Where the Crawdads Sing
Ratings944
Average rating4.1
for me, one thing that made itself noticed is how whole and encompassing this book feels. it is not only a description of a topographical place or of a certain period, not only a story about a girl on one side and the entire world on the other. it is all of these and more.
it touches on every aspect of life. rich in themes and emotions conveyed.
what is also remarkable is that the author knows her space. no surprise Delia Owens is a wildlife scientist; she is more than capable to describe and tell stories about the marsh and the interconnections of the ecosystem.
the subplot of the Walker family is well built and i enjoyed it, probably, the most.
in the end, it is a well-written book and a good story.
I listened to the audiobook while I read the novel. I'm excited to watch the movie now. I can see why so many people gave it five stars but it's not even close to being one of my favourite reads which is what a 5/5 rating means for me.
3.5 Stars
the way i kept going back and forth from “yeah this book is good” to “this is the most boring thing i have ever read” lmao
i read this for three reasons:
1 - this book is set in north carolina. i, too, am set in north carolina. so i bet u can guess how everyone and their mother was badgering me to read this.
2 - i was going to see the movie for my birthday (but ended up seeing thor love and thunder instead).
3 - taylor swift.
and i don't really regret it? just wish it wasn't so predictable (like c'mon, i knew kya killed chase from the very beginning) and wish it wasn't so boring before the arrest/courtroom parts.
Way too southern in its use of dialect to begin with, but I powered through and in the end, I am glad I read the book.
4.5 ⭐
The writing was beautiful. I definitely don't understand why Kya and Chase were even a thing, but alas that wasn't the only thing that confused me or the most troublesome for lack of better words.
Idk what the point was about the reveal at the end about AH being Kya. That felt like such a small seemingly insignificant detail it caught me off guard. I had to look back because I totally thought that the poet was someone her mom liked originally and that was why she was relevant
This was SUCH a beautiful, sad, and powerful story!!!!!!! I'm sure I can't say anything that hasn't already been said, but I'm so very glad that this is such a popular book, because I really do think it has an important message!!!!!!! Also, I will admit, it exceeded my expectations!!!!!!!!
I enjoyed the first half of the book; reading it felt like reading something from a fantasy world of my own, alone in the wild, away from humanity, only with the added starkness of reality that surrounds it. Kya's reality is heartbreakingly sad, facing conditions that no child must ever be made to face. The writing with all the descriptions made it very easy to teleport myself into Kya's world. I think I enjoyed it less only because I knew certain things that were to happen, and the controversies around the writer sort of put a damper on my mood. But all the same, it was an interesting read with many themes and lessons to be learnt.
This is my favorite book right now, hands down. It was the first book I read after deciding to read as a regular hobby. I completely fell in love with Kya and her story. A lot of people think it has a slow start, but all the info is needed to really understand and connect with the character. Loved it. 10/10
Não acho que seja extraordinário, mas é um bom livro. Bem escrito, com um bom final.
I was very skeptical of this book at first. Everyone was saying how good it was and by 25% I was feeling not drawn to it. However, I kept reading out of intrigue and I'm so glad I did! What a phenomenal book!
I really liked the descriptions of Kya's world. They were beautiful and tranquil and atmospheric. I thought the murder trial storyline was weak and the dialogue was stilted. Owens is better at descriptions than she is at realistic conversations.
Kya was a complex and interesting character, but some of the most interesting parts of her were revealed by Tate, whereas I wish that it would have been from Kya herself.
The story took a while to get its footing, mostly because the beginning was super sad.
I think the less you know about the story of this book, the more interesting it becomes, which is why I don't want to elaborate much on this review.
The story deals with themes like love, family, loneliness, violence and prejudice.
I found the writing very beautiful and I will certainly read more works by this author.
“His dad had told him many times that the definition of a real man is one who cries without shame, reads poetry with his heart, feels opera in his soul, and does what's necessary to defend a woman.”“I wadn't aware that words could hold so much. I didn't know a sentence could be so full.”“If anyone understood loneliness, the moon would.”
Some elements were a bit farfetched, hence the 4 stars.
This had me for the first half. But I find literary dramas revolving around an “investigation/court cases/court rooms” tough on my enjoyment. It gets too close to real life in how evil and cruelty, hidden motives, nearly always outweighs the truth and results in little and laughable justice. But I'm a government hater through and through. Romance in this felt a tad awkward for me as well.
Favourite quotes:
“Autumn leaves don't fall, they fly. They take their time and wander on this their only chance to soar. Reflecting sunlight, they swirled and sailed and fluttered on the wind drafts.”
“lot of times love doesn't work out. Yet even when it fails, it connects you to others and, in the end, that is all you have, the connections.”
“She laughed for his sake, something she'd never done. Giving away another piece of herself just to have someone else.”
“If anyone would understand loneliness, the moon would.”
“Faces change with life's toll, but eyes remain a window to what was...”
Just a warning to potential audiobook listeners: the narration is atrocious, and the voices Cassandra Campbell gives the characters are so cartoonish and distracting.
Now for the actual book: I honestly didn't mind all the naval gazing (or rather swamp gazing) that goes on, and the way those parts are written, but that is about as much as I can say for what I enjoyed. People throw the label “Mary Sue” around way too much, and often apply it inaccurately to any female character who has any skill at all – but Kya's picture should be pasted into the dictionary next to “Mary Sue”. She magically raises herself in a swamp from the age of 6, doesn't go to school or start learning to read until she's 14 (but then learns to read after a couple of hours of being show the alphabet), somehow has never had a serious injury (she had a huge puncture wound from stepping on a nail, but magically was fine after just sticking her foot in some dirty swamp water) or illness, and seems to also have no real emotional or socialization problems despite barely interacting with people for most of her life. Oh, and of course she's extremely beautiful (but she doesn't know it, of course), she's innocent and pure (not like the other girls) but extremely mature, she has real interests like fish and birds (instead of high heels and clothes like said other girls). And that is all just when she's a child – it somehow gets worse when she's an adult!
Additionally, I found the teenage romance portion to be very...creepy. I just really hate the Born Sexy Yesterday trope, and that basically makes up the entirety of the “romance” origin story we have to go through. This extremely beautiful, wild teenager can't read, doesn't go to school, doesn't have any friends or family or connections outside of Jumpin' and Mabel, is extremely innocent and naive because she has no experience in the real world – and this older boy, basically the only person near her own age she's ever spent any time with, swoops in to teach her how to be a person, while thinking about how stunningly beautiful she is, and telling his dad that Kya is innocent and amazing (unlike other girls who are loose and shallow), and then they get naked (while she is shy and he is leading her, obviously). No thank you.
Overall, the characters were bland, the dialogue was clunky, the plot was mediocre, and no amount of pretty scientific descriptions of marshes were going to make up for the complete lack of realism in every other aspect of this book.
For me, I think the hype around this book had a negative impact on how I experienced it. I had high expectations and they weren't met at all.
The twist was very predictable, so the 12-hour audiobook felt ploddingly slow at times. Sure, I went back and forth on who I thought the murderer was a few times but wasn't at all surprised at the reveal. It also didn't feel realistic to me that such a pariah of the community wouldn't be convicted regardless of whether she was guilty or not.
I love poetry but even for me the frequent injections of poetry from “Amanda Hamilton” became annoying.
That's not to say this isn't a well written book. There's a lot of beautiful, vivid imagery. But this one just didn't do it for me.
