author: Delia Owens
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
Description:
For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life – until the unthinkable happens.
Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
Controversial Reviews Often Mean a Great Read
I’m making a statement here, but I really believe this. Whenever a book gets popular, it is bound to have a wide variety of reviews. Some are negative, some positive, and I can see why it was controversial for people. I have some thoughts about the ending myself. So, if you check out the other reviews for this book, brace yourself for some pretty riled-up folks!
The Good:
This was a really beautiful book to listen to. The vivid descriptions of the setting, this marshland in the Carolinas, are beautiful and interesting. I fell in like with the Marsh, the same way that Kya did. I loved reading about her paintings, her collections, and her love of the animals that she lived amongst.
I also really liked the characters in this book. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that good characters are the most important element of a story for me. I was rooting for Kya the whole time and I loved Tate.
The beginning of this book, or about the first 50% was amazing. I was completely absorbed by it and found myself sneaking in ten minutes here and there just to know what happened next.
The Not-So-Good:
I can’t even say that any part of this novel was “bad” but I definitely felt a lull in some places. The courtroom aspect wasn’t as intriguing for me and I felt like it kind of went on forever. What I came to love about Kya was her ability to navigate the sticky marsh on her barely motoring boat. She is painted as this rugged survivor and when she is in the courtroom scenes, she dulls into a cardboard person. I think this might have actually been intentional because Kya no longer has the marsh to inspire her and keep her curiosity bubbling. But it didn’t make things very interesting.
A lot of reviews compared these scenes to To Kill a Mockingbird and I can see the similarities. And I was invested in the outcome of the trial, but it just went on for too long.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
I wasn’t quite prepared for the shift in Chase’s character. There were small signs that their relationship would not last, but I felt like there could have been more foreshadowing so that the scene where he tries to rape Kya doesn’t feel so out of the blue. It felt out of character and while I could stretch my imagination to see how he arrived there, I felt like it could have been a smoother and more satisfying transition if we had wondered the whole time if he was actually “the bad guy.”
The end of the book fell a little flat for me, as well. When the final chapters rolled around, I felt like I was still wondering if the author was ever going to tell us who killed Chase. And she does, after Kya’s death in her sixties. Tate finds a spot in the floorboards of her home where she had hidden secrets and uncovers a few surprising details.
First, there is poetry written by Kya under a pseudonym. The author adds in the detail that Tate never liked the poetry written by this person, and had never known it to be Kya. I found that detail a little frustrating, as though she had to try and make him out to be an asshole right at the end of the book, for seemingly no reason. Anyway, there is a poem in which Kya admits to having killed Chase, beside a small box that holds the seashell necklace that Chase had been wearing the night of his death. Tate then destroys the evidence, even though Kya is dead, and we arrive at the end.
I think it was the pacing that bothered me here. I was glad that Kya was the one that killed Chase because it was true to her character (after all, she talked often about how female insects eat their male counterparts.) She didn’t trust the police or other authority figures. So, it was not that it wasn’t believable that she would kill Chase, but rather it was unbelievable the way that this is revealed.
I kind of had hoped that Jumpin’ would’ve been involved in revealing the truth somehow. I thought maybe a letter that she had written to him would have turned up at his funeral, or perhaps she would have left something for Tate when she unexpectedly died.
But this didn’t ruin the book for me, by any means, these are just my thoughts about the book. I would still highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a whodunnit with a splash of the vibrancy of nature, rugged survival, and complicated family histories.
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