where the crawdads sing christian book review

Review – Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing is about Kya Clark, known to townspeople as the Marsh Girl, growing up in the marsh of North Carolina in the 1960’s. When her family abandons her at age six, Kya must learn to survive on her own with only nature (and a handful of friends) to guide her. During her young adulthood, a tragedy occurs in the nearest town, and the prejudices of the day come to light when she is accused of murder.

This book is Delia Owens’ debut novel. The author has written numerous books of nonfiction, but this is her first attempt at fiction…a very successful attempt. Where the Crawdads Sing has been a New York Times Best-Seller for 58 weeks and (as of March 2020) is still going strong. What makes this book so appealing? Is it really worthy of all the hype?

Content Guide

Violence/Scary Images: Some boys discover a corpse, and the investigating police describe it, but the description is not explicit. A person commits murder. The main character’s father is abusive. Boys throws rocks at an African American man. Kya fights off an attempted rapist.

Language: Frequent use of language throughout, including a**, h***, d***, s*** (and variations). Less frequent use of f***, f*****s, and n*****.

Drug/Alcohol References: Kya’s father is an alcoholic and abusive to his family when drunk. The town deputy mentions drug dealing as a possible motive for murder. A young man gets drunk and tries to rape Kya.

Sexual Content: Kya gets her menstrual cycle and must learn about it through friends. She and her love interest engage in detailed sexual exploration, which nearly leads to intercourse. Premarital intercourse occurs and is described simply as “lovemaking.” A young man tries to rape Kya, and the author vividly describes the scene. Some of the townspeople bet on who will be the first to “take the cherry” of the wild girl. Kya takes note of the various mating habits of marsh animals.

Other Negative Content: One of the main characters makes a morally questionable choice, and it is neither praised nor condemned. The town is prejudiced against Kya and her family because of their status as marsh dwellers. African Americans are segregated to “Colored Town,” called inappropriate names, and sometimes physically harassed. Women, children, and African Americans are not allowed to enter the bar in town; and African Americans cannot go into the shops, even in the rain.

Spiritual Content: An African American church donates clothing and food to Kya when no one else in town will.

Positive Content: The townspeople discover their underlying hatred of the Marsh Girl and attempt to change. A couple takes care of Kya, even though they face hardships because of their race. Kya starts to believe love exists, even after a lifetime of abandonment.

From the first line of the prologue, Owens throws the reader into the setting:

Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. … Then within the marsh, here and there, true swamp crawls into low-lying bogs, hidden in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and  dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat (3).

The image of marsh versus swamp is present throughout Where the Crawdads Sing , linking Owens’ background in science to her literary genius. Kya lives in the marsh. She is comfortable and confident in her little shack with her gull family. She can survive with minimal human interaction, and knows the name of every shell and bird feather she collects. The swamp, though, is another beast entirely.

The swamp is where they find the body of someone who pretends to love Kya Clark, but only wants the Marsh Girl. He tries to rape her in the swamp, and she is forced to run for her life. The swamp is where the people of the town gather, hoping to see her executed. It is the marsh, not the swamp, which Kya loves.

This love is evident to readers through the tender way Kya interacts with her surroundings: Painting her collection, whispering in the grasses, and feeding the gulls daily. She understands the marsh like no other, and this brings the author’s own vast knowledge of nature to light. Owens brilliantly weaves Kya’s story with a story about North Carolina wildlife. Poetry and metaphor scattered throughout the book force readers to learn more about the area without realizing they are doing so.

When someone reads this story, they step into that marsh and commit to a journey through the prejudices of the US South in the 1960’s. They will watch Kya struggle against bullies of all ages and realize even though she has proved her worth, the bullies still refuse to leave her alone. It forces readers to look at US history, and themselves, and question decisions they may take for granted.

At first glance,  Where the Crawdads Sing is just another coming-of-age story with hints of a murder mystery. In reality, it is a study in intimacy. Kya never understands love. She watches her loving mother, abusive father, and five siblings walk down the dirt path out of her life forever. One couple helps her the best they can: Taking donations from their church to keep her clothed, advising her about female anatomy when she comes of age, and employing her for jobs they do not need. However, their help is limited. As African Americans, they are relegated to the “Colored Town” outside the town limits and face similar prejudices to Kya.

The most positive relationship comes in the form of Tate Walker, a childhood friend. As Kya and Tate grow closer through the years, she starts to reflect on love, or the absence of it, in the animal kingdom:

Kya watched other [fireflies]. The females got what they wanted – first a mate, then a meal – just by changing their signals. Kya knew judgment had no place here. Evil was not in play, just life pulsing on, even at the expense of some of the players (142-143).

When Tate makes a bad decision, Kya is even more convinced love is only a reproductive instinct: Mate and move on. It will take the love of a town, not just one man, to repair her fractured heart.

The murder mystery in Where the Crawdads Sing is not the true plot, which is a refreshing difference from most genre mysteries. In fact, if a reader tried to pinpoint the plot by its events alone, they would fall short. This story is sometimes painfully slow. There is little to no action. Time jumps are signaled only by a year printed at the beginning of each chapter, which can be confusing since the entire story (Kya’s past and present) is set in the reader’s past. However, this story is not about murder or the passage of time; it is about the Marsh Girl.

While the story may creep along, the characters’ lives are rich and developed, full of love and mistakes. Some of the main characters make bad decisions when faced with nearly impossible odds, and readers will find themselves wondering what they would do in such a situation. It may be Delia Owens’ debut novel, but it reads like a masterpiece. This coming-of-age story is perfect for anyone who wants to fully immerse themselves in the life of another, for better or worse.

+ Complex, believable characters + Complete immersion into setting + Nonfiction inserts fit perfectly in story + Knowledgeable author

- Slow moving plot - Sometimes wondering if there is a plot - Time jumps can be confusing

The Bottom Line

Where the Crawdads Sing is a haunting, beautiful tale about a North Carolina Marsh Girl who learns to move past prejudice and discovers the nature of love and relationships. While it may be the most slow moving murder mystery ever, the characters are fully developed and readers will fall in love with their complexity.

Courtney Floyd

I may be too old, weaned on classics, but I expected a mystery thriller, not a wooden romance novel. The back-and-forth time structure was forced, with no real purpose, and the inconsistencies in an autodidactic savant, who yet acted nearly developmentally disabled, then transformed without explanation or process, stretched my patience. No reveal, of how she mastered the complexities without tripping up, left us to accept it as fact. Worse, the morality play left gaps that could have been dealt with as an act of true self defense, rather than coolly calculated revenge, where we have to weigh one certainly cruel crime against a capital one. Stereotypes are even cringe-worthy, in the dated dialects of the white trash and the noble, but poor Blacks. In my 70 years, I’ve lost several acquaintances to murder, and also experienced truly bizarre coincidences, which had they aligned in time and place with those crimes, might have fingered me as a suspect, in the finest Perry Mason/Hitchcock manner. Life can be stranger than fiction, but it is the author’s task to weave a convincing tale that feels natural, without convenient gaps in time or exposition. If the third person narrative enters the thoughts of a character, it should obligate the full disclosure, of all going on in there, not just snippets edited to conceal the largest secret of the whole book. I read this while sick, and at least won’t have to see the film.

I agree the book was not something I would recommend to everyone, as it was a very slow burn with a morally gray protagonist. I personally am interested to see how they adapt such a book into a thriller. Your comment, while a thoughtful analysis of the material, does imply that people who are developmentally disabled (you used a more offensive term we felt was appropriate to change) are either slow or stupid. Please remember that Geeks Under Grace is a place for everyone–regardless of race, gender, and ability–to engage with pop culture. That said, please keep your comments respectful.

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“Where the Crawdads Sing” Review

Where the Crawdads Sing

I may be a little late to the game with this review since Where the Crawdads Sing has been garnering attention for over 4 years now. I actually read it when it came out but wasn’t doing adult book reviews at that point. With the new movie bringing it to the top of best-seller lists again, I re-read and revisited my thoughts on this much-lauded book. As I re-read it (and stayed up too late) I remembered why it’s a bestseller. And then I remembered why I ended up hating it.

SPOILER ALERT: This review is going to utterly spoil the big reveal about the murder mystery. Sorry folks; I’m going to recommend against reading it anyway.

Busy Mom Quick Synopsis

6 year old Kya watches her mother, siblings, and father abandon her one after another. With minimal community support, she scratches out a precarious survival alone in the marsh. As she comes of age, she desperately seeks love and acceptance in the wrong places. A mysterious and isolated woman living alone in the swamp, the townspeople regard her with suspicion. When the town’s golden boy is murdered, fingers quickly begin to point Kya’s way. Does she have a single friend to defend her?

Why it’s a best-seller

First of all, it’s a beautifully written story about nature. That’s not a compliment I hand out lightly. Delia Owens must have a deep love of the flora and fauna of the North Carolina marshes. Her genuine delight in natural beauty and belief in the healing power of nature make this book memorable. As a fellow nature lover, I enjoyed her descriptions of the wonder of God’s creation.

Secondly, it’s a heart-warming story. An abandoned young girl from an abusive family beats the odds to educate herself and build a successful career as a writer and illustrator. It’s the stuff of Hallmark movies and human interest articles. Honestly, it’s so far-fetched it strains credibility.

Third, it’s a fast-moving storyline with a murder mystery intertwined. It keeps you turning the pages after your bedtime.

Why I don’t recommend Where the Crawdads Sing

First and foremost, skip this book because of the gratuitous sex scenes. There are multiple fade-out to fully described scenes, some with an underage teen Kya, along with a rape scene. Can you skip over them fairly easily? Yes, you see where the scene is going and can skip a few pages. Did they need to be in this book? Nope. They add nothing to the story and feel voyeuristic. And they definitely make this book a hard no for teens.

On a more philosophical level, I disliked the theme about people being fundamentally highly evolved animals. Kay interprets human interactions in animal terms, perhaps not completely unnaturally given her isolated life. But the author does not lead the reader to the conclusion that Kya is wrong here. Kya’s morality is a Darwinistic survival of the fittest code of ethics. And this leads to the ending, which I hated.

Throughout the book, the big conflict is whether Kya is guilty of the blatant murder of her former boyfriend Chase. As the reader, you’re assuming soft-spoken and nature-loving Kya is innocent. You’re condemning the townspeople for prejudice and judgment against an eccentric outlier. When her lawyer brings forward enough doubt to convince a jury to acquit her, you’re cheering.

But then… the last pages of the book, you realize she did it . She cold-bloodedly plotted the murder of the ex-boyfriend who lied to and later attacked her. Was he a horrible human being? Yes. Does this make me feel any better about the “heroine” murdering him with full intent and not in self-defense? No.

What bothered me most about this jarring conclusion was the feeling that throughout the entire book, the author is trying to set up the reader to condone the murder. It’s like Delia Owens is trying to have the reader walk away going, “Well, maybe murder is okay, sometimes.”

Not a conclusion that sits well with me!

For books I do recommend for adults, check out my For Catholic Parents page!

6 thoughts on “ “where the crawdads sing” review ”.

Yes! I had the same reaction and have struggled with this book for so long. It is so popular and so many members of my book club loved it and could not understand my frustration with the ending. Thank you for this review and putting into words why this popular book just did not sit well with me!!

I never understood the hype. Tried reading it and it just felt off. I abandoned it fairly quickly. Thank you for all you do!!

Ahh… same way I felt about Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier by that one always seems to get a pass🤷‍♀️

I think an interesting addendum to your conclusion is that Delia Owens, the author, is currently embroiled in an increasingly credible case that allegedes she aided or committed a murder while living in Africa. Might be why the ending of the book is asking the reader to condone Kya’s actions?

Thank you for this review! You’re assessment of Where the Crawdads Sing is exactly why I had to stop reading Jodie Picoult’s books. Another excellent fiction writer but always with a hard left sympathy and grey areas of morality. I used to be a big fan and almost went to a book signing, but the deeper I went into my faith the more I couldn’t swallow her narratives and ended up tossing them all.

Thank you for this review. I encountered the first sensual scene and began to feel convicted about further reading. Based on your review and others’ comments, I will put this aside. The writer is talented. It’s a shame the content doesn’t match her innate respect for nature and her poetic descriptions.

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Book Review

Where the crawdads sing.

• Delia Owens
• Drama , Suspense/Thriller

Readability Age Range

• 18 years old and up
• Penguin Random House
• #1 New York Times Bestseller; Reese’s Book Club; British Book Award; Business Insider Defining Book of the Decade; #1 Bestselling Book of the Year; #1 International Bestseller; Edgar Award Nominee; Macavity Award Nominee

Year Published

For years, rumors about Kya Clark swirled around the quiet fishing village of Barkley Cove. Barefoot and wild, they called her the “Marsh Girl.” And when something unthinkable happens and a young man is found dead, it’s Kya the Marsh Girl they blame.

Plot Summary

Kya Clark, known by some locals as the “Marsh Girl,” grew up in a swamp. And that makes her, well, “swamp trash” as far as most folks in the North Carolina coastal community of Barkley Cove are concerned.

One by one, starting with her mother, Kya’s family members all ran off to escape Kya’s intolerable father. And then he ran off, too.

Though she’s been virtually alone from the time she was 6, Kya can never quite stifle her need for human connection. Of course, connecting with people is not easy for a girl living by her lonesome in a swamp. But the one thing she can embrace is the wild, natural world around her. And she tries to understand every relationship through her experience with nature, which causes her to have an unsettling effect on almost all the people she interacts with.

The main exception is Tate Walker, a local boy who befriends her as she turns from child to teenager. Kya’s wildness is beautiful to him, and he compassionately teaches her to read. The pair understand each other because of their mutual appreciation for the marsh, but Kya’s upbringing has put her on a collision course with polite society.

That collision effectively blows up when a former star quarterback and town hot shot named Chase Andrews turns up dead in the marsh. Inconclusive evidence and a romantic run-in are all the townspeople need to start pointing fingers.

And the Marsh Girl is everyone’s top suspect.

Christian Beliefs

It’s said that the town “serves its religion hard-boiled and deep fried.” Kya knows about three white churches and two black churches in the area. One of these black churches helps provide her with clothes, but a white preacher’s wife tells her daughter that Kya is dirty and to stay away.

Several scenes show that Kya feels she is not presentable enough for God, and that Christianity tends to be about religious rituals and posturing.

Other Belief Systems

The evolution of people from animals is implied, and animalistic instincts are a major part of Kya’s worldview. In fact, Kya’s  connection with the Earth and mother nature is akin to worship.

Authority Roles

The glaring lack of authority in Kaya’s life during most of her development as a child, teenager, and young adult is integral to the plot of Where the Crawdads Sing . Arguably, nature itself is her most positive authority figure.

Kya’s dad is abusive and an alcoholic. He relies on a 7-year-old girl to do his cleaning and to cook for herself when her mother, and then older siblings, leave. Throughout the story, Kya’s father is unreliable and he teaches her to deeply mistrust others.

Her mother is shown as a loving figure, but she failed Kya by leaving. Kya’s memories of her fade, and someone later explains that the woman was mentally ill.

Kya’s older brother, Jodie, teaches her a few things about how to survive in the marsh and how to deal with their violent dad, until he leaves in fear of their father.

Kya eventually considers a man named “Jumpin” to be her closest authority figure. He is a kind, protective and consistent presence who gives her basic supplies.

Profanity & Violence

The dialogue includes scattered foul language, especially while Kya’s dad is around, including several occurrences of the s-word and “b–—ch” in various forms. A few strong racial slurs are directed at African American characters. The f-word is used a few times in reference to an article on animals.

The novel addresses physical abuse. Kya’s family suffers at the hands of her dad in varying levels of detail throughout. Kya remembers being struck by a belt and a paddle. Her brother is stabbed in the face with a fire poker. Police officers discover that Chase died because he was pushed from a fire tower. A man assaults Kya, and she beats him badly in self-defense.

Kya’s dad drinks heavily. Chase’s drinking is mentioned.

Two police officers speculate that Chase may have been involved with drugs, which led to his death.

Sexual Content

The sexual content in this book is intense, adult and problematic. Kya’s sexually charged encounters with her first love are described in detail, and it includes nudity. The pair’s longing for one another is clear, and the sexually explicit content is comparable to that of an R-rated movie.

Throughout the book, Kya contemplates the mating rituals of various animals and, sometimes, the resulting violence between mates. Later, Kya has sex with another man after his repeated advances, and he treats her roughly. After their consensual relationship ends, he assaults her and attempts to rape her.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion question for books at focusonthefamily.com/magazine/thriving-family-book-discussion-questions .

Additional Comments

Where the Crawdads Sing will draw the attention of young readers because of the public praise for the novel as well as the fact that it’s been made into a major motion picture. And this book does explore some deep themes, including the longing that all people, especially women, have for sustaining connection with others, platonically and romantically.

That said, the heavy sexual content, violence, and language here make this an ill-advised read for young people. Even adults should approach this novel with caution and be aware of its content.

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not necessarily their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

Review by Marsella Evans

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Books & Bordeaux

Book Reviews, Discussion Guides, and Wine-Book Pairings

“Call no man happy until he is dead. Herodotus.” Mr. Nancy raised a white eyebrow, and he said, “I’m not dead yet, and, mostly because I’m not dead yet, I’m happy as a clamboy.” “The Herodotus thing. It doesn’t mean that the dead are happy,” said Shadow. “It means that you can’t judge the shape of someone’s life until it’s over and done.”

• Historical Fiction
• wine: riesling

Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review: The Trials and Triumphs of a Life Lived on One’s Own Terms

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to fall in love with a swamp (!) Delia Owens breaks it down and convinces you to fall in love, as well.

Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. Slow-moving creeks wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace—as though not built to fly—against the roar of a thousand snow geese. Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing is a great book-club book because it explores several themes and is a bit divisive in terms of taste—both of which make the discussion richer ! As an added bonus, Delia Owens’ website has an entire Book Club Kit  which includes a discussion guide, an interview with Delia Owens, and Kya’s cookbook. Anytime I read a book that interests me, I go online to find more information, so I really appreciate that Owens took the extra step to create these resources. For our book club, I added some questions to address topics about the book and the author that we wanted to discuss. Our discussion for Crawdads was so fun and engaging. We may have spent half the time trying to determine if Owens intended to write about a murder in isolation—when she witnessed a real-life murder in isolation in Africa many years earlier.

Jump to Where the Crawdads Sing discussion questions

Consensus from our group re Crawdads is that some elements were successful and some were unsuccessful. Owens clearly loves nature, and we all appreciated that she could describe nature so beautifully. Owens was successful in another way, too: Kya’s story prompts the reader to ask big questions . For example, questions about the interactions of economic disparities and race, the trade-offs between living on your own terms and living in dangerous isolation, the merits of formal education versus an education through experience with the natural world, and how the pursuit of a higher understanding of our world can results in a higher understanding of ourselves.

Wine Selection & Tasting Notes

Lone Orchid Riesling. Scent: Starfruit, pineapple, green apple. The note of green apple continues on the palate, and sweetness and tang is reminiscent of a green apple jolly rancher–in a fun way!

Review cont.

Kya’s inner narration references the natural world again and again to explain her relationships and work through her problems. For anyone who has ever taken a moment to appreciate the quiet calm that the natural world can bring to the noise of competing worries inside your mind, you will absolutely love how Owens describes Kya’s experience with nature.

As she pushed off, she knew no one would ever see this sandbar again. The elements had created a brief and shifting smile of sand, angled just so. The next tide, the next current would design another sandbar, and another, but never this one. Not the one who caught her. The one who told her a thing or two.

An unsuccessful element of Crawdads is the amount of telling versus showing that occurs with increasing frequency the further along you get in the novel. Our group also felt that the pacing dragged in the middle. But one of my biggest issues with the story is with the main mystery…

Any plot or style contentions aside, the ethereal descriptions of nature and Kya’s connection to the land are undeniably beautiful, and they permeate the novel. Crawdads is primarily this: a depiction of life lived on one’s own terms. And in that way, it is very well done.

She strolled like a sleepwalker as the moon pulled herself naked from the waters and climbed limb by limb through the oaks. The slick mud of the lagoon shore glowed in the intense light, and hundreds of fireflies dotted the woods. Wearing a secondhand white dress with a flowing skirt and waving her arms slowly about, Kya waltzed to the music of katydids and leopard frogs.

Where the Crawdads Sing Discussion Questions

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

by Delia Owens ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 14, 2018

Despite some distractions, there’s an irresistible charm to Owens’ first foray into nature-infused romantic fiction.

A wild child’s isolated, dirt-poor upbringing in a Southern coastal wilderness fails to shield her from heartbreak or an accusation of murder.

“The Marsh Girl,” “swamp trash”—Catherine “Kya” Clark is a figure of mystery and prejudice in the remote North Carolina coastal community of Barkley Cove in the 1950s and '60s. Abandoned by a mother no longer able to endure her drunken husband’s beatings and then by her four siblings, Kya grows up in the careless, sometimes-savage company of her father, who eventually disappears, too. Alone, virtually or actually, from age 6, Kya learns both to be self-sufficient and to find solace and company in her fertile natural surroundings. Owens ( Secrets of the Savanna , 2006, etc.), the accomplished co-author of several nonfiction books on wildlife, is at her best reflecting Kya’s fascination with the birds, insects, dappled light, and shifting tides of the marshes. The girl’s collections of shells and feathers, her communion with the gulls, her exploration of the wetlands are evoked in lyrical phrasing which only occasionally tips into excess. But as the child turns teenager and is befriended by local boy Tate Walker, who teaches her to read, the novel settles into a less magical, more predictable pattern. Interspersed with Kya’s coming-of-age is the 1969 murder investigation arising from the discovery of a man’s body in the marsh. The victim is Chase Andrews, “star quarterback and town hot shot,” who was once Kya’s lover. In the eyes of a pair of semicomic local police officers, Kya will eventually become the chief suspect and must stand trial. By now the novel’s weaknesses have become apparent: the monochromatic characterization (good boy Tate, bad boy Chase) and implausibilities (Kya evolves into a polymath—a published writer, artist, and poet), yet the closing twist is perhaps its most memorable oddity.

Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7352-1909-0

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 14, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018

LITERARY FICTION

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BOOK REVIEW

by Mark Owens & Delia Owens

More About This Book

SEEN & HEARD

BOOK TO SCREEN

THE SECRET HISTORY

by Donna Tartt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 1992

The Brat Pack meets The Bacchae in this precious, way-too-long, and utterly unsuspenseful town-and-gown murder tale. A bunch of ever-so-mandarin college kids in a small Vermont school are the eager epigones of an aloof classics professor, and in their exclusivity and snobbishness and eagerness to please their teacher, they are moved to try to enact Dionysian frenzies in the woods. During the only one that actually comes off, a local farmer happens upon them—and they kill him. But the death isn't ruled a murder—and might never have been if one of the gang—a cadging sybarite named Bunny Corcoran—hadn't shown signs of cracking under the secret's weight. And so he too is dispatched. The narrator, a blank-slate Californian named Richard Pepen chronicles the coverup. But if you're thinking remorse-drama, conscience masque, or even semi-trashy who'll-break-first? page-turner, forget it: This is a straight gee-whiz, first-to-have-ever-noticed college novel—"Hampden College, as a body, was always strangely prone to hysteria. Whether from isolation, malice, or simple boredom, people there were far more credulous and excitable than educated people are generally thought to be, and this hermetic, overheated atmosphere made it a thriving black petri dish of melodrama and distortion." First-novelist Tartt goes muzzy when she has to describe human confrontations (the murder, or sex, or even the ping-ponging of fear), and is much more comfortable in transcribing aimless dorm-room paranoia or the TV shows that the malefactors anesthetize themselves with as fate ticks down. By telegraphing the murders, Tartt wants us to be continually horrified at these kids—while inviting us to semi-enjoy their manneristic fetishes and refined tastes. This ersatz-Fitzgerald mix of moralizing and mirror-looking (Jay McInerney shook and poured the shaker first) is very 80's—and in Tartt's strenuous version already seems dated, formulaic. Les Nerds du Mal—and about as deep (if not nearly as involving) as a TV movie.

Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1992

ISBN: 1400031702

Page Count: 592

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1992

More by Donna Tartt

by Donna Tartt

HOUSE OF LEAVES

by Mark Z. Danielewski ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2000

The story's very ambiguity steadily feeds its mysteriousness and power, and Danielewski's mastery of postmodernist and...

An amazingly intricate and ambitious first novel - ten years in the making - that puts an engrossing new spin on the traditional haunted-house tale.

Texts within texts, preceded by intriguing introductory material and followed by 150 pages of appendices and related "documents" and photographs, tell the story of a mysterious old house in a Virginia suburb inhabited by esteemed photographer-filmmaker Will Navidson, his companion Karen Green (an ex-fashion model), and their young children Daisy and Chad.  The record of their experiences therein is preserved in Will's film The Davidson Record - which is the subject of an unpublished manuscript left behind by a (possibly insane) old man, Frank Zampano - which falls into the possession of Johnny Truant, a drifter who has survived an abusive childhood and the perverse possessiveness of his mad mother (who is institutionalized).  As Johnny reads Zampano's manuscript, he adds his own (autobiographical) annotations to the scholarly ones that already adorn and clutter the text (a trick perhaps influenced by David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest ) - and begins experiencing panic attacks and episodes of disorientation that echo with ominous precision the content of Davidson's film (their house's interior proves, "impossibly," to be larger than its exterior; previously unnoticed doors and corridors extend inward inexplicably, and swallow up or traumatize all who dare to "explore" their recesses).  Danielewski skillfully manipulates the reader's expectations and fears, employing ingeniously skewed typography, and throwing out hints that the house's apparent malevolence may be related to the history of the Jamestown colony, or to Davidson's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a dying Vietnamese child stalked by a waiting vulture.  Or, as "some critics [have suggested,] the house's mutations reflect the psychology of anyone who enters it."

Pub Date: March 6, 2000

ISBN: 0-375-70376-4

Page Count: 704

Publisher: Pantheon

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2000

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by Mark Z. Danielewski

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Reading Ladies

Where the crawdads sing [book review].

September 28, 2018

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Genre/Categories: Women’s Fiction, Southern Fiction, Coming of Age, Family Life, Survival

Living in the marsh outside a quiet, small town on the coast of North Carolina, Kya Clark, later known as the “Marsh Girl,” is abandoned by her entire family and learns to survive in the marsh on her own from the age of ten. One by one her older siblings abandon the family, her mother leaves when Kya is about seven, and finally, her father, a difficult, unreliable, and drunk man, leaves when she’s ten. Kya attends school for one day after a truant officer catches her. On that day, she is teased by the students, knows she’s hopelessly behind academically, and never returns. Preferring the isolation and safety of the marsh, she learns what she can through observing nature. Although she can survive on her own, she begins to long for companionship as she reaches her teen years. Two boys from town attract her attention. One of them turns up dead, and she is suspected of murder. The other becomes a life long supporter and friend. A coming of age story with a fair share of tragedy, mystery, and grit, this is an unforgettable read you’ll want to devour and recommend.

Amazon Rating: 4.8 Stars

My Thoughts:

While I loved Where the Crawdads Sing , this story might not be for everyone and comes with trigger warnings for some child neglect and abandonment.

What I loved most: structure and style. Where the Crawdads Sing is atmospheric and engaging from the first page to the last. In addition, it’s an easy reading narrative that flows well and is pleasingly balanced between character-driven and plot-driven. The author creates an amazing sense of place and a memorable and unforgettable character. As a bonus, the author’s background as a wildlife scientist enables her to include many fascinating scientific facts and details about the marsh.

This story came to me at the right time as I was in the mood for an intriguing, well written, page-turner, and Where the Crawdads Sing did not disappoint! It will most likely appear on my best of 2018 list.

Along with an emphasis on science and the marsh habitat, the author creates vivid and colorful local characters that enhance the story and includes a surprising plot twist at the end (which I have mixed feelings about).

Kya Clark is certainly a most compelling character . Resourceful, brave, cunning, a gritty survivor, and clever, Kya creates a life for herself despite the most difficult and disheartening circumstances. There is a person in town that she learns to trust and who becomes as important to her as a father. He watches out for her the best that he can which is difficult because he’s African-American and is dealing with issues of hate and segregation in his own life. He understands Kya and respects her freedom and her need to live her life on her terms even though she’s so young. Despite Kya’s ability to create a life for herself as a wildlife artist and illustrator and is eventually able to trust herself to love, there is a plot twist at the end that will force you to reevaluate Kya and the decisions she’s made.

Themes in Where the Crawdads Sing include belonging, abandonment, survival, trust, coming of age, family, and caring for others. There’s a great deal to reflect on or to discuss (if this is a book club pick) as the story unfolds.

The Ending: I have mixed feelings about the morally ambiguous ending. If you consider the author’s premise that Kya learned life’s lessons from marsh creatures, I guess the ending falls into perspective. However, I wonder if this is enough of a justification for Kya’s actions. Definitely a great topic for book club!

Recommended for readers who are looking for an engaging and unique story with a strong female protagonist. It would make an excellent book club selection because of the various discussion possibilities.

Triggers/Content Considerations: child neglect and abandonment.

My Rating 4.5 (rounded up to 5 Stars

Where the Crawdads Sing Information Here

Meet the Author, Delia Owens

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.

Have you read Where the Crawdads Sing or is it on your TBR? Who is the most memorable character in your recent reads?

Happy Reading Book Worms!

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

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“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.” ~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.” ~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

My Fall TBR

I’ll be updating my Fall TBR list as I complete each read, so check this link often!

Looking Ahead:

This week I’m reading an ARC of The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain (pub date: 10/2). It’s different from my usual genres: heavy on science fiction (time travel), a bit of hisfic (as the characters travel between 1970 and 2018), and some suspense. I would characterize this as an escapist read! Full review coming soon.

I’m also ready to begin The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris  because my library hold came in. (taking a deep breath for this heavy read)

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28 comments.

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (debut author) (pub date: 8/14) I’ve read almost all glowing reviews of this one! It’s my most anticipated fall read which I’ll be reading and reviewing soon because my library hold just became available! ***Update: 5 Stars. Unforgettable character. (Full Review Here) […]

Such a wonderful post, Carol! I found Kya completely memorable, too! I loved your Crawdads review! It’s definitely worthy of five stars! I’m rushing off to work, and I’m going to think on another memorable character.

Thank you for stopping in and commenting! I love all the unforgettable characters we meet through reading!

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Fiction/Family Life 5 Stars. Full Review Here. […]

Hi Carol– this is not a book I would pick up just based on it’s cover description– But your hearty recommendation makes it intriguing. I have it on my library list! thanks.

I think it’s worth trying….the story is unique and it’s well written and engaging…..but it may not be for everyone! I’ll be eager to hear what you think if you read it!

I just finished this book, and it was very intriguing–that plot twist at the very end has been on my mind too much ever since! Loved all the marsh wildlife and biology information. And right, not for everyone.

Thanks for commenting Ruth!

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens […]

[…] Using my five senses, can I envision a place? The time period? The atmosphere? The season? When I close my eyes and stop to think about the story, can I place myself in the story? What do I see, hear, touch, feel, taste, smell? What details do I notice? If I’m having difficulty in answering these questions, this might mean a low rating for this element of the story. How important is the setting to the story? Is the setting an important aspect of the story or could the story have taken place in any location or in any time period? Sometimes the setting can be as important in a story as a character. An example of this is Where the Crawdads Sing. […]

[…] that are too high and it ends up a disappointing read. The last book I read with a lot of buzz was Where the Crawdads Sing and it lived up to the buzz. What’s the last book you chose based on the buzz? Did you enjoy […]

[…] the most views day after day, week after week, and month after month is the review I wrote of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. This title is also the most used search term that leads readers to my blog. When my bookish […]

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 5 Stars […]

[…] viewed post: Where the Crawdads Sing (day after day, week after week, and month after month, this is the most searched for and viewed […]

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing (Fiction) by Delia Owens and The Scent Keeper (Fiction) by Erica Bauermeister (especially for readers who are interested in unique coming of age stories) […]

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (contemporary fiction, against the odds, *trigger: child abandonment) My review. […]

[…] popular post: Where the Crawdads Sing Review (week after week and month after month since the pub date, Crawdads has been my number one search […]

[…] My Summary: Living in the marsh outside a quiet, small town on the coast of North Carolina, Kya Clark, later known as the “Marsh Girl,” is abandoned by her entire family and learns to survive in the marsh on her own from the age of ten. One by one her older siblings abandon the family, her mother leaves when Kya is about seven, and finally her father, a difficult, unreliable, and drunk man, leaves when she’s ten. Kya attends school for one day after a truant officer catches her. On that day, she is teased by the students, knows she’s hopelessly behind academically, and never returns. Preferring the isolation and safety of the marsh, she learns what she can through observing nature. Although she can survive on her own, she begins to long for companionship as she reaches her teen years. Two boys from town attract her attention. One of them turns up dead, and she is suspected of murder. The other becomes a life long supporter and friend. A coming of age story with a fair share of tragedy, mystery, and grit, this is an unforgettable read you’ll want to devour and recommend. My Review. […]

[…] Most viewed post: Where the Crawdads Sing  […]

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (contemporary fiction, against the odds, *trigger: child abandonment) My review of Crawdads here. […]

[…] most viewed posts. In 2017 (blogged for 6 months): 2017 Really Recommendable Reads (views); in 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing (495 views); in 2019 Where the Crawdads Sing (7,777 views)….I’m […]

[…] a few of these great reads, and today I’m eager to share my review of the page-turning Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens….a story of […]

This sounds like it would be perfect for me, but there’s something that just makes me not want to bother… can’t put my finger on it, I’m afraid. (Too much hype, maybe?)

I’m sure it’s the hype! Maybe in a few years!

[…] and resilient, Yona is a complicated character and survivalist. At times, she reminds me of Kya in Where the Crawdads Sing. As she overcomes her shyness around people, Yona becomes a strong and wise leader and saves many […]

[…] swamp setting in Where the Crawdads Sing comes to mind when I think of atmospheric settings. Also, unforgettably atmospheric is the dust […]

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Books of Brilliance

The latest book reviews and book news, where the crawdads sing: book review.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was a book I put on my to-read list for the longest time. I heard good things about it but I always had a couple of books that I was reading and was never able to get around to reading it. When I finally did read it, I was so mad at myself for not reading it sooner! Find out why you this should be your next read!

Where The Crawdads Sing: Summary

Catherine Danielle Clark, also known as Kya, has lived her whole life living in the marshes. She has seen her family leave one by one but she stayed behind. By age 10, Kya was living all by herself and learned to survive. She grows up isolated and makes few friends but learns how cruel people can be and how even when you choose to live alone, not everyone will leave you alone.

This book is beautiful tale about surviving in the wild, the beauty of nature and trauma. Owens has managed to write a modern classic that is filled with raw emotions, mystery and an amazing character in Kya. Books like these make me want to explore nature more and travel to remote places.

Delia Owens is a retired wildlife biologist and has embarked on many amazing adventures. I have reviewed her and her former husband’s book in the past and I was delighted to read a new book by her. She uses a lot of her experience and you can tell she loves nature in this novel.

This was her debut novel and it has sold over 4 million copies and has sold more print copies than any other book in 2019. Not a bad way to start off her writing career. The movie rights to this book have been bought by Fox 2000 and Reese Witherspoon directed the movie! In just four years, this best-seller went from a novel to a movie. That alone tells you how popular the novel has been

There has been some controversy surrounding Owens and this novel about a murder in Zambia . Owen’s stepson allegedly killed a paocher and the family fled from Zambia. The government of Zambia has questions about the incident but cannot do anything because until the Owens’ return because there is no extradition treaty between the United States and Zambia.

I loved every second of this novel and couldn’t put this book down even if I wanted to. Many readers have finished it in less than 24 hours and we wouldn’t blame you if you also end up doing that. This is Delia Owens first novel and the success of this novel surprised everyone, including her.

When we look back at the 2010s, one of the novels that will be at the forefront is Where the Crawdads Sing. Partly due to its popularity and because it sold a lot of copies. Owens hasn’t released another novel since then but doesn’t even have to because the success of this novel has has established her as a talented writer that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

I really enjoyed reading this novel and will definitely read it again down the line. If you love a good mystery, books with strong female characters, and nature then I recommend this book to you.

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This is another book on my very long to-be-read list! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

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I just saw the movie recently and loved it, I think it stayed very close to the book and the casting was perfect ☺️

Hope you get to see the movie soon, and glad you liked the book!!

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Book Review: Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

By: Author Jen - MMB Book Blog

Posted on Published: 3 February 2023  - Last updated: 21 July 2024

Where The Crawdads Sing is the bestselling debut novel by Delia Owens, published in 2019.

The book came so highly recommended I was almost reluctant to read it as I was doubtful it could possibly live up to all that praise.

As both a Richard and Judy Book List choice and a pick for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club , it seems to be universally adored. However, I was keen to find out for myself.

I was aware Delia Owens was co-author of three non-fiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist, and I was interested to see how she was able to transfer her skills in nature writing to creating historical fiction.

Disclosure : This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

Genre: Literary Fiction Author: Delia Owens Buy: Amazon | Waterstones Published: 2019

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 profound 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.

Where The Crawdads Sing Book Review

I really loved this story and read the entire book in less than two days.

On a superficial level, this is a coming-of-age murder mystery. However, it is so much more than that. This is Kya’s story – a poignant tale of survival, loneliness, and the longing for connection.

The story is not a fast-paced one. Delia Owens takes her time, flipping from past to present to allow the reader a true insight into Kya’s world. The novel is written mostly from Kya’s point of view but occasionally enters the perspectives of other characters. This gives us an insight into how they view the marsh and its almost legendary inhabitant.

The locals’ suspicions and prejudices combine to create a preconceived idea that Kya cannot be trusted. The more she keeps herself to herself, the more the rumours spread. What follows is so much more than a “whodunnit?” Did Kya kill Chase? She certainly had a motive. Or is she simply a misunderstood, innocent woman doing what she can to survive?

The story is a good one but for me, it’s the writing style that makes this novel such a hit. Owens’ poetic, descriptive prose transports the readers to the North Carolina coastal swamp. The marshland almost become a character in its own right. You can visualise the vivid sights and sounds of Kya’s home and admire the secret wonders that lie within it. You can clearly see Owens’ expertise in the natural world as her descriptions are so evocative and detailed.

I felt moved by Kya’s innocence and saddened when she was continuously abandoned by her family members and those who were supposed to love her. I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the murder of Chase and the ending was, in my opinion, perfect.

There were moments of implausibility. Would an illiterate marsh girl be able to self-educate to the level of an academic? However, I enjoyed her character development and how it highlighted how their was always more to “the swamp girl” than met the eye.

Overall, I loved Where the Crawdads Sing. The beauty of the story and the descriptive writing made it one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

Where the Crawdads Sing Movie

Delia Owens’ debut novel was not only a huge bestseller, but it was also made into a live-action movie produced by Reese Witherspoon, bringing the story of Kya and the North Carolina marshlands to the big screen.

What to Read Next

If you enjoyed Where The Crawdads Sing, I would recommend also reading Go as a River by Shelley Read and Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller .

This book is featured on the following lists:

7 Books That Actually Lived Up to the Hype

Complete List of Between The Covers Books (Sara Cox Book Club)

Related Book Lists

• Richard and Judy Book Club List 2023
• Barbara Kingsolver Books in Order

Michelle Twin Mum

Monday 22nd of February 2021

I've seen this book recommended so man times but I'm just not sure. I suspect I'll have to get it in the end and see for myself. Mich x

[email protected]

I'm always looking for murder mystery type stories so this looks right up my street!

This sounds like my cup of tea, love a good murder mystery! Would definitely take my mind off a few things getting stuck into a book I think

Natasha Mairs - Serenity You

Why haven't I picked this one up yet!? I have heard so many good things about this book, I really need to buy it.

rhianwestbury

I really enjoyed this book, although it did take me a good portion of the book to properly get into it, probably due to the slower pace as you've said x

Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review

I finally just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens . I don’t think I would have read the book, but for the fact that for the past several years, Where the Crawdads Sing has comfortably taken residence near the top of the New York Times Bestseller’s list for fiction in both the hardcover and paperback categories. I finally gave in and had to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I’m sure that curiosity is also part of why the book has dominated the bestseller’s list for so long.

I have to admit that I had a couple of false starts with the book. A while back I tried reading it as part of a book club, but after about a dozen pages, life and work caught up with me and I didn’t finish. About half a year ago, in the midst of the pandemic, I tried reading it again and gave up about 50 pages in. I found the prose as slow as marsh water. The language was occasionally good, but not excellent, and certainly not material for literary classic in the making.

And yet, week after week Where the Crawdads Sing taunted me from its perch atop the New York Times Bestseller’s list and from its dusty place on my bookshelf, and I got more and more curious.

The ending must be good , I kept thinking. It must start slow and then pick up pace . And so, last week, when I sat down to read Where the Crawdads Sing , I set my mind to finishing it. I’ll admit I had to force myself through the first two hundred pages, a slow-paced ramble through the life of a child abandoned in the swamp. But the last hundred or so pages of the book delivered all the promise of a bestseller, and I can see why it has appealed to such a wide audience.

I found myself somewhat heartened by the fact that such a slow-paced book could be so popular. Maybe American readers still have patience for the tale carefully and slowly told. Maybe there is still room in the American psyche for the subtle. The poetic, even.

The Times reports that Where the Crawdads Sing has sold over 4.5 million copies. But why? In a world where sexy romance and Stephen King-style horror dominates the market, what is it about Where the Crawdads Sing that draws such a crowd?

I have several theories why this slow-paced novel succeeded.

First, the last 100 or so pages of the novel deliver a fast-paced courtroom drama climax to the murder mystery that tantalizingly opens the novel. If the novel is a roller coaster, the last 100 pages are its thrilling drop, but I was left feeling uncertain if the drop was worth all that climb.

Where the Crawdads Sing feels almost like two novels, folded into one. There is the slow life of the marsh and Kya, the protagonist abandoned in it, woven together with syntactical acrobatics that only a former naturalist could perform (Delia Owens is a zoologist and conservationist), and then there’s the murder mystery and courtroom thriller that make up only one-third of the novel.

Owens weaves the two together decently well. There’s a fascinating tenebrism between Kya’s slow-paced marsh life and the fast-paced courtroom thriller that closes the novel. I’d be willing to endure Kya’s obsession with insects and marsh plants for 100 pages, while I wait to find out what really happened to the deceased and possibly murdered Chase Andrews, but 200 pages buoyed by a thin and somewhat maudlin love story, felt like a little much. When Kya’s brother returns later in the book and asks her how she made it, Kya herself says, “That’s a long boring story.” I couldn’t help but agree.

Still, I can see the last 100 pages of the novel keeping many readers awake late into the night, and sometimes, that’s all you need as a reader to make the book a good recommendation. Like restaurants, books succeed and die based on the recommendations of their guests, and I can see Where the Crawdads Sing getting passed around merely on the strength of its ending.

But that brings me to my second point, and the second reason why I think the novel succeeded. While Owens is hardly a poet, poetry is woven so intimately into this tale, it is ultimately impossible to extricate poetry from the story itself. Again, Owens’s Where the Crawdads Sing is hardly the material of literary legend, but its use of light verse will appeal to a certain audience raised to believe that Rupi Kaur should be our modern poet laureate. For readers whose interaction with poetry likely ends at Mary Oliver, there will be delight in the poetry on offer here. What fascinates me about the inclusion of poetry in this novel is that the novel itself admits to the weakness of its own poetry. About one of the poets featured in the book, the narration notes, “Tate had thought Hamilton’s poems rather weak.”

Yet, it is not the verse itself that holds the narrative together, but the quiet poetic moments that serve as the real structure of the story, its true joints and beams. Owens has her moments.

There’s Owens’s description of the angry ocean, where “Waves slammed one another, awash in their own white saliva, breaking apart on the shore with loud booms.”

The first sentence Kya ever reads is this: “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” Tate, Kya’s love interest is a good critic, and he notes, “That’s a very good sentence. Not all words hold that much.”

But again, these lines hardly elevate the book to the realm of the bards.

So what is it, really about Where the Crawdads Sing that drew so many people in?

Where the Crawdads Sing debuted at a time when Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was seeing renewed attention due to Lee’s publication of Go Set a Watchman . You can’t read Where the Crawdads Sing , with its southern drawl and courtroom drama and not think of To Kill a Mockingbird . In Where the Crawdads Sing , Boo Radley is Kya, and Jumpin’, the Black man who helps her survive, Atticus. For those who wanted Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman to offer more of the redemptive air of To Kill a Mockingbird than it had, perhaps Where the Crawdads Sing satisfied that unmet need that Harper Lee could not or would not give.

The book also manages to skirt divisive politics, only lightly addressing issues of racial inequalities and segregation, while depicting a somewhat separate, but peaceful co-existence between the White and Black members of this particular fictional southern town. Racial issues are all but glossed over. For those looking for an escape from racial consciousness, politics, or civilization at large, Where the Crawdads Sing lets readers hide in the woods with Kya for a while. The book is hardly progressive, and violence against women plays a central role in furthering the narrative. Perhaps the most political moment in the whole book was when Owens discusses the fact that the big developers plan to drain the swamp and build hotels, hinting at the reality that Kya’s world won’t last for long. We all emerge from Where the Crawdads Sing and return to the real world, where the destructive phrase “drain the swamp,” triggers something very different, but perhaps something not so different, at all.

About the Writer

Janice Greenwood is a writer, surfer, and poet. She holds an M.F.A. in poetry and creative writing from Columbia University.

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Where the Crawdads Sing

A woman who raised herself in the marshes of the deep South becomes a suspect in the murder of a man she was once involved with.

Dove Review

Where the Crawdads Sing is an adaptation of Delia Owens’ novel by the same name, which convincingly depicts Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) as a young, abandoned girl from a North Carolina bayou in the 1950s through the 1960s, who is dubbed by neighbors, “Marsh Girl.” The viewer observes Kya, always barefoot and dirty, being mistreated and abandoned her entire childhood by family and townsfolk, alike, that cast numerous aspersions on her for being “different.” As might be expected, it is only the black shopkeeper couple who takes pity on her, seemingly able to relate to Kya’s marginalization, that is, until love interests surface.

As Kya bravely faces life in a great deal of isolation, providing for herself, yet rarely leaving her charming homey surroundings, she consistently finds comfort in nature, where she communes with the native wildlife, and begins to draw striking representations of these creatures, leading to some unexpected success in her life. As a young woman, Kya becomes embroiled in two romantic situations at different periods, and trouble ensues as a result of one of her partner’s behavior, leaving Kya on trial for murder. Her lawyer, Tom Milton (David Strathairn) skillfully brings a genuine old southern feel to the entire courtroom drama.

The acting is, in fact, outstanding by all, as these characters and those who portray them, move this quiet film along at a comfortable pace. There are scenes of sex, passionate kissing, verbal slurs, and alcohol usage, that are mostly mild in nature. However, some depictions of domestic abuse that include violence; an attempt at sexual assault; and an offscreen murder that much of this storyline revolves around, could be disturbing to some.

Nevertheless, meaningful conversations could take place with older teens, regarding empathy;  the impact of trauma on an individual; the effects of prejudice; and what it might mean to always be in “survival mode,” which makes the ending of this fictional biography that much more shocking.

The Dove Take

Where the Crawdads Sing and its metaphorical marsh take the viewer on a psychological journey through one character’s survival against all odds, where the big-bang ending makes the whole ride worthwhile.

Dove Rating Details

One secondary character quotes scriptures as a reason to be kind to others.

One main character and three secondary characters make extreme efforts to protect the main character.

Three scenes of intimacy, two of which lead to sex, one of which takes place onscreen.

D-m*/G-ddam*, racial comments/innuendos.

Men slapping and punching women and children, attempted sexual assault, offscreen murder with dead body portrayed, a rock used as a weapon.

One character is alcohol dependent; one main character drinks beer socially.

Disrobed characters with shoulders, upper chests, and backs exposed in the context of sexual/intimate circumstances.

Circumstances of abandonment, domestic abuse, isolation, mental illness, and trauma.

More Information

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Book review – “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens

This book has been a phenomenal success since its publication in 2018 and has spent most of that time on various best-seller lists. A film is now in production starring Daisy Edgar-Jones (who played Marianne, to great acclaim, in the television adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People ) and I am reliably informed by a young person that Taylor Swift has written a song for it! I approached it with some trepidation – I don’t normally go for best-sellers and I feared this might be over-hyped and overly sentimental. I could not have been more wrong and my book club decided this might be one of the best books we had ever read.

The novel covers events in the period 1952 to 1970 and the central character is Kya (short for Catherine) Clark, known to the local rural community of Barkley Cove as “the swamp girl”. The North Carolina setting of the novel is crucial because Kya becomes an integral part of it. And the setting is brilliantly and powerfully evoked by the author.

The novel is told on two timelines. It opens in 1969 with the discovery of a body in an old tower beside the swamp. The victim is Chase Andrews, a local man, the sporting pride of Barkley Cove, suave, confident and outgoing, he is married but has a reputation as something of a playboy. The local police begin their investigation. The novel then reverts to 1952 where six year-old Kya, the fifth and youngest child of a ‘swamp’ family (one which lives in a rundown house beside the swamp, where their income is precarious and their reputation as outsiders separates them from the mainstream Barkley Cove community) watches her fragile mother walking down the dirt track away from their home, leaving the family for good. Kya’s father is a feckless, violent drunk and Kya’s older siblings gradually leave the home too, unable to bear his aggressive dominance. This leaves Kya on her own with her father. At times they are able to live relatively agreeably together – he sometimes gives her money from his war pension (the family’s only income) and she is able to purchase supplies from the town – but mostly, he disappears, sometimes for days at a time, and Kya is forced to learn to fend for herself. Eventually he disappears altogether. Kya manages to evade the local authorities who try and get her to attend school; they give up eventually too. Kya grows up alone developing an intimate knowledge of the natural world of the swamp, living in harmony with it.

Kya avoids everyone in the town, she has learned to stay under the radar of both the authorities and the two gossips, to whom she is a mystery, to be treated with suspicion and disdain, but she makes three friends: Jumpin’, and his wife Mabel, the proprietor of the swamp-side general store where she must go to replenish her basic supplies, and childhood playmate Tate Walker. When the young child Kya starts to visit his store alone, Jumpin’ quickly realises that she is living alone and he and his wife support and protect her discreetly as best they can; as “coloreds” they are themselves marginalised. Tate Walker was friends with Kya from a very young age when they played together, and is well aware of her father’s violent tendencies. His mother died, a loss which binds them, and he lives alone with his father. When Kya’s father vanishes they renew their acquaintance and their relationship deepens. They eventually become “lovers” of a kind, though avoid intercourse. Tate receives the education Kya is denied and is ambitious to go to college and study natural science. He promises that he will visit Kya during the vacations, but on his first visit home he spots Kya from a distance on the beach near her hut and realises that she is almost a wild creature (that is indeed part of what he loves about her) and that she will never be able to fit into the new academic world he now inhabits. Tate leaves Kya without saying goodbye or explaining.

In her deep grief at being abandoned once again Kya falls into a relationship with Chase Andrews. He seduces her and the two begin a secret affair. Chase tells Kya that he will marry her, though he never introduces her to his family. On a visit to Barkley Cove Kya sees an announcement in the local newspaper that Chase is engaged to be married.

Kya’s progress, from small child learning to live by her wits to beautiful young woman living alone on the swamp, fending for herself, is told alongside the story of the police investigation into Chase Andrews’s murder. Inevitably, the twin stories collide when Kya is accused by Chase’s mother and charged with the murder. The account of the trial is told in gripping detail in a way that is reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird . No spoilers here, however, as it will have you on the edge of your seat!

I listened to this on audio and it was read brilliantly by Cassandra Campbell, the same actress who read Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle so powerfully. If you’ve read the hype about this book then believe it! I cried several times throughout – there are so many big moments in it. The plotting is extremely clever. The characters are all strong, fully thought through and well-rounded. But what makes this book so brilliant, and what for me makes it great, is that it is just a cracking good story!

Highly recommended.

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11 thoughts on “Book review – “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens”

Hi – so glad you and your book club liked this book so much – I loved it and it is one of my all-time favorites!

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It’s amazing isn’t it? How do you feel about the film that’s due out soon? My fellow book club members and I are a little bit afraid! It’s really hard to see how such an expansive book could be dealt with in a couple of hours of screen time.

Hi Julia – I actually didn’t know that they were making a movie – I am a little out of it when it comes to new movies. I agree it might be hard to make a movie as good as the book!

My daughter actually told me – it was probably trailed on TikTok!

Ah, a domain I haven’t entered!

The book won our annual book club award which is the BRIT award (Best Read in Town). All of us are of the opinion that the book is always best but apprehensively went in a group to the movie last week. We were all delighted that although there were some changes to make the movie flow, it was well worth watching and we all shed a tear or two during the evening.

Oh that’s interesting, I’m glad you enjoyed the film. I’m planning to go and see it with my daughters next week, but we’re slightly nervous, having loved the book so much! I feel reassured after your comments. 🙂

Would be interested to know what you think of it.

I’ll let you know!

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The Crimson White

The New York Times didn’t ask my opinion: Where the Crawdads Sing

CW / Joe Will Field

Jenna Minser , Contributing Writer October 11, 2019

“The New York Times didn’t ask my opinion” is a regular column reviewing New York Times Best Sellers. 

Delia Owens’ first novel, Where the Crawdads Sing , became an instant classic upon its release, spending weeks at the top of the New York Times Best Seller list and only just recently having been dropped down to a #3 spot. It’s no surprise either: Owens, historically a nonfiction nature writer, has given us everything we could want in a book. A romance-filled coming-of-age story. A small-town murder mystery. And a beautiful, sometimes achingly so, account of North Carolina’s coastal marshes. 

Where the Crawdads Sing follows the life of Kya, a girl growing up in the mid-20th century off the coast of North Carolina. From the start of the book, it is clear that Kya’s life will yield challenges: her mother abandons her to an abusive and absent father; her family is extremely poor, living in a decrepit shack in marshland; and people in her small town of Barkley Cove treat her as a social pariah, only knowing her as “Marsh Girl.” 

When the town’s former star quarterback, Chase Andrews, turns up dead one day, all of Barkley Cove assumes Kya is responsible. Told in a narrative switching between the story of Kya’s childhood and the present-day murder case, Owens weaves a keep-you-guessing tale in which the more you know Kya, the more you question whether or not she killed Chase. 

The story moves seamlessly between long, poetic descriptions of Kya’s relationship with the marsh that becomes her home over the years and the murder trial that leaves the reader fighting not to skip ahead to find out what the next piece of evidence will be. 

Even without the exciting plot and cast of characters that you not only find yourself rooting for but feeling as if you know personally, the language and writing in and of itself is enough to make this novel fantastic. 

Though it takes a while for the excitement to really pick up, Owens prioritizing not only explaining Kya’s unique upbringing but also writing an ode to the landscape Kya lives on immerses the reader fully in the real small-town drama. Without knowing the true story, the reader is forced to struggle against a community that has hated Kya her entire life and thinks she is entirely to blame for the death of a beloved town member. 

Unfortunately, Owens didn’t deliver the perfect book – which is especially disappointing, because I think it could’ve gotten pretty close. This book is not the typical New York Times Best Seller. It is poignant. The characters are real enough to break your heart. 

The writing is breathtaking at times, but the ending is Hollywood.  Everything was wrapped up a little too neatly and unrealistic. 

Would I recommend it? Yes. I am desperate to have everyone I know read it, to cry, laugh and feel every bittersweet moment Kya experiences. But, it could’ve been better.

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BookBrowse Reviews Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Summary  |  Excerpt  |  Reading Guide  |  Reviews  |  Beyond the book  |  Read-Alikes  |  Genres & Themes  |  Author Bio

Where the Crawdads Sing

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• First Published:
• Aug 14, 2018, 384 pages
• Mar 2021, 400 pages

• Literary Fiction
• Romance/Love Stories
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• 1960s & '70s
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In Delia Owens's debut novel, a young woman who's survived a solitary childhood in a shack in North Carolina's marsh country looks for love and builds a career in science.

Voted 2018 Best Debut Award Winner by BookBrowse Subscribers Where the Crawdads Sing was a hit even before being chosen for Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club – and it's easy to see why so many have taken this debut novel into their hearts. It's a gripping mystery but also a tender coming-of-age story about one woman's desperately lonely upbringing and her rocky route to finding love and a vocation. Not only that, but its North Carolina marsh setting is described in lyrical language that evinces Delia Owens's background in nature writing (see Beyond the Book ). We first meet Kya Clark in 1952. The marshland surrounding the Clarks' shack has been a haven for fugitives and runaway slaves; though it's not far from Barkley Cove, it seems to have its own rules based on instinct and survival. Six-year-old Kya watches Ma leave with a blue suitcase in hand, and before long Pa's drunken violence has also driven off the last of her four older siblings, her brother Jodie. Pa disappears for weeks at a time, leaving Kya to subsist on grits and soda crackers. The thought of a hot lunch lures her into attending second grade for a day, but after the kids call her "swamp trash" and make fun of her for not knowing how to spell, she vows to never set foot in school again. For years she survives by picking mussels and trading them for dry goods and kerosene at the general store run by Jumpin' and Mabel. As African Americans in the South, they know what it's like to be ostracized, and become like family to white Kya. Kya's other source of support is Jodie's friend Tate, who shares her love of nature and teaches her to read when she's 14. Tate brings her rare feathers, science books and paint for her sketches. Their budding romance is cut short when Tate leaves for college. Although he promises to come back for Kya, the years pass and she's still alone, writing and illustrating field guides to the region's shells and birds. When she's 19, star quarterback Chase Andrews catches her eye and starts wooing her over picnics. Soon he's talking marriage, though he still hasn't introduced Kya to his parents or friends. Does he really love her, or is he just making a trophy out of "the Marsh Girl"? Early on in the novel we learn that Chase Andrews will be found dead in 1969, having fallen from the fire tower into the swamp. No fingerprints or footprints are found; it doesn't seem like suicide or an accident. Soon rumor points to "the crazy lady on the marsh" because of her clandestine relationship with Chase. In between sections about Kya's childhood and adolescence, there are short updates on the 1969 investigation. As the two story lines converge, the chapters become more rapid-fire. Owens ramps up the tension, culminating in top-notch courtroom scenes as Kya stands trial for murder. The novel's third-person narration is coy, omitting certain scenes to allow readers to speculate right along with the prosecution. Although the novel focuses on the years between 1965 and 1970, it encompasses the whole span of Kya's life. At times I found it hard to believe that the plucky urchin living off of grits and evading truant officers is the same character as the willowy nature writer wondering who will love her and never leave. Also, the chronology becomes slightly difficult to follow as it approaches 1969, and there are perhaps a few too many Amanda Hamilton poems. (You'll have to read the novel to find out more about who this fictional poet is!) The use of animal behavior metaphors works very well, though. Kya understands her fellow humans by analogy, asking why a mother animal might leave her cubs or why males compete for female attention. The title refers to places where wild creatures do what comes naturally, and throughout the book we are invited to ponder how instinct and altruism interact and what impact human actions can have in the grand scheme of things, as in this passage about the marsh swallowing Chase's body: "the swamp is quiet because decomposition is cellular work. Life decays and reeks and returns to the rotted duff. … A swamp knows all about death, and doesn't necessarily define it as tragedy, certainly not a sin." In Kya, Owens has created a truly outstanding character. The extremity of her loneliness makes her a sympathetic figure in spite of her oddities. If you like the idea of a literary novel flavored with elements of mystery and romance, and of a poetic writing style tempered with folksy Southern dialect, Crawdads is a real treat.

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A gripping, gut-punch of a novel about a Cherokee child removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school in the 1950s—an ambitious, eye-opening reckoning of history and small-town prejudices from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble.

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Both suspenseful and deeply moving, Carolina Moonset is an engrossing novel about family, memories both golden and terrible, and secrets too dangerous to stay hidden forever, from New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award–winning author, Matt Goldman.

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Book Review :: Where the Crawdads Sing

The longer I have my book blog, the more reticent I am to write negative reviews. For one, I have not done the very hard work of finishing a novel, much less have had one published. Second, in my deep appreciation of the written word, I’ll extend grace to most anything that encourages reading. Often it is books with the popularity of Where the Crawdads Sing that encourages someone to return to reading – and that’s a good thing.

That said, this is one of those times when I feel the world of opinions needs some balance. I did not like Where the Crawdads Sing.

I have written before about the disservice some editors do for their authors by not fixing blatant errors and problems, and Where the Crawdads Sing falls into that category as well. Here are just a few examples that irked me:

• When Kya packs a picnic for Tate early in their relationship, among other things, she packs  French bread & cheese, saying it is her favorite picnic snack. Really? A girl who has lived off of grits and mussels – just when and where did she experience French bread? I can promise you Jumpin’ wasn’t selling French bread in the tackle shop. A loaf of  Sunbeam – for sure – but no French bread.
• When Kya gives Chase the necklace with the unique shell, she says: “There are many of that genius here, but this particular species usually inhabits regions south of this latitude because these waters are too cool for them.”  This is simply not how Kya talks. And before you offer, “Well, she’s been reading text books…” remember that Owens is depicting her as someone who really knows her stuff, and we all know that the better you know a subject, the better your ability to talk about it in your own language.
• When Jodie shows up, Kya tells the story of how he got the scar on his cheek. A good editor would have placed that event earlier in the narrative when Kya talks about her abusive father and then let the scar itself identify the stranger.

It is examples like this last one that are most pervasive in the novel, and are the most egregious. Owens lacks the art of subtle revelation in her narrative. She repeats things over and over as if she needs to remind the reader about the clues she’s leaving.

Similarly, Owens’ nature prose is too heavy handed. I love a beautiful description with a metaphor as much as the next reader, but I also get the parallels between wildlife and human nature – you don’t have to beat me over the head with them. Again, subtly can go a long way. By the way, this is the author’s fault, not that of the editor.

And, I don’t know if that’s she been gone from South Georgia for too long, but I thought her Southern dialect was horrible. As one fellow (Southern) reader said, “It’s insulting.” Well said.

***SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t read Where the Crawdads Sing and plan to, you may not want to read any further. ****

The death of Tate’s father had no purpose. Why introduce a character just to kill him off in the last two chapters? If his relationship with Tate was necessary, make it a part of the story when Tate and Kya were first together. It seems this was included solely for the moment when the sheriff comes for him – to make the reader wonder if Tate is being arrested for the murder. When that doesn’t happen but you have what is supposed to be a poignant graveside scene, it falls flat. About the only thing that it does do is cheapen the death of Jumpin’, which really should be tender.

While I didn’t hate the fact that it turns out Kya did murder Chase, I do think the way it was revealed was low-rate and demonstrated the author’s inability to (again) artfully craft a narrative where this bears the weight that it should. As it is, Tate and Kya live happily ever after – her knowing she killed Chase – and Tate finds out after she dies? What’s the point? This feels like an elementary solution.

This review is long enough without me getting into all that is wrong with “Amanda Hamilton” but suffice it to say, I wanted to scream every time one of her poems was dropped into the story and finding out that Kya was the poet didn’t make it any better. (A better “ah-ha” for Amanda Hamilton would have been that she was Kya’s mother – and Kya to have discovered she had this link and shared language with a woman she longed to know.)

With all of this said, here is my one concession: I hold books that have gotten the type of praise that Where the Crawdads Sing to a higher standard than other books. If I had read this without seeing it on every summer reading list I would have likely given it a middle-of-the-road three star rating and moved on. But when I see people falling all over themselves over what is at best fair-to-middling writing, I have to speak up. Where the Crawdads Sing isn’t worthy of the hype.

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Book review :: tell me everything, book club :: book ratings for 2023-2024, book brief :: death at the sign of the rook by kate atkinson, book clubs :: 2024-2025 short list, 135 replies to “ book review :: where the crawdads sing ”.

Oh how refreshing! I honestly do not understand all the praise this book is receiving. “I can’t even!” as my young nieces would say 🙂

Yes! This is why I wrote it. The world needed balance when it comes to this book.

Kya bought French Bread in Chapter 29! Just sain’

I was waiting for her to make Tiramasu next.

What happened to Kya’s dad?? And yet the scene devoted at the end to Tate’s dad??

Tate , by the way, was one of the sweetest characters I’ve read about in a long time when he was 14 to 18 years old. The man deserved better He was a very interesting young man and broke my heart in a few of the scenes where he was helping Kya when she was a little girl and he was a young teenager. Loved those interactions!!

I just do have to say that are we to believe that Reese Witherspoon is thinking of playing Kya in the film version?

Ummm. Cute as she is… She’s 40 years old.

Tiramasu…LOL! But you’re right…

uh yeah i liked tate, till he started dating Kya when he was 18/19 and she was 14??? and then abandoned her?

Thank you, Sally, for sayin’ …

In all her lunches with Tate, and in two readings of the novel, I could find no reference to French bread. Your observation also enabled me to affirm that the picnic was not meant for Tate, but for Chase—until she discovered he was engaged.

This book has really shown me how easy it is to skip over details. I was making myself a little dizzy trying to find French bread “early” in her relationship with Tate, who, I was sure, had brought all the goodies to their get-togethers. Your tip led me to the right chapter and right relationship, where, on that particular page, beyond midpoint of the novel (not early), I underlined many things, but not “cheese, French bread, and cake ingredients.”

If Elisabeth ever publishes her novel, she must give it more care than she gave this review. She has made some serious errors in her three-point dislike of “Crawdads.” One, she got the picnic scene all wrong; two, she mistyped “genius” for “genus,” not proofreading her hypos over a trifling detail in dialogue (no novel is perfect); and three, she failed to see that Kya was having a long-suppressed flashback to the violence that scarred Jodie—Kya wasn’t “telling” the story.

As I say, Sally, you helped me through a dizzy spell. I really appreciate your diligence.

I thought it a fabulous book and this review facile, needless and non contributory

Funny, that’s exactly what i think of all of the positive reviews of this book, “facile, needless and non contributory”. A book review should contain more words than just, “Delightful”, or, “I laughed out loud!” We’re not at the movies.

I almost wondered if Chase’s betrayal had caused Kya’s personality to splinter and it was the morose Amanda Hamilton, rather than the gentle “Marsh Girl” that killed Him. Surprise ending? Anyone who didn’t catch on after the firefly/praying mantis passages was just not paying attention. It was a proper beach read but not the next Mockingbird as one breathless reviewer gushed.

Split personality – that would have been interesting!

Actually, I was thinking Mockingbird… but the much touted and equally disappointing second effort by Harper Lee (or “Harper Lee,” depending upon your opinion), Go Set a Watchman. Everything about Crawdads made me nauseous. I hope this is not where American literature is going, because it would be a sad thing.

Fortunately, there are writers like Amor Towles that give me hope!

Go Set A Watchman was finally published in 2015, I believe.

Amen to that. ” A Gentleman in Moscow” is a wonderful book with charm and depth. Also “Home in the Sky” by Ivan Doig is another great read. Just to name two books that are deserving.

Go Set A Watchman was actually Lee’s first novel that was never published. He editor suggested she expand the story in the book (that was very brief) about Atticus defending Tom Robinson. In addition, she told her to tell the story from a child’s point of view. That is how TKAM came to be.

As I browsed through reviews of this novel, I wondered if I would ever find anyone who found it as flawed as I did – thank you for articulating many of the elements that I found jarring and too much in the style of Nicholas Sparks. A better title would have been “Cinderella of the Swamp” with all the magical transformation of that fairy tale as well the clichéd romances, and the heavy-handed biology lessons. Now I have to spend 2 hours with my book group who I am sure will gush enthusiastically. As others have commented, this is a good beach read but certainly does not deserve the glowing reviews and comparisons to great novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird. Literary fiction – it is not! Thank you so much for making feel that I am not alone in disliking this book.

I’d love to hear how your book club discussion went!

Cinderella of the Swamp! Thanks for my laugh of the day!

I was disappointed by the lack of any detail about Kya’s research. The list or mention of flora or fauna was sad, no bitterness or terms or woodpeckers. No orchids or ferns. Why travel to Asheville instead of Realeigh or cities close to the coast? Too many characters follow a set cliche lacking much character at all.

That’s the first thing I thought, too. I don’t even live in NC, no one would drive across the whole state when they could go to Jacksonville or Greenville. The basic premise of the story is so good, but many details could be improved upon to make it a classic.

This! And, I’m from Greenville, NC. I did enjoy the book, but I know too much about the layout of my home state and my home town to let the details slide. The Trailways bus station was downtown. Walking distance from my great-grandma’s house. Not highway 258 (I’m not quite sure where Highway 258 is,). And right, why Asheville–clear across to Western NC when Eastern NC is right there? That is all–had to express this somewhere, so thanks! The French Bread was for Chase, not Tate, much later in the book as another reader pointed out. But still….!

Kya didn’t go to Asheville, she went to Greenville which is considerably closer to the coast.

Sparks! Great comparison. I began one of his. Rare for me to read any fiction bestseller, but this was a gift. I began liking the author’s flowery use of her zoology expertise, but the errors so well pointed out in this blog, especially those directed at the editor, made me wonder what has become of America’s taste. I swear that either someone other than the author wrote the entire courtroom drama chapters or the editor gave up on that section and it reflects the writer’s real voice. Two very distinct voices in this book. I don’t recall ever seeing that anywhere, ever in English literature, but there is a reason I read classics and nonfiction.

May I borrow ‘Cinderella of the Swamp’? Spot on.

8th grade story like island of the blue dolphin would have enjoyed it at14yrs old sorry Delia

Thank you for this. The book finally came up in my library queue after half my friends have gushed about it all year long. Now I’ve read it – and didn’t like it at all. I’m just hoping they don’t ask, because I hate having to tell someone who loves something that I thought it was bad.

We had a very engaging discussion at our book club with some who loved and some who did not. It actually made for a pretty interesting discussion.

I thought that flawed it was still a great read. Far from perfect and not a great book. Many flaws but many great and beautiful parts. You get the feeling the author pulled out all the stops and probably doesnt have anything left in the tank we will see. Still i love it.

Well put Guy!!! Exactly!l ‘You get the feeling that the author pulled out all the stops and doesn’t have anything left in the tank”…ha ha!

I kept thinking, “Hey lady, why don’t you save something and not use everything in your head in this one book?”

That being said, there were some moments of pure beauty throughout. To say the book was utter crap seems to be unnecessarily mean-spirited, overly critical and perhaps even jealous. Especially if those being so viciously critical have never written a novel themselves.

I agree, it was a sad, sweet, exciting story that’s all. It is what it is. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to most of my friends.

I was enjoying the story up to a point, but then I just couldn’t suspend my belief anymore. The author is a nature writer and those parts came off well, but come on, no other part of this book was researched or thought out. If you think about any of it, it falls apart. The setting, the language, everything. I understand people read for enjoyment and whatnot and sometimes it doesn’t matter, but to see this 5 star praise from people just saying it’s great and that’s the end of it makes me feel like Larry David standing there in the middle scratching my head while everyone pretends that nothing is going on. No, you can like a book and still be critical of it, this all or nothing praise is just a no for me. I can’t. I’m seeing this trend with most Reese Witherspoon book club picks, “delightful”, “fabulous”. That’s the book review. I want more for myself.

Don’t Tell them and tell them why It is a book discussion Not a monologues

i couldn’t make thru it at all..ugh. Sometimes when celebrities recommend things people think it’s the end all be all. I haven’t cared much for Reece’s suggestions or Oprah’s…

Thanks for this – I hated the novel and now you’ve provided me ammunition for my next book club meeting!

Refreshing and a relief to read this review. While I did not hate it, I agree that it is overrated and flawed. I cannot get over the red herringstl and tied up loose ends in the last chapters. Kya is Amanda Hamilton? — wait, how does the real Amanda Hamilton feel about that?

YES! The dialect and dialogue were both awful. Kya is a Boo Radley who is socially savvy whenever the author finds it convenient. Half-baked love story. At one point Jumpin threatens to get a posse after the most high-profile white guy in the white town – all to protect this white girl. REALLY? As if he doesn’t know what would happen to his own family and town and life if he does so? Bad.

The author of WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING should stick to non-fiction biology because her eagerness to describe (what seemed to be) every molecule of the marsh became as boring as an 8th grade microbiology textbook. In addition- her incessant descriptive details came off more like indulgent observations as opposed to moving the story along.

Speaking of having a story – there was such a low threshold to reach in the 1st part of the book that Kya and Tate’s 1st kiss – not an earth shattering event, mind you – at least made me put my coffee cup down as it jolted me awake.

I also found the conversation of ALL the characters so cliche. “Jumpin” sounded like a character in a Shirley Temple movie – not a real, complicated man. Both Tate and Chase were cardboard Good and Bad Boys.

Kya, however, was the most problematic. Goddess of the Marsh – I could see her on the cover of a cheap steamy romance novel. But then she also had this Howard the Hermit Hughes side. Don’t get me started on the Published Author career turn. The main problem with Kya is that the writer didn’t make her real (irregardless of plot turns). Kya was the author’s heroine- for sure. Unfortunately, the author saw her through rose-colored glasses because….in my opinion…Kya came off as a (albeit muddy) Disney Princess.

I did enjoy Sunday Justice the Cat, however.

I liked Sunday Justice, too. One of the few bright spots.

Idk if I can take your literary critique seriously after you used the word irregardless.

I absolutely agree.

Person, get educated before you dis on literature: “irregardless” is not even a word.

Whether or not irregardless is a word is a whole other area for discussion…under the heading: when a commonly used word is considered a real word: some schools think that if it means something to the listener, and is in common use, it can be considered legit like “gonna”. However, that aside, I have to say that I am enjoying this whole discussion as much as (or even more than) reading the book. I agree with all the skeptic-y types that felt there were too many inaccuracies and that it was too fairy-tale-ish (which is OK, as fairy tales have their place), but I would place it in the “Cinderella Porn” genre. We are doing it in our upcoming book club, and I fear expressing my real feelings as saying you didn’t like Crawdads is almost akin to say you kill kittens as a pastime.. But having said all that ,it was good read…with lovely descriptions of the marsh.

Thank you. I also had a big quibble with the geography. They keep running off to Ashville, which would have been a 8-12 hour drive from the coast in the 50’s. Baltimore, Maryland would have been more accessible! I also find it hard to believe that a truant officer would never follow up or a social worker never go looking for a child they knew was alone out there. Sure, she was looked at as swamp trash, but some people did feel a responsibility to do their job and see that kids were educated and cared for (at least the white ones). And what about hurricanes?

I’I’m glad someone pointed out the Asheville nonsense. Too, crawdads live in fresh water, not salt or even brackish. So, in addition to the character of Kya being utterly implausible and the dialogue being all wrong, the author is writing about an area, a culture, an ecology with which she is unfamiliar. Why? She spent very interesting time in Africa and in the Pacific Northwest. Why not write about something she knows?

THIS. SO THIS. I’ve lived in the southeast for 5 years now and hardly know anything about the area but even I knew this. Thank you!!!!

The geography was the very first thing that put off this NC native. First of all, most of the NC coast comprises a series of barrier islands, so you don’t see much marshy land going right up to the Atlantic Ocean. The “Graveyard of the Atlantic” is off the Outer Banks, far from any marshy land. NC doesn’t have everglades. Pa says: “They had land, rich land, raised tobaccy and cott’n and such. Over near Asheville.” Cotton would not have been grown in the mountains around Asheville, and the only tobacco might be small patches of burley, not the vast fields of brightleaf that you (used to) see in eastern NC.

The “Graveyard of the Atlantic” museum is at the south end of NC Hwy 12, south of Buxton (by the ferry to Ocracoke) … mile-wide barrier islands … 5,280-feet at the most. FWIW, I live on a barrier island salt march at zip 31410. Never heared no crawdaddys singin’, tho.

Thanks for this review. It ‘s helped me articulate lots if things I disliked about the book. (The comments helped too) i feel better about attending my Sept book club where some members have already heaped the praise

Thanks for leaving a comment! I’m happy to have been helpful! Good luck.

I was thinking about dropping out of a book club and decided to do it now so I won’t have to face those who loved Where the Crawdads Sing. The plot seemed like a poorly done young adult romance. I couldn’t quibble about the setting as I live on the California coast. However, feeding seagulls? Here we would be attacked and have to fight them off. Not a nice picture.

A close recommended this book and I had to tell her that I loved it, then my book group picked it and I reread it or rather I listened to the audio version. The parts that I couldn’t reconcile were that no one human came to check on her; her mother, her mother’s family, the school teachers, her siblings, her father, Tate’s father, anyone who saw her at Jumpin’s. How do you go from illiterate to college speaker when you seldom speak to anyone? I found the reference to the mosquito scooping out the previous mosquito’s sperm ridiculous and unbelievable. And finally, when Kya’s attorney describes how the timing of going to kill Chase while needing a boat and a bus ride back and forth more than enough the exonerate her, and I began to wonder how Kya could tell time? did she own a watch? How would she know to disguise herself? How did she spend her day besides making salted fish? Thanks for letting me vent as well.

LOL! Happy to provide free therapy.

I think kya killed her father too….I did not like the book…I found it very slow.

I agree. The details of planning and executing such a murder did not seem to fit with Kya’s personality/character. The planning of arranging for an alibi, timing the bus rides back and forth (even though she only got a bus schedule when she first bought her ticket and boarded the bus the first time) , getting Chase to be on the fire tower at the right time that night ……. I can imagine Kya getting desperate if Chase kept trying to hunt her down, maybe murdering him in self defense when he came back , and maybe hiding/burying the body in a way consistent with her knowledge of the marsh. But the whole thing with timing bus trips, two different disguises for the extra bus trips to keep her alibit etc. etc., was very far fetched and not believable to me. Also. the ending was not satisfactory. I don’t believe that Kya would have kept that shell necklace, or that Tate would only discover it and put the pieces together after she died. Just not believable in so many ways. This type of premeditated murder and evil scheming does not seem consistent with Kya’s character.

Karin, I found the revelation that Kya was the murderer very disappointing. Simply, there was not enough time for her to commit the crime nor was it fitting with her character. It would have made more sense had Jumpin’ and Tate planned it out knowing she had the perfect alibi and could not be blamed. Also, how and when did she prearrange a meeting with Chase. I do not find it plausible that she hated him to the point of killing him in this extensively premeditated way.

Also, blaming the murder on her is a missed opportunity to develop the other characters such as Chase or his wife. And why does Chase go to dinner at his parents’ house but not take his wife? It makes no sense and there is not an attempt to explain it. Maybe their marriage was rocky since he was in love with Kya, a woman he believed he could not marry because of society’s expectations. At times he was a two dimensional player and others a deep person playing his harmonica and being happy getting away from the pressures of his life. The fact that he spent so many hours with Kya, always wore the necklace and kept the beautiful “relationship journal” shows he loved her deeply. And, why was that journal only brought up during the trial? I feel like it would have been something that was discussed while she was making it or even on the occasion she gifted it. He must have struggled with the decision not to own up to his love. When it was convenient for the story line to fall into stereotypes it would.

The whole geography of NC also was confusing. I live in NC and very little of it added up. Although, I will say, I enjoyed the story itself. I loved reading it because I was entertained and had to know if she would get convicted. I liked the descriptions and found the poems relevant and thought provoking.

The fact that I liked the story and Amanda Hamilton’s poems enjoyable was how I found this review thread. I thought there might be a book of Amanda Hamilton poems out there. It was odd at the end how the poet turned out to be Kya, somewhat unnecessary to the plot.

thank you for writing this! I felt duped by it….I was engaged initially by the nature narrative and the concept of nature as “mother”….but the romance and plot really fell flat for me. All of the things you’ve said and your commenters have said rang true for me. And I’m feeling kinda angry that so many think this is well written literature!

I agree with you. Initially, tho it was slow, I enjoyed much of the concept of nature. But then it became implausible. How did she firstly lure Chase to the tower? How did she plan the bus trips, when she only got the schedule when she purchased her ticket? And then the bus was late. She just wouldn’t have had the time to clear the evidence before catching the bus back. Where did she get the disguises from?

How did she know that the motel she chose to stay at was closest to the bus stop.? There are many more anomaly’s I could go on and on. NOOOO. It just wasn’t her character to plan all this. And the final stupidity was to keep the shell necklace. One would think this was the last thing she would want to keep

Thanks for writing an honest review. No 6 year old calls a marsh an estuary. Nor would a 6 year old be able to start a boat engine and then run it that well. I agree that someone would have taken food out to her house and tried to help. Going to Asheville from the NC coast to do business was absurd. Where was the coastal dialect of the 1950’s? I could go on and on.

OK guys, all very interesting, and in my opinion accurate. But what?…..Walter? What is IRREGARDLESS, aargh, that non-word is a pet peeve, not in the dictionary, and an unfortunate double negative becoming horribly common. Oh dear, my rant for the day! A great blog by the way 🙂

“Irregardless” is a pet peeve of mine, too. If she used it, I totally missed it! I guess everything else was already too distracting.

I wrote my response at 3am. Sorry to offend.

Well, perhaps the interweb gods were looking out for you because an earlier post from you didn’t come through.

The thing I found truly unbelievable was that she was able to take the bus all the way from Greenville back to the fire tower, do all the things she had to do to avoid detection and cover up the crime, and then BACK to Greenville in plenty of time to meet again with her publisher. Did I miss something or did the cops just neglect to subpoena the bus records that would’ve clearly showed something was aloof? The D.A. talked about people in disguise on the bus, but really didn’t give any buildup. But this isn’t John Grisham. I found the dialect also suspect: she goes from this hick accent to–viola!–speaking in Ph.D. language. Maybe the author assumed that readers felt that given her self- and Tate-education, that she would progress to that kind of banter. Still, I empathized with Kya, living the gawd-awful life she led in abject loneliness, being shunned by the townsfolk. Now, I’m going back to my “swamp.”

My thoughts exactly! How many folks could there be on that bus at that hour? Why not track them down to identify/eliminate the nervous and possibly disguised passenger!? On point as always L&L and thank you for an honest review of a book clearly written to appeal to Hollywood. Maybe a good screenwriter will make her mother the poet and clean up other loose ends to create more suspense. I predicted the ending when I saw the name of the final chapter.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, Ginna! 🙂

I’m so happy to “meet” all of you! I’ve been wondering if I had missed something in this book, all friends and family have been praising it and I thought it was mediocre at best. What a relief!

Yes, welcome to the support group for those who are baffled by its popularity!

Hello, I am half way through the book and struggling to finish. I’m glad to know that there are so many others who see it as I do. I was beginning to think perhaps I’ve turned “uppity” from reading too many literary novels and could no longer enjoy a well-written mainstream novel. I don’t think that’s the case, however, This book is beyond redemption in my view. I won’t rehash all that’s been said, but would like to add a bit about characterization. One of the biggest problems with this book, for me, is that the characters don’t ring true. For example, Kya has fond memories of her mother’s nurturing and gentle acts of kindness. Clearly, she is a woman of sensitivity who cares for her children, yet she leaves a man who abuses her when she knows full well that he also abuses the children. Really? And then, not only does she leave (all dressed up and ready to find a new life for herself, to hell with the kids), she never checks back on them? Never sends anyone after them? The character of Kya’s father is also problematic. Here’s a guy who turns into a jerk when he drinks. But why make the distinction if he’s supposedly a total jerk when he is sober too? The thing is, the author lets us see the father have some moments of bonding with his daughter; he teaches her to fish, gives her money, takes her out to eat. He even calls her “Hon.” And yet, after having established a connection, he can leave without a backward glance. He doesn’t seem to care if she’s easy prey or starves to death. Most people wouldn’t treat a pet that way, much less a kid. That is, unless the person is some kind of monster. And that’s the point; the father isn’t really so much a monster as a rage-aholic and an alcoholic. Or IS he a monster? The author can’t seem to make up her mind. Then we have the character of Tate. Wow. Teenage perfection in the form of a young male. A young male who so completely understands how lonely and rejected Kya feels after all the abandonment she has been subjected to, nonetheless turns around and does the same thing. He totally abandons her after carefully taming her wild spirit and spending months getting her to completely trust him. And all without so much as an explanation or a note… Other characters operate in the story as stock characters without dimension, the preoccupied social worker, the black store owner with a heart of gold and his heart-of-gold wife. And by the way, is there really no one in the entire town with a modicum of sympathy for a dirty, skinny child with no social skills and no parent in sight? Then there’s Kya herself. As some of you have noted, her natural beauty and allure is an imaginative stretch. I could, for the sake of the story, get past that. But her remarkable ability to unpack dense biology texts after a few reading lessons and no formal education is rather ludicrous. I know some have countered the criticism of this novel by saying it should be read as an allegory. My understanding of allegory is that you are typically dealing with a simple story that symbolizes a much more complicated issue. The ideas of “connection-to-nature vs. disconnection,” “rural folk vs. town folk,” “respect for nature vs. exploitation” all operate as themes, not allegory.

Yes, yes, and yes. Thank you for stopping by and adding to the discussion!

So true. Also it was a stretch that Tate taught her to read using the book Sand County Almanac (a brilliant book which I happen to have read.)That is a real book by a naturalist with sophisticated writing. It could never be used to teach a totally illiterate person. You’d be more likely to start with easy children’s books. Yet she learned to read it easily.

Maybe you all should try the audio book Reads like a movie and most of your Criticisms are overshadowed by hearing Only point I make is there really is a poet named Amanda Hamilton

I think this proves my point. If you have to listen to it by audio book to not be annoyed by the errors, it isn’t quality fiction.

Hi, I just finished this book. 10 pages before the ending I noted to myself, Kya did it, I didn’t want that to be the case, but it makes sense. I kept thinking about that shell necklace.

It was quite a sad book. That’s okay but it seemed like 2 authors. The courtroom to the end was very different than the beginning. Maybe, I thought, because Kya changed, was shut down after the murder.

Anyway, it was fast forwarding , vacant and though Kya’s killing Chase was probable and predictable to me , her sneaking back on the bus is not realistic. I wish we had her inside story, like the entire book before the murder. I felt the author was just plowing through to the ending to answer The Who did it?

Thanks for letting me share my honest thoughts.

Interesting your point about two authors. I agree the courtroom scene was stronger than other parts – like maybe that section was more closely edited or workshopped than other sections.

I hate being critical too. But in this case, I think you missed some genuine literary devices and got stuck in the swamp with details. In University, I studied Annie Dillard ‘s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek . I studied it in the context of science communication. In Dillard’s case, as the title suggests, this is religion versus science or the combination of them. In this way, this book is similar. Her words on shells, or other treasures, are not her own but those of the biology textbooks she’s been reading. That device shows us how disassociated she is from human feelings and attitudes – all her emotions are bound in her scientific look at human interactions. That is really where the book has strength for me. I don’t worry so much about the french bread or butter. I don’t remember her saying it was her favourite. But it’s just not important because literature doesn’t have to be a science 🙂 I see your points but the book speaks to Lady of Shallott, the pilgrims, and how some struggle to bond their spiritual side with the scientific.

I have only three words….Hallmark Channel Movie

I had an issue with Tate talking about studying DNA and the double helix in 1960 in a small town in the south. My small town in the south did not cover this until later. (I have more details on this but my sister and I discussed this about 15 years ago when my son had to make a DNA double helix as a class project and we talked why this wasn’t covered in school when we attended.) It’s these kind of disconnects (like parroting scientific details rather than assimilating in her own voice to explain to Chase) that caused me to jump out of the story and I had to convince myself to jump back in. I would recommend you read Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. She did extensive writings on growing up in rural swamp areas in Florida and you are pulled into her stories. She won a Pulitzer Prize for The Yearling, written in 1939.

Rawlings is on my TBR list – so thank you for the additional push. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your thoughts.

Helen, I just got Cross Creek based on your recommendation. Thank you!

Thanks for an interesting discussion. I agree that the novel is filled with all these outrageous flaws that should have consigned this book to the remainder bin after a couple of months. But that’s culture and taste in America. The movie will make a fortune, I’m sure. What is more amazing to me is that I have not read one comment in the numerous reviews I’ve read that even mentions the fact (much less analyzes it) that the novelist has created a very “sympathetic” female heroine who is nearly destroyed by violence, racism, cultural bias, ignorance, abandonment, etc., but who pulls herself out of the mud to become this wonderful artist/scientist, yet, who, in the last couple of pages, turns out to be a gigantic fraud. For god’s sake: SHE’S A MURDERER! Yes, she’s portrayed (endlessly) as a victim, but the fact is that being a lonely “wronged woman,” including an attempted rape, does not justify MURDER. This is not just a “twist” at the end! It blows up the main character! Thus the values extolled by the author throughout the book (love of nature, etc., etc.) are dwarfed by the overriding fact of her crime and her silence, including hiding her true character from the husband she supposedly loves. Even a decent author coming out of college with a creative writing major would have seen this massive problem—and would have either explored the possibilities of dealing with such human complexities, or perhaps just dumped this ridiculous novel and started a new one.

Agree. There’s a way that a more skilled writer could have crafted a scene of self-defense but in this case, it would have been premeditated & she lured him there for the purpose of killing him. She’s mixing her genres for sure to have the noble heroine turn into the guilty party.

Gosh, I have combed through the reviews here and on another site and you are the only one mentioning what troubled me so much about the book. If Kya murdered Chace, then I have no respect for her. If she never told Tate about it, I have even less. So what was the point of that whole story which was tugging at my sympathies to respect and value her? So I feel like the author tricked my sympathies and jerked me around which means I cannot really respect the author for that either. Secondly, do people really have so little moral center that they’re okay with Kya murdering Chace just for being an every-day-super-jerk that so many guys are? I’m not. Towards the end, Kaya says plaintively, “I never asked anybody for anything.” Well, killing somebody is asking them for the ultimate: their life. Now, no one seems to be mentioning this but there is huge chance that Kya is not the murderer (if there even was one), but somehow came upon that necklace anyway. 1) If Chace wore it “every day”, in reality people stop noticing whether someone is actually wearing a small item or not, so they could be wrong about him wearing it that day. 2) the murderer, if there was one, had about 40 years to give this to Kya (she died at 64 and Chace died when she was 24. She could have been come by it, and put it under the floorboards as recently as the last time the wood supply was low.) Insect analogies aside, there’s actually no proof provided by the author that Kya murdered him, and lots of reasons to think she didn’t. Most of the evidence points to there not having been a murder. How about a suicide? And about Amanda, I thought this would turn out to be her sister, who was named Amanda (according to the Bible records) and called Many for short. I think that would have been better than having the poet be the mother, which would be a little too “neatly wrapped up” for my tastes. Truly, the author should have mentioned suicide as a possibility somewhere along the lines, if for no other reason than to confound the reader. The guy was a jerk, and jerks have no self-esteem.

Never mind, Dan B, it turns out you were the first of many which appeared “below” (later in time) than yours, and I hadn’t seen them before I replied to you, Maybe yours helped people feel they had permission to say murder is not okay when the “motive” is having been jilted or even attempted rape. Though I understand the ourtrage that would emerge from an attempted rape, no one is above the law and self-defense 2 months later could not be claimed.

THANK YOU! I finished the book last night and have been reading reviews for the past hour and NO ONE has reflected this obvious fact! She’s a murderer for crying out loud.

The way Tate discovered her secret made me feel bad for him. It felt creepy and unfulfilling. He thought her to be this pure and innocent girl, different from all those other women…well yeah, doubt any of those other women KILLED a man! Not by accident, mind you, but actually PLANNED it!!!!

During the court scene I guess Owens didn’t want us in Kya’s mind much so her true thoughts can be hidden but when she was in the cell or staring out the window, detached from the hearing…with the knowledge later that she murdered Chase, Kya was scary. No remorse, no regret, no guilt. Completely ruined the character for me. Chase was a jerk but he didn’t deserve to be murdered.

I loved the first half of the book before the hearing, I actually loved the prose and nature writing but the court scenes and the ending completely ruined what could have been a beautiful book. I don’t think the murder was needed. This book would have been amazing as a coming of age story drawing parallels between nature and civilization as this girl grows up in isolation and loneliness only to come into her own as a successful artist and writer…Chase didn’t have to die..ugh wasted opportunity.

Person, ever heard of a run-on sentence?! Take a breath!

This is exactly it. I just finished this book earlier today and felt totally duped. I couldn’t believe how the main character was completely untrustworthy to the reader and everyone around her who supported and stood by her – her husband, brother, father-in-law, Jumpin and his wife, her attorney. She lied to all of these people for years. And she committed premeditated murder, which was completely detached from the character we read about. I have read some posit the possibility that Kya had a personality disorder. Perhaps, but that wasn’t set up and neither was it clear why chase would wear a necklace for four years or turn into a raging sociopath

Never (IIRC) was the subject of toilet paper mentioned … or soap … or tooth brushing or … the nail in the sole (“soul”?) made me wince. MASSIVE infection … never mind tetanus (which I haven ever known or heard of, other than in old wife’s (wives’) tails/tales.

So grateful for this thread. Tossed and turned all night after finishing the book. Among all the ridiculous trite romance novel qualities the fact that she ends up a murderer and a liar truly destroyed it for me.

I am so glad to hear that others found this much overrated book to be totally implausible, and not particularly well written.

I just finished reading this book after slipping and falling, hurting several body parts which put me in quite a bit of pain. My sister gave me the book days before as a gift. I had not read a novel in quite some time and needed to rest, so into my bed I went with this book to take my mind off of my own painful place. I thoroughly enjoyed the many metaphors and similes while figuring out the ending long before I was told by the author. Having been raped, I can understand the fear of Kya. As a writer, editor and proofreader, I also understand the role of a good editor. Many of the flaws you have related I also found, but as a person in pain looking for a story to take my mind off that, it served its purpose. Any reader would know that loose end shell necklace was bound to turn up among Kya’s hidden treasures. I appreciate your comments as I also enjoyed my mind being taken off into the marshes with the birds, sand and wildlife. I look out on the Rappahannock River where birds of many kinds swoop and dance, perch and search for prey. Bald eagles, and porpoises all play here from time to time. Raccoons and deer, wild turkeys and skunks, all meander by at their own pace. Life goes on. Love is always somewhere to be shared and celebrated in the heart. Murder, however, is not a part of love.

thank you everyone for your wonderful comments. You have written by book club presentation for me. By the way, hated the book.

THANKS GUYS..ditto your thoughts..googled thoughts on this book because I needed some feedback…The fact that she murdered Chase..ruined her whole character..and made me wonder why I wasted so much of my time reading this book ..oh it was a gift ..and i would be asked my thoughts..

Thanks for the courageous review.

It’s a plotless story, with an evil view of human nature, mindless and overwrought descriptions of nature, peppered with non-poetry. Perhaps worst of all, the novel lacks a key element of good mysteries: human motivation.

Agatha Christie is turning in her grave.

I think you hit on something with your comment. She hasn’t figured out what genre she’s writing & thus fails at them all.

And notice the horrible (and completely nondramatic) message: Don’t blame Kya (or — wink, wink — the author) for murder. Either nurture made her do it (abusive and neglectful parents) or nature did (the praying mantis). There’s no free will, no choice, no personal values animating the character.

Compare that to the gripping and unsparing portrayal of a murderer in Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.”

I’m always suspicious of books on The NY Times’ bestseller list as 70% of the people in any given society have average IQs. That being said, all the previous comments ring true. I decided to search for critiques of this book because, though I found many passages to be lyrical, the whole story just didn’t gel.

As a retired reading teacher with a master’s degree in special education, I’ve spent years working with children in the area of literacy. In order to learn to read, learning to decode the abstract symbols of the alphabet takes about 500 repetitions per letter. Our brains have only been reading for about 5,000 years ~ which isn’t a long time in human development. Thus, Kya’s astonishing metamorphoses after 14 years of illiteracy from ignorance of the printed word to scientific genius was impossible to believe. The author might have been able to rectify this glaring error had she simply added a paragraph or two discussing the passage of time ~ years, for example ~ during which we could see Kya’s struggle toward literacy. But that was not done and, so, the reader is jolted out of the “vivid and continuous dream” (John Gardner) that great fiction achieves. We should never be removed from our reverie in fiction and slapped across the face with slips in technique. But, in “Crawdads,” we *are* and that’s just too bad.

In kindergarten, if we can get our students to master 52 letters and sounds within 9 months of school before we send them to 1st grade, as teachers we’re delighted. But reading is *not* just about decoding sounds! Basic sight words, of which I teach about 1,000 by the end of 3rd grade, must simply be memorized. They *cannot* be sounded out! Words like “the, do, is, from, enough” ~ to name just five ~ are examples of my point. Sight words make up approximately 80% of all the words we read ~ even in advanced texts. As we progress into print at higher levels, the percentage of sight words drops a bit but, still, they remain the *glue* in text. Tate may have taught Kya basic sound/symbol correspondence but her meteoric rise into Greek roots and scientific jargon is simply unbelievable ~ as many of you have mentioned. Kya has no mentor with whom she can go over the complexities of our English tongue; her accomplishments, then, seem contrived and unrealistic.

As an aside, I’m wondering, now that I’ve read this book, how in the *world* Kya would have been able to acquire all the props necessary for her disguise as she made her mad dash on the bus? Where would she have purchased the wigs and costumes needed to hide her identity? That would have taken some elaborate planning. Surely a shopkeeper would have remembered her buying those things locally. There are just too many loose ends in this book!

Someone recommended this book to me and though I’d clicked over it as I pondered titles during the last year or so, I agreed to read it to please a friend. As an avid reader, I can readily absorb a weak book and be none the worse for wear. Many of you have made excellent points regarding flaws ~ and, on the whole, I agree with your assessments. Despite those flaws, though, I did love learning about the details of life in marshes and swamps, areas foreign to me, and I reveled in the solitude of those places. I’m a thoughtful, quiet person and could not live without nature in my life. I’m always thrilled to add another bit of knowledge about our natural world to my body of understanding. “Crawdads” appealed to me in that way. I’ll let Hollywood sort out the rest since, surely, as many have stated, this is a Hollywood novel that will make millions of dollars at the box office. It is not, however, literary fiction. Remember, the majority of readers who catapult books to the top of The NY Times’ bestseller list don’t seek excellence but, rather, escape. I like my fiction to offer more than that. I like it to move me. This book falls short. While “Crawdads” can offer us a way to spend a few spare hours, it’s most definitely not a book that will rock our literary world.

When I’m not enamored with wildly-popular books, I always wonder what I’m missing, why I’m not following the crowd. As a writer and editor, I respect the craft of writing, but have a rule: if my my editor self kicks in while reading, something’s wrong with the writing, And from the prologue on, “Crawdads” — while easy enough to buzz through — opened up numerous questions and problems that many readers point out here on this blog.

I can suspend disbelief enough to acknowledge that maybe Marsh Girl had innate, almost primitive, survival techniques; that Tate had a higher-than-average intelligence and relatability to teach Kya to read and that she would have had no other way to spend her time but to dedicate herself to learning. But: -With her extreme malnutrition, she would have been sick. A lot. She also would have had other problems with her hair, nails, teeth – she simply couldn’t be as beautiful as the author claimed. -She wouldn’t have had any authentic social or conversational skills – simply saying she’s shy doesn’t even begin to cover how inept her interactions with Chase would be, no matter how much Tate talked to her before he left. So Chase was obviously a convenient plot device for the murder and a weak attempt at forcing class issues. I believe this was also the case with the movie “Nell.” -Using the overwrought “Magical Negro” trope of Jumpin’ and Mabel, combined with the dialect, was incredibly racist. I lived in the South and Deep South, including Coastal Carolina. Most people out in the Outer Banks have a unique Southern-New England dialect, and it’s hard to replicate verbally, much less with the written word. Further, everyone would speak that way because of the isolation of location, not just Jumpin’ and Mable. Most writing professors tell students not to use dialectical language unless you’re certain you’ll get it right. -Amanda Hamilton’s poetry inserts were simply unnecessary, so this part of the ending was forced for no reason. -The prologue, if there has to be one, (I hate prologues!) should always tell the truth. I think this is what disappointed me the most: the blatant sellout of the main character. If she believed her survival depended on killing someone, Kya the Marsh Girl wouldn’t have wrangled bus schedules, disguised herself, raced against time, and lured Chase to the fire tower. The prologue proclaimed the marsh is life, while the swamp is death. Kya the Marsh Girl would have lured Chase to the edge of the swamp, made love to him, and while he napped briefly, smacked him with a branch to knock him unconscious. Before she ripped off the necklace, she would drag him into the murky waters and let nature take its course. Maybe Chase’s boat was found adrift near her shack, and Kya is called into questioning, but the mystery of his disappearance—never solved—adds to the Legend of the Marsh Girl. Perhaps years later, Tate would find a worn shell necklace strung on rawhide in a drawer after her death, and wonder what it was. He wouldn’t know… …but the reader would. And that’s the point.

That’s a much better ending! Great points all around. Thanks for dropping in and contributing to the conversation.

Great site! And thanks. I’m sure every reader imagines a story going a different way. But if I were Owens’ editor, I would have reminded her of the integrity of her character. She still probably would have gone her own way, as she should, but at least there would have been a discussion. 🙂

I agree with so many of your points. This novel romanticises neglect and loneliness, both of which I’ve experienced and neither of which are remotely romantic. Neglect makes it extremely hard to form social relationships, it doesn’t just make you shy and neglected kids are usually bad at taking care of their physical appearance.

For goodness sake everyone, it is a fiction, a story. I take on board the inaccuracies and implausible happenings but I was so wrapped up in Kya and her life that I turned pages way into the wee hours. I was so upset when the book was finished. A person I had “lived with” was dead and the book ended.

I’m another reader who missed the promised “gorgeous, lyrical prose.” At heart, this is a manipulative story, with the puppeteer’s moving strings visible. The phoniness is, more than anything, caused by the distance from the main character (for, after all, if we were close to her, the ending “surprises” would have had to be disclosed at the time). Instead, the writer attempts to make us feel close to Kya by having her speak aloud to herself about her loneliness, etc., and having her recite bad poetry (without even acknowledging to herself its origin!). Grrrrrrrr.

I waited and waited for this to become available at my local library, and when it did I eagerly started to read I knew nothing of reviews, which is the way I like to dive into a new book and decide how it moves me. While I love descriptive phrases and metaphors, this was way over the top and not in a good way. So far at page 58, I WILL finish but am finding so many things cringeworthy that I am afraid that’s what I will remember rather than the characters or story line. Not a writer. Not a wannabee writer. Just a reader who loves good books that worm their way into my brain and get me to think. Thank you for writing this commentary…it fits my reactions so far even though I am only 58 pages in.

I can have a willing suspension of disbelief that her isolation, her feeing under threat, and her living again in fear in her own home of a violent man might drive Kya to kill the tormentor—under certain circumstances. But I cannot buy for a second that Kyra is racing around catching buses in disguises, motor boating up the coast, climbing fire towers, luring/manipulating/murdering a man—all between being dropped off at 10 pm after a lovely dinner and first meeting with her editor and being picked up at 7:30 am for breakfast with said editor. Unbelievable. Completely out of character. Don’t get me started on the going to Asheville from the coast to buy supplies or a bike.

I am having trouble with the red wool fibers found on Chase’s body. Why didn’t Tate suspect her guilt after that evidence was presented?

I thought that Chase ended up with the red hat when they were batting it back and forth.

I’ve just read this book in Catalan, my mother tongue. I agree with the most repeated issues here written. I’ve found several translation mistakes, attributable to editor in my language. Despite it’s a book that is agreeable in the most of the chapters, lacks of coherence. Writing about mother cells in 1961 when first hypothesis was proposed by Canadian scientist in early 1960 is, at least, a temerity. Also putting in Kya’s voice Einstein Theories is not realistic. I’m not able to talk about idioms or words used by people in New Carolina in those years, either the bus availability. In the other hand; in my opinion, too much paragraphs are self-dedicated to the writer. TX

Thank you for sharing your thoughts – an interesting perspective given you read it in a different language.

I have scanned comments and replies, and like many of the contributors, I have written and edited fiction, so we read differently than many readers. I was put off by the use of dialect, and then found it inconsistent. I would think an editor would have cleaned that up. This stuck out for me (and probably many Tarheels): there has never been a Raleigh Herald newspaper in Raleigh, NC. There is a Raleigh, West Virginia, that has or had a Raleigh Herald. It’s a small point, but puts the author’s research in other areas in question.

If I could get past the absurd storyline, the poor use of dialect, and the uneven (at best) writing then I would give this more than 2.5 out of 5 stars. I would have given it fewer stars but there were times when it was so bad it was good. Listening to the audiobook I found myself laughing out loud. When the author described this marsh child who had lived on her own exposed daily to the sun the bugs the mud without adequate food, clothing, medical care and grooming opportunities as nothing short of the most beautiful woman to ever live I nearly spit my coffee across the room. Then there was the passage where the teen boy mansplained to the most observant “nature genius” on earth that she was getting her period for the first time. And I can’t stop chortling thinking of the numerous “almost sex” scenes. The trial never quite made sense to me either. How could they charge her with first degree murder when they themselves admitted that it could have been an accident.

I must stop because there are so many things in this book that either make no sense or are completely ridiculous. I could go on and on. That said I can see why Reese Witherspoon claims to love it. It will make a decent movie and if she can encourage enough people to read the book and be invested in the story it will be a guaranteed money maker.

“. . . the most observant ‘nature genius’ on earth . . .”

Exactly! She’s supposed to be the “noble savage” (a tired, discredited story) who’s capable of miracles, and who’s justified in doing anything (e.g., murder) because society’s corrupt and has corrupted her. (I.e., it’s a thinly veiled auto-biography.)

THANK YOU so much for this review. After reading the book, I kept thinking, “Reese, stick to acting”, I’ve seen on a few talk shows that she reads constantly, and since she loved this book and added it to her book club, I wonder what books she’s reading. By the end, I was groaning every time I saw another poem by ol’ Amanda on the page. The whole book was implausible, from a 6 year old surviving on her own, to her beauty and intelligence. I used to work with a woman who taught herself Organic Chemistry. She was very intelligent but couldn’t pronounce anything correctly. I think Kya would have the same problem. I also couldn’t imagine how Kya “lured” Chase to the fire tower, although maybe that was covered as I skimmed the last few chapter. I wonder if she also killed her father.

I’m here for you. 🙂

As a male child of the 60s, I couldn’t help but wonder why Chase and his pals – football players without college deferments – did not end up drafted and in Vietnam, which, trust me, was the overriding concern for 18-year old males in the 60s. Amanda’s “poetry” was awful. And the whole rigmarole about assembling multiple disguises by this character was ridiculous. I did appreciate the “close to nature” vibe, but this was not a book to move one’s heart.

It was heartening to see that other people have a problem with this murder when they believe Kya did it….. On the other hand, the number of people who assume Kya did do it is bewildering to me. “Oh, because she had the necklace. That’s proves it.” It proves nothing. She could have found it or it could have been given to her in the 40 years between Chace’s death and her own. After spending all that “time” as a reader with Kya, to me the more likely thing is that she did not murder him, which explains her blank traumatized mind that didn’t get shared with us during the trial, and it explains why she never “told Tate” about it. There was nothing to tell. Why is suicide never mentioned in the book or in the reviews? Is the myth that “rich people are happy” so entrenched? Maybe Tate was not in fact wearing the necklace that night, or maybe he tore it off and threw it in the swamp before he stepped into the grate hole. There is no evidence of a murder, anywhere. Only numerous theories crafted to support the hypothesis that Kya “must have” done it. To me, that means this is a book about how prejudice works in a community (and everywhere) and it’s especially effective and educational because most people think white people aren’t discriminated against. The book should be judged on how well it explores this problem, and I would say it does that superbly. It’s quite possible that people simply don’t mind bad accents and Asheville’s location because this book has a vision, even a mission, to educate people about the insidiousness and stupidity of prejudice. If white people see that they too can be victims, maybe they’ll wake up more to what’s going on far worse for people of color. But if you rush into the conclusion that Kya killed Chace (and the author might be extremely upset that people are doing that) then you won’t see that visionary message at all, but quite the opposite: that knee-jerk prejudice is justified.

“. . . she did not murder him . . .”

To arrive at that conclusion, one has to ignore tons of evidence that’s actually in the book, e.g., the confession poem, the insect-mating metaphor, the fact that she hid the necklace for all those years. (Your “maybes” are pure fantasy.)

“. . . this is a book about how prejudice works . . .”

And to arrive at that conclusion, one has to make up tons of evidence that’s not in the book.

One evaluates a novel based on what the writer included in the story — not on what a reader wishes for. The story is a paean to the (hideous) concept of the “noble savage.”

Ditto to so many of the comments here. I just thought it was me in many cases, since I am not much of a recent fiction reader and am a biology teacher who also lived in eastern North Carolina for 20+ years. I will not be repetitive here about the travel to Asheville, Raleigh paper name, and over the top selection of the praying mantis eating her mate vignette, but do want to add that I never met anyone from eastern NC who called a knit cap a ski cap – always, always, always they say toboggan.

The author lost all credibility for me when Kya’s mother’s old, well-worn volume of poetry contains poems by Galway Kinnell and James Wright— Having once lived in Greenville, I was also flummoxed by everyone traveling to Ashville. Authors shouldn’t make mistakes like this, and good editors shouldn’t let them.

Thank you thank you for the Galway Kinnell point. His first book of verse was published in 1960 – not possible for her mother to have a Kinnell poem at that time. I, too, hated the book for all the reasons stated above: horrible dialect, far too many “ I’m so sure that couldn’t happen” moments, cheap sex scenes, teaser “hint hints” and overall bad writing. Who was her editor???

Thank you for writing this review. I hated the book too, and the comments have helped me process a lot of the thoughts I had, particularly the horrible noble savage and magical negro tropes.

As a psychologist and traumatised person, I felt that, at times, the treatment of psychological trauma was somewhat realistic (e.g. aspects of the father’s PTSD), but I found it simplistic and cliched overall. Part of that was the idea that romantic love is a psychic panacea. At the end of the novel, the ‘nice guy’ that she was obviously going to end up with asks her to love him without fear. Dude, you know that this woman is severely traumatised. Way to minimise her lifetime of abandonment and neglect.

I won’t rehash what others said about her magical ability to learn following her early life, but it was so unrealistic that I could not suspend my disbelief. Ditto her unearthly beauty and allure. Blech.

Like with Tate’s father, the death of Kya’s mother was handled horribly. And the way Kya talked about forgiveness of her mother etc- so heavy-handed. A real example of why you should show, not tell.

This is the first book I’ve read for my work book club and I’m a little apprehensive to find out what my new colleagues thought. I already know that my boss loved it.

I’m glad the post helped! Know you’re not alone in the universe & you can always point the club back here for proof if it seems you’re the lone voice in discussion. (But I bet you’re not.)

Can we just talk about the lack of emotion in every conversation? Aside from the hideous dialects, unbelievable childhood, textbook coming of age and the effing seagulls which are easily the most irritating birds on the planet, could the author have maybe just eeked out some emotion? Your long lost brother shows up at the door and you don’t throw him to the ground and beat the krap out of him for leaving you? You find mysterious feathers from a stalker, I mean adorable intelligent boy, and you just take them inside? You’ve grown up on your own in a marsh but yet you just open your somehow mature heart to this stranger? Holy cream puff Batman give me some real life grit. Nobody said writing a novel is easy! But as the author you have to remember that we as the reader are not in your head, seeing it the way you do. This book made me so angry because what could have been a beautiful, funny, poignant account of an abandoned girl was stripped bare and left to those stupid, noisy seagulls.

As a social worker, one of the things that really irritates me is when the developmental characteristics of children are ignored. A child of six with so much trauma in her life would be very lucky to survive, but I can’t imagine how she could survive without the love of another human being until she was fifteen. So much had happened to her that she would have needed a lot of intervention to thrive and become the person she did. She may have been extremely intelligent but that doesn’t take the place of socialization.

I know it was set in an earlier time but social workers don’t go after children and make them come to school. It’s the parent’s responsibility to get a child to school and Kya’s father could have easily been found by the social worker or truant officer. I would be surprised that her shame at being barefoot would overcome her feelings of hunger for real food after eating nothing but turnip greens and grits. Certainly child protective services would have been called to see about her not having any food, and being left alone for days at a time. That constitutes child neglect and causes major harm to a child. That kind of harm would usually cause a failure to thrive and psychological damage. What sense does it make that Kya’s mother (who supposedly loved her children) writes to a violent alcoholic and asks him to send her child back to her? It’s preposterous. It seems like once she healed she would have come back with others to protect her and took her child.

And really after Tate teaches Kya basic math, gives her a few books, she checks out an Organic Chemistry book? I know honor students who needed tutors for that course. Kya goes to another town and checks out an interlibrary loan textbook with no identification?

For her to have taken the time to travel to a new city on a bus, something she’s never done, stay in a hotel by self, stayed up all night and convinced Tate to get to the tower at a particular time at night would have been quite difficult for someone as skittish as Kya. She hides when she see’s people in he r own marsh but she’s okay traveling on a bus. And figuring out a disguise? Lying when she has very little experience in even talking with people? She must have had significant rage in planning Chase’s murder to do all this. And I don’t believe she was psychologically sophisticated enough to hide her feelings. Plus, there are all the other concerns people have already cited. There are so many other books that are worth our time!

Oh for heavens sake! You sound like the townspeople during Kya’s trial!!!! Wonderful nature descriptions. Fantastic survival of a strong girl character.

everyone, please relax and enjoy this sweet and unique novel.

I completed the novel just now, and then I scooted around the web to find reviews. This was because Crawdads left me feeling very unsatisfied and even manipulated. I know from experience that when young children are neglected, abused, and abandoned that the consequences are always disastrous. The way the writer depicted Kya’s development was pure fantasy. I wish that children of trauma could develop as well as Kya did. Unrealistic!

Straight to the point, I read the first two pages, front and back and stopped immediately. Fin. Several of my friends whom are avid readers of many genres and value and appreciate the written word in reading as well as their own writing, strongly and I mean strongly suggested this book as, “it will be on your top ten list and illicit and evoke emotions that will run deep” kind of read.

I bought it with a very open mind of excitement and within the first page of reading the author’s attempt for us to discern swamp and marsh repeatedly…and was trying in my opinion too is hard to appear…poetically insightful, where we’d be “wowed” by her ebb and flow of taking much too long to get to the point without redundancy, allowed me to get a glimpse of her writing style.

I thought, “oh no”, but kept reading the next page and saw a pattern. There was no hook, just a lot of unnecessary descriptions that didn’t pull me in as I wanted to drawn to her fictional characters.

I fanned through the book and randomly landed on a page, much like spinning a globe and stopping it on some random country to see where you are going to live next type of game as a kid….anyhow, the fanned page I landed on wasn’t Bora Bora, it read exactly with the same stylistic approach as the beginning, meaning I could have started the book 3/4 toward the end and would have been able to dipict all I needed to know.

I returned the uncreased fiction and bought how the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018 for my son.

À polite ending to my opinion, kudos to her for writing a book, the time, her passion for it and happy for those who did enjoy it.

I know better than to fall for the fawning over an NYT BS. But… my best friend just gushed over it. Now how to tell her I found it remedial? Parts anyway, like the story, the plot. The whole thing seemed forced, contrived. As if it were only there to interact with the setting. Which was the part that kept me reading. Owens is a nature writer and at that she excels! She’s not a people person (having been reclusive in her research settings for years) and that shows. I’m not done and will have to finish it, but all in all, not surprisingly disappointed. I couldn’t even just use it for escapism, the story kep jarring me back to mental criticism. I hate that I’m a book snob. I wonder what Jane Smiley is working on? Or Marilyn Robinson? Anthony Doerr maybe?

I have to agree with these criticisms – farfetched Wuthering Heights without the grits

I find the above comments perplexing. That all of you find some deep need to trash the praises of other readers is disturbing. Some of you appear to be bent on vendetta over some offense. It’s as if you have been personally attacked by readers who find the book praiseworthy, intriguing, insightful. On reading praise for Where The Crawdads Sing I found no attacks on those who did not it might not enjoy the book. While there were times I grew impatient with the book I never felt insulted by those who did not. There are many things that explain away some of the criticisms. Kya us no ordinary child and cannot be seen as such. She lives in a natural world and everything that firms her us outside society. The mastery of Owens is in her ability to draw for us a wild child who is a genius, Tate notes this early as she almost instantly grasps the power of language, reads and rereads advanced textbooks learning more each time as what the books either collide with or fail to realize about their topics. She has no one to help her translate emotion so she looks at her feelings through the lens of scientific, in the field, observation. Key to the death of Chase are her observations of lightening bugs. She didn’t murder him. She only observed and then did what was natural. She is a genius apart from culture and a precious example of what we all might be should we grow from childhood to adult apart from society. I think the s as vice criticism are seated in a misunderstanding about what Owens is writing about and the book can’t be judged juxtaposed against similar stories of growing up in society. Mixed in heavily is of course all the makings of myth and fantasy, story and tale. Kya is not real on some level and cannot be judged so. She’s a wraith who hides and appears, runs and emerges. She comes out of the marsh as she longs to be human, but she’s not. Kya is not of us and that’s what makes her intriguing.

Also no prosecutor would have laid charges against her with the scant evidence he had. This made the courtroom section not credible to me.

Once again I’m so disappointed by a “best seller”. I have to finish a book once I’ve started reading it, but this story became more and more difficult to read as it progressed. Her mother’s story after leaving her children was ridiculous. She wrote a letter and made beautiful oil paintings but couldn’t find a way to rescue her children? She had family to help her, but couldn’t speak? Again, ridiculous.

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The Literary Edit

Where the Crawdads Sing Review (Author Delia Owens)

Before starting this Where the Crawdads Sing review and in all my years of book blogging, I’ve learnt that, on the whole, books are divisive. Much like many things in life – such as, for example, whether north or south of the Thames is the better part of London, or which city – Melbourne or Sydney – is the more liveable one (I’m a south London and Sydney-sider for anyone who’s remotely interested) opinions are, more often than not, split. There will be those that adore a book, those that don’t, and those that fall somewhere in between. This was until I read – and posted about my reading – Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, on both my Facebook and Instagram account, to entirely unanimous praise of Owens debut.

And no sooner had I started to read Where the Crawdads Sing than I began to see why it was so consistently adored by all who had already read it.

Where the Crawdads Sing Review

A story of resilience, survival and hope, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens tells the story of Kya – known locally in the North Carolina town in which she resides as the Marsh Girl – who is abandoned at a young age by her parents, siblings and finally the school system; and left to fend for herself.

As Kya grows and learns more about life through her interactions with the creatures of the Marsh, two young men enter her life. One is her brother’s older friend, Tate, who teaches her to read and shows her acceptance and happiness. But when he, too, leaves the Marsh behind for a learned life at university, she learned not to trust nor depend on anyone but herself, and resigns herself to a life spent along on the marsh, until Chase Andrews comes along.

And so when Chase is later found dead, rumours are rife as to Kya’s possible involvement in his murder. Over the years there’s been much hearsay as to the nature of Kya and Chase’s relationship, and with no other suspects so-to-speak, the finger is swiftly pointed at Kya.

Rich with poetic prose, lyrical depictions of the marshlands and atmosphere, Where the Crawdads Sing is a beautiful and compelling read steeped in nature. A fusion of murder, mystery, coming-of-age and love-story, Where the Crawdads Sing is a poignant and powerful tale that will stay with its readers long after its gripping finale and I couldn’t wait to review Where the Crawdads Sing.

Where the Crawdads Sing Summary

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.

Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell,  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.

About Delia Owens

Delia Owens is the co-author of three internationally bestselling nonfiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist in Africa— Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant , and  Secrets of the Savanna . She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in  Nature, The African Journal of Ecology , and  International Wildlife , among many others. She currently lives in Idaho, where she continues her support for the people and wildlife of Zambia. Where the Crawdads Sing is her first novel. Check out her website for a detailed biography .

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5 comments on “Where the Crawdads Sing Review (Author Delia Owens)”

I somehow missed this book. Adding this to my summer reading list. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lucy!

Thanks for stopping by Crystal! I hope you love it as much as I did xo

I finished reading this book only few days ago, and I can say it’s one of the most “unputdownable” books I’ve ever read! And when I think that I hadn’t heard about it before I received it as a gift from a dear friend 🙂

Hi Georgiana, I’m so glad you enjoyed it too – it really is a wonderful book! xo

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Review: Where the Crawdads Sing

Well, it finally happened: After months of waiting on the library list for Where the Crawdads Sing  by Delia Owens, my number came up. Yep, this best-selling hyped up literary fiction read was finally in my hands. Huzzah! Here’s what I thought about it.

The Plot Summary

For those who don’t know what this one’s about, I’ll give you a brief overview (without giving anything away). The basic premise is that a young girl (Kya) living in the marshlands of the North Carolina coast is left by her family to fend for herself. Her youngest years were spent with an abusive father, which is what causes her family members (starting with her mother) to leave. Eventually, it’s just her and her father left. He spends a little time trying to better himself and be a father to her, but slides back to the drink and then leaves too. Kya grows up fending for herself in her shack, uneducated and mostly alone.

More about the book :

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.

My Thoughts

This book starts off super slow. To be honest, for about the first third-to-half of the book, I didn’t understand what people were talking about when they went on about how good it was. Sure, there are some beautiful passages about nature and life among it, but the plot is pretty slow. It’s a long book, too, so you look at how far you are and think “hm, is this going to pick up at some point?”.

Of course, I do enjoy character-driven novels (such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ), but for some reason that first bit of this book was soo slow. I think maybe it was the anticipation of the whatever it was that was going to happen to make the book best-seller worthy!

Anyway, when the plot finally did pick up, I didn’t want to put the book down. The whodunnit part of the plot starts to get pretty intense, leading to a whole bunch of happenings that kept me super engaged. Combine all of that with the truly gorgeous passages about nature, human nature, growing up, and loneliness, and this book really sucked me in.

Here’s one particular passage I highlighted:

Kya stood and walked into the night, into the creamy light of a three-quarter moon. The marsh’s soft air fell silklike around her shoulders. The moonlight chose an unexpected path through the pines, laying shadows about in rhymes. She strolled like a sleepwalker as the moon pulled herself naked from the waters and climbed limb by limb through the oaks. The slick mud of the lagoon shore glowed in the intense light, and hundreds of fireflies dotted the woods. Wearing a secondhand white dress with a flowing skirt and waving her arms slowly about, Kya waltzed to the music of katydids and leopard frogs.

Does Where the Crawdads Sing live up to the hype?

For me, yes, it did. Although it was dragging for me at first, the way the plot picks up and climaxes and the way the book ends pulled me in so hard, I fell in love with it. Looking back at the book as a whole, I think it’s okay that it starts off so slow. There’s so much character development there, so much backstory, so many necessary words.

If you’re a literary fiction lover, I think you’ll eat this one up. If you’re reading it for the whodunnit, you might be disappointed. For me, 5 stars, would recommend!

Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell,  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.

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Where the Crawdads Sing

Reviewed by: Shawna Ellis CONTRIBUTOR

Life and adventures of a young girl named Kya as she grows up isolated in the marsh of North Carolina between 1952 and 1969

Domestic violence

Abandoned by her mother

Alcoholic , gambling father

Learning self-reliance

Coming of age of a wild and independent illiterate girl

Facing prejudice from children and adults

Called “nasty” and “filthy” by a pastor’s wife

Temporary romantic relationship with a high school boy

Being used by another boy for sex after promising marriage

What is sexual immorality ?

Sexual lust outside of marriage —Why does God strongly warn us about it?

Is there a way to overcome excessive lust for sex?

Purity —Should I save sex for marriage?

Sexual assault

Rape victims’ stories

Shame and rape

Tricks and dating rituals of local boys

Investigation into the apparent murder of a local celebrity of Barkley Cove, a fictional coastal town of North Carolina

Accused of being a murderer

About murder

About death

“W here the Crawdads Sing” is a much-anticipated film for fans of the popular novel by the same name. With backing by actress Reese Witherspoon the book became a huge success, selling over 15 million copies to date and likely to sell more with the release of the film. Witherspoon was so drawn to Delia Owens’ book that she produced the film and has been promoting it heavily. Thus far it is gaining favorable reviews from fans of Owens’ novel who are praising its faithfulness to the source, but movie critics are not terribly impressed with its awkward script and clunky timeline .

The story follows the life of intelligent and resourceful Kya Clark ( Daisy Edgar-Jones ) as she grows up alone on the coast of North Carolina. The movie jumps between portrayals of Kya at various ages, but I feel that we never get to spend enough time with any one of these so that we can really learn who she is. Kya as a young girl is played wonderfully by Jojo Regina , giving one of the better performances in the film. We briefly see her troubled upbringing under an alcoholic abusive father, her abandonment, and the struggle to survive in a world that doesn’t approve of bare-footed “swamp trash.”

Then we see teenage Kya onscreen for some time before suddenly jumping years ahead to young adulthood, with both ages portrayed by a wide-eyed and earnest Daisy Edgar-Jones . These scenes are presented through a series of flashbacks narrated by young adult Kya to a defense attorney, detailing her life as the mysterious and maligned “Marsh Girl.” Many viewers will be drawn to the loneliness and heartache of this young woman as she faces difficulties and prejudice. Most of the townspeople regard her with contempt and are quick to assume the worst when an arrogant local hotshot is found dead in the swamps.

This is a film in which the coastal setting plays a pivotal role, almost as if the marsh itself is a character. While the location is certainly beautiful, in many scenes it seems almost too perfect and manicured. Forest clearings supposedly deep in the swamp have closely trimmed grass, poorly rendered CGI birds and swirling leaves create an almost silly contrived romantic setting, and everything seen beyond the initial time with little girl Kya seems far too clean and neat considering the circumstances.

The film presents itself as the tale of a mysterious loner who lives in isolation, but we see Kya walking down the street, sitting near a teenage beach party, boating past fishermen, and visiting a general store with regularity (almost daily to sell mussels). I could see that judgmental townspeople might have disdain for a poor illiterate unkempt child, but young adult Kya presents herself quite normally and frequently for such a supposed figure of legend.

“Carolina,” a new song which Taylor Swift wrote for this film (used in the credits) is hauntingly beautiful. It conjures up images of a lonely misunderstood figure of mystery, but in the movie we see much less of Kya alone than we do of her interacting with others. I wish that the tone of the film had been more akin to the song and novel.

As it is, much of the mystery and melancholy of the book is lost in its transition to the big screen . A somewhat awkward attempt is made to hit certain notes and insert particular lines from the novel even at the expense of flow and pacing. Character motivation which can be made clear in a 368 page book just can’t always be explored in a 2 hour film, leaving the movie a bit abrupt and choppy. In an attempt to be faithful to the source (and it is), the film suffers from trying to fit too much content into too little time. Characters seem rather flat as a result.

I found it hard to fully immerse myself in the story as we are made to abruptly shift timelines. This non-linear contrivance worked well in the novel, but poorly translates to film, and the result is jarring. The lack of time spent on developing certain characters or exploring their thoughts also makes certain actions seem almost inexplicable.

Actor Taylor John Smith tries his best as the almost too-good-to-be-true Tate Walker, and Harris Dickinson gives a similarly restrained performance as local football hero heart-throb Chase Andrews. These two men are so diametrically opposed that they seem almost like caricatures.

Much of the film focuses on not judging a book by its cover, but then offers up one-note stereotypes as characters… the perfect friend, the bad boy, the kindly shopkeepers, the sympathetic lawyer, the abused mom, the drunk dad, the suspicious cops, etc. Many of the actors in these roles are gifted performers and are clearly trying to bring life to their characters, but they have little with which to work in dialog and script. The results feel similar to a made-for-television movie, when it could have been so much more.

There is some strong acting from a few of the cast even in their limited roles. The lawyer Tom Milton ( David Strathairn ) seems to genuinely care about Kya and the gravity of her plight. Similarly, the African American shop-owners Mabel (Charlene Michael Hyatt ) and Jumpin’ ( Sterling Macer Jr. ) are given just enough screen time that we begin to get a sense of their characters.

Those who know the novel will be aware that physical abuse and Kya’s blossoming sexuality are major themes of this story , but casual moviegoers may be surprised at the amount of violence and sexual content present.

More so even than these issues, I found the worldview of “belonging to nature” to be problematic for Christian viewers. Since Kya has been failed by most humans, she turns to the marsh. In studying the plants and creatures of her environment, she finds a sense of kinship and belonging. In an opening monologue, Kya explains that the swamp does not equate death with sin , and it is easy to see that this worldview extends to other issues of morality (comparing human marriage to the pairing of wild birds and murder to the mating habits of certain insects).

What is DEATH? and WHY does it exist? Answer in the Bible

About the fall of mankind to worldwide depravity

What is SIN AND WICKEDNESS? Answer

Learn about spiritual light versus darkness

Credit is never given to a Creator of the natural world that Kya loves, but rather to an unthinking evolutionary process . In speaking about death , she references becoming “part of the marsh.” This view of nature lends itself to justifying anything (no matter how morally wrong) because “it’s natural” or “it is part of survival.” That thinking has led many people astray, and I worry that such a worldview could have a negative impact on impressionable viewers.

In reviewing films, we are instructed not just to take note of obviously inappropriate content such as foul language or nudity, but to look for the message that a film is promoting. Feeling kinship with nature does not excuse us from morality, and it is a false worldview to believe that we become a part of some semi-sentient natural world at death. We are created by God to be different from the rest of the natural world… we are made in His image and created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), not as just another animal living by instincts and therefore free from moral constraint or consequence.

Many might feel that Kya is morally justified in her actions because she is simply acting as nature does, but most viewers would consider behavior by other characters in the movie that are also found in nature to be morally wrong (such as sexual aggression and infidelity). This is a very inconsistent worldview and in my opinion the most problematic aspect of the film.

The movie is effective and accurate, however, in showing how loneliness and abandonment by those who were meant to care for us can deeply affect a child and have repercussions throughout a lifetime. It also shows the pain and isolation which come from being considered an outcast. Those who are not shown their true worth in Christ will seek it elsewhere, often leading to bad decisions and dire consequences.

The only Christian influence found in the movie comes from Jumpin’ and Mabel, who show compassion for Kya as a child. Jumpin’ initially feels they should be cautious about interfering, but Mabel points out that Jesus did not ask us to “be careful” but instead to help the least of these (referencing Matthew 25:40).

Content of Concern

Language: A few uses each of “d*mn” and “h*ll.” God’s name is used in vain at least three times. One use of “sh*t,” two of “son of a b*tch,” one of “b*stard,” one of “a**.” Sexual terms such as “do it” and “whoring” are used. A black man is called “boy” by a younger white man. A girl is referred to as “trash.”

VIOLENCE: Several instances of domestic abuse are shown, including a small child being hit and thrown roughly. Children listen to the sounds of an offscreen beating. Bruises and injuries are shown. Someone is chased and captured. A dead body is seen. A character attempts to sexually assault another. A man and woman attack with kicks and punches. Two men have an aggressive exchange of blows.

DRUGS/ALCOHOL: A scene takes place in a bar. A character drinks and is portrayed as an alcoholic. A child is sent to purchase liquor. Beer is seen at a beach party. One character drinks beer on a few occasions.

SEX/NUDITY: There are several scenes of unmarried couples embracing and kissing passionately, sometimes stopping there but on two occasions leading to sex with some movement and sound but no nudity. Men are seen shirtless and a woman disrobes and is nude, but nothing is shown below the shoulders. A hand caresses a bare hip or thigh in close up. Friends discuss how the “Marsh Girl” is in bed, with one answering that she is “wild like an animal.” After a hasty and painful first sexual encounter, a man tells a woman that sex will get better the more she does it. There is a lengthy and intense scene of attempted rape .

I was not very impressed with “Where the Crawdads Sing,” but there may be some who will find this a satisfactory telling of a popular story. Please be cautioned that if it is to be watched at all, it is best suited for mature and discerning viewers due to a false worldview and problematic content.

• Profane language: Heavy
• Sex: Moderately Heavy
• Violence: Moderate
• Vulgar/Crude language: Moderate
• Nudity: Moderate
• Drugs/Alcohol: Moderate
• Occult: Minor
• Wokeism: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

Learn about spiritual darkness versus light

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

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Everyone’s Talking about ‘Where the Crawdads Sing,’ but Is It Worth the Hype?

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If there’s one thing I am without a doubt, it’s a reader. I’ve been an avid reader since I knew that letters formed words (which makes it logical I ended up being a writer), and I truly don’t enjoy anything in this life as much as I enjoy a good book . So why did it take me over three years to finally read the pop culture phenomenon that is Where The Crawdads Sing ? I wish I knew.

My taste in books is, in a word, dark. I love stories revolving around murder and cults and doused in mystery, so when I heard all the hype surrounding Where the Crawdads Sing and saw its dreamy cover, I assumed it wasn’t going to be for me. It took the trailer coming out and seeing that—surprise—there is in fact a murder in it to finally sway me to reading it earlier this summer. (What can I say—I am who I am). 

After devouring the book in under 48 hours, it truly took me aback. Sure, reading it on a lake up in Michigan and pretending that I myself was the Marsh Girl the entire time probably had a smidgen to do with it, but in all seriousness, I believe with my whole heart that this book is going to end up being considered a classic, and generations are going to read it in English classes for years to come. The one perk to me waiting so long to read it? I only had to wait a mere two months until the July 15th film was released. 

It’s not often that a book (and its movie adaptation, no less) live up to the hype—and to say  Where the Crawdads Sing has a lot of hype around it is an understatement. Read on for a spoiler-free (and completely honest) review of both the book and the newly released movie.

For years, rumors 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.

The storyline has a little bit of everything: love, suspense, action, intrigue. The setting of the marsh ends up serving as a character of its own, sucking you in, embracing you, and making you feel immersed in it through the entirety of the book. I’ve never read anything where the setting served as such a profound and important aspect of the narrative as a whole.

I have no problem admitting that I have one of the most annoying qualities a person can have: always saying that the book was better than the movie. But the reality is, that’s the truth 99% of the time. It’s hard to capture all of the depth and beauty of a novel on-screen in a way that doesn’t disappoint someone who spent time reading the book and imagining the plot on their own.

To no one’s surprise, the Where the Crawdads Sing  book is much better than the movie; however, the movie had qualities that made it something worth watching whether you’re familiar with the book or not. The casting of every single character felt completely on-point, and while the marsh scenes felt more Instagram-worthy than wild and uninhibited, watching the story come to life on screen with Daisy Edgar-Jones playing Kya was enjoyable from start to finish.

The main problem with the movie is that without the beautiful prose about nature and isolation that the book is built on, it feels far more like a Nicholas Sparks movie than the deep, layered story readers of the book fell in love with. It often felt that all of the focus was on Kya’s relationships with the two men that she was involved with throughout the years, and while that was obviously a huge part of the novel as well, the difference is that in the novel, it was told in-between the tale of Kya’s relationship with the marsh. If I wasn’t familiar with the book, I probably would have left assuming that it was just a romantic drama.

The consensus

If I were to recommend one of the two, I’d recommend the book by a million miles—but that doesn’t mean I didn’t also truly enjoy the movie. If you too are going into the movie having read the book, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in it. If you want to get a small glimpse into the story that readers fell in love with, the movie will give you that; but if you want to experience what made the book so widely loved, well, you just have to read it.

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We Take a Bite Out of Books

~ Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing  ~

Author: Delia Owen

For years, rumors 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 behavior 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.

Where the Crawdads Sing was an extremely hyped novel since its release in 2018. It has been adapted into a movie and tons of book clubs seemed to have read it. My book club finally decided to take the plunge and try to see if it lived up to the hype. The story follows “Marsh Girl” Kya Clark who lives in the fishing village of Barkley Cove, North Carolina. While I am not from North Carolina, there were some logistics that did not seem to make sense. When a character drives from Piedmont to Ashville it seemed to take no time when they are far apart. Some landscapes/locations described are more mountainous compared to the landscape depicted in this story. Since I am not from that state, I am only going on my own experiences, so other readers who are more familiar with it would be able to comment better.

As for the plot, Kya is depicted from childhood to adulthood as she comes of age while living in nature. Kya was a character with a tragic background as her mother abandoned her and her father was an abusive alcoholic. She was written a little over the top for my taste where she came across as a mix between the manic pixie dream girl and the “not like other girls” trope. She was still enjoyable, but I would prefer some of these elements from the tropes to be toned down a fraction. That being said, I did enjoy Kya’s journey and how she interacted with characters. She goes through a nice coming of age journey and experiences a mystery, so I can see why her story would be well-received by critics. Overall, I think the novel did not quite live up to the perfection of the hype, but it was well-worth the read.

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One thought on “ ~ book review: where the crawdads sing  ~ ”.

I enjoyed the audiobook of this one, and really enjoyed the movie. It sticks pretty close to the story. Nice review, Etta.

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