Title- Where the Crawdads Sing
Author- Delia Owens
Series- N/A
Published- 2018
Page Count- 368 pages
Publishing House- Corsair
Genre- Coming of Age, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Rating- 3/5 stars
About the Author
Delia Owens is the co-author of three internationally bestselling nonfiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist in Africa including Cry of the Kalahari.
She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in Nature, The African Journal of Ecology, and many others.
She currently lives in Idaho. Where the Crawdads Sing is her first novel.
Taken from Delia's website.
Plot
For years, rumours of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world–until the unthinkable happens.
In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
The story asks how isolation influences the behaviour of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.
Taken from Goodreads.
Opinions
Before we get into this review, I have to highlight that shortly before I read this it came to my attention of the problematic content surrounding this book. I'd advise you to do further reading into it, but here's a link to an article I read about it which I'd recommend. You can read it here. Alternatively, you can just Google Where the Crawdads Sing Problematic and it will link you to a host of articles on this subject.
After learning of the problematic content surrounding this book, I will admit that it tainted my reading experience. It is important to be aware when there is something wrong with a book or author, but I think it made me think that I wouldn't be allowed to like this book. I read two chapters in two days, then ended up flying through the rest of the book. I think next time, I will read up about issues surrounding books after I've read them. It will allow me to make my own opinions on issues rather than forcing myself to believe something I'm not informed about.
I think the main reason I struggled to get into this book was the writing style. It just wasn't for me in the end. I personally found it too flowery and descriptive at times. That was a key part of the book, but it just ended up loosing me at points. However, I think this was just a personal preference rather than a critique against the author.
The reason I gave this book three stars was because I actually enjoyed the middle section. I didn't want to put it down. Once we got to the court case section, that was when my interest really peaked. It took a very long time to get there, but once we were there, I really enjoyed it. It was just a shame I didn't like the beginning or end of this book.
I am not a huge romance fan, but the romances in this book were handled very badly. Kya and Tate would have been a far more meaningful relationship if they had stayed friends. I liked their friendship, but why did it have to develop into a romance? Chase and Kya was just toxic. One thing I think that the author handled well in regards to the romance, was Kya's reactions to the betrayals and hurt she faced throughout the book. It felt realistic. Aside from that, I struggled with the romances.
Quite possibly my least favourite part of this book was the ending. The two reveals angered me. Firstly, even though the book was mostly from Kya's perspective, it was revealed that Kya killed Chase. She maintained her innocence and that she couldn't have killed him. It was very clearly established that she couldn't have killed him. Yet, somehow she did. I was furious. A reviewer on Goodreads said something along the lines of by doing this, the author has basically undermined her whole story for a twist at the end. The other reveal angered me just as much. Throughout the book, Kya quotes poetry from a favourite author, who just turns out to be her. It just felt lazy. I have never felt so angry about the ending of a book before.
I think it goes without saying, but I found this book okay. I will not be keeping it, especially after that awful ending.
What did you think of Where the Crawdads Sing?
Carenza :)x
