Where the Crawdads Sing
Ratings944
Average rating4.1
The mystery wasn't too mysterious and the geography was weird. I liked parts of the book when Kya was by herself, but most of the other people weren't likable and seemed to be caricatures. So it was fine.
I expected that I would enjoy it as much as a lot of people have enjoyed this book apparently- but not only was I disappointed, I can't even see why people even like this. There's nothing about this book that is memorable or loveable to me. It reads like any other mediocre book out there and I just couldn't relate to the content nor sympathise with the characters (I honestly disliked them a lot, I pretended to like them because I thought that's what I'm supposed to do when reading a book for a book club).
I don't even want to get into why I didn't like this, but I can safely say that I would not recommend this to anyone.
This book was so creative and so addictive. I fell in love with this swamp girl, and I laughed and I cried and I cheered for her through all her life trials. This was a great book, and I would love to recommend it to many others.
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.Now, before I get into it, I saw a few people hating on this book because of Tate and Kya's relationship. Yes, Tate was 19 when Kya was 15. Yes, they almost got intimate with each other. But 1. they didn't and 2. it's part of the story...Rating this book one or two stars because of the “age gap” is honestly reaching. It's part of the plot, it was supposed to happen like that, that doesn't mean the author is glamorizing these types of relationships. Honestly, your guys' performative activism is showing. I understand how weird it is, but you guys like to criticize books because of their social issues and talk about how it shouldn't have been added because it's problematic without realizing it's supposed to be teaching you something or that it's simply for the plot, not because the author believes in those ideologies.Ted Talk = over. [b:Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135 Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582135294l/36809135.SY75.jpg 58589364] is about Kya and her ways of surviving on her own in the marsh. It's a beautiful story with beautiful characters and morals. The writing was simple but still different in its own way. Delia Owens' way of describing the marsh and all of the surrounding nature left me wanting more. Normally, a story with too much information like that would've bored me, but I actually found myself enjoying it. Since I just started getting back into reading in January, I haven't read many books and experienced different characters. But this book made the characters feel real and I actually felt something for them. I experienced what they were feeling in their moments and genuinely felt emotions when things didn't go as planned. SPOILERS UNDER ↓Tate and Kya began their friendship when he taught her how to read. Of course, she didn't trust him at first because she had never really spoken to anyone, but as they grew closer and began bonding over their love and knowledge for the marsh, she began to open her heart up. They spent a lot of time together, mostly him teaching her how to read and gifting her books. But then the both of them began to share special feelings. Tate is unbelievably sweet. He cares a lot about Kya and it shows. But then Tate has to move away to college. Kya is heartbroken. He promises to visit when he has the time. He doesn't. Kya tells herself never to love anyone or trust anyone ever again.And Chase Andrews comes into the picture. To be honest, I don't know why Kya agreed to go on a date with him when she knows he's a jock and a player. But he acts sweet to her and she seems to think that's normal. It isn't. He tries to get with her on their first date. She doesn't want to. Then he asks her for a second chance because he actually likes her and she... believes him. Ok. I'm not going to recite the whole plot because that's boring... Chase and Kya begin a relationship are together for quite a long time. He brings up marriage. She's happy. Then she's sad because all along, Chase was dating someone else and is getting married to that someone else. Kya is heartbroken once again. OMG! And then one day he dies! Oh no... they think she did it. Did she? (Idk because the author didn't make it clear and then she wrote that part but I still don't know if she did it)Blah blah blah court is boring but guess what...A HAPPY ENDING WITH TATE ♡The End.
It tries to do a lot of stuff, none of it very well and decides instead of tying it together, ah who cares?
Weird that it's SO highly reviewed.
Luscious, gorgeous descriptive passages, at times a little long winded, but I feel that it was more transportive than anything else. A lovely listen and endearing characters.
It took me a little while, but I think I figured out my dissatisfaction with something: I wanted the MARSH to have killed Chase. But I guess I learned nothing, the land is neutral and that was repeated a few times
Lol wtf this book was trash. I have a concussion from how hard we were hit over the head with foreshadowing for the “twist” at the end.
I'm always pretty scared when I post a low rating of a very popular book... xD
But, yeah.. This book just wasn't for me. Hardly anything happens and I predicted the ending at the start of the book, ehh.
The so called plot twist was fine.
“A man doesn't set up a palmetto lean-to in a bog unless he's on the run from somebody or at the end of his own road.”
Well friends, I finished this book. This has been on my to-read list almost since it came out, but I always found reasons to put it off. That didn't stop so many people from telling me I should/need to read it, but that just sort of made me dig my heels in more. It had the dreaded “romance” tag on Goodreads, and those are always hit or miss with me, and that was a good enough reason to keep putting this off. Then my book club decided to read it this month and I ran out of good reasons to put it off, so I ripped the Band-Aid off and finished this in a few days.
I won't bother with a full summary, since there's literally thousands of reviews of this book that all cover the same ground. Suffice it to say that the first half of the book is Shy Marsh Girl in a Modern (for the time period) World, and the second half of the book is Shy Marsh Girl in a Mediocre Courtroom Drama.
If the book had been entirely composed of what was essentially the first half of the book, my rating would've been 4 stars at least. While it definitely had a slow start, I was drawn into how comfortable the writing was and how beautiful the marsh seemed. Kya had a rapport with nature that I found compelling to read about. Her brushes with the rest of the world around her usually went poorly, but she always seemed to rise above whatever hand she was dealt and come out the other side stronger and more skilled.
The first half of the book is told from a dual timeline perspective, and it is when these two periods converge (when Kya's story catches up to the secondary story being slowly revealed during her marsh life) that the book loses me. While I'm sure there's books where courtroom drama is compelling, this one didn't feel like one of those. The scenes felt flat, devoid of the charm and beauty of the first part of the book, and really felt so tonally different that it took me right out of the story. I finished the book, but ultimately left it feeling unsatisfied and wishing I had more time with Kya's story at the end, rather than a sudden and abrupt headlong rush and conclusion.
While it's clear there's many (manymanymanymany) people here who enjoyed it cover to cover, my enjoyment ended at the courtroom intrusion. I'm glad I finally struck this one from my to-read list, I'm glad I read it with friends, but I don't think I'll ever revisit it.
What an amazing story! I could not not wait to come into work to read this gem! I loved Kya and her resilience in the face of adversary. I highly recommend this book!!
This story is about little Kya who is left to fend for herself in the marsh of South Carolina in the 50s/60s. She has to figure out how to live alone after her mother walks out and then each sibling and eventually her abusive father. Her saving grace is her fellow marsh lover Tate who befriends Kya and teaches her to read and write. A romance blossoms but ends up with Kya getting involved with a man very much like her father after Tate leaves for college. Her new beau Chase is very manipulative and but is the golden boy of the town so she knows no one will believe or stand by her. Chase is found dead, after falling from the fire tower out in the marsh. The story that unfolds after Chase's death is so gripping and heart stopping. This by far is one of the best stories I have read in quite some time.
very average. It felt like nothing happened the entire book (even though stuff happened) and the whole tone of the book felt so flat and well.. boring.
The plot twist was obvious.
I liked reading it but its not a book ill think about again after today.
There are racial slurs towards black people and a chapter of assault near the end.
Now that I have this out of the way.
This is a novel that starts out promising. Beautiful descriptions of nature, wonderful comparisons of our main protagonist learning about humans through animals and fungus and the swamps, feeling the water around your feet, seeing it sprout in your cabin. The familial dynamics captivated me, the slow start with the “mystery present day” chapters sprinkled in was so engaging.
Then, the second half happened. The second half took the first half and transformed it, somehow, from a promising southern-gothic mystery into a twisted-up love triangle, where both men love interests thought of her as “the girl who isn't like other girls” and it wasn't due to her individuality, but her forsaking traditional femininity roles. ( We even see her trying to emulate those to “be pretty” for them. ) I enjoyed the first romance. I REALLY did. The way they communicated, the way he was willing to meet her in the middle. The reason for it ending? Stupid. Fell flat.
The racial slurs in question happened on one page. The situation was never brought up again. It struck me as being used as a way to further the white protagonist's narrative ( who seemed rather “wild Indian” coded as we went along, and yes, I know that swamp-person-culture is real, and I am not invalidating that with this statement, but after reading the blatant racial slurs, my guard went up. ) The racial tensions of this time period were brushed upon or used to further her narrative. And then, in the second half, which consisted of nothing but the court case and that wasn't emotionally involving at all, I'm expected to feel sympathetic ... for the discrimination against HER, the protagonist.
My empathy vein had turned off by that point. And honestly, it was no fault of the protagonist's, I actually found her to be a very objectively empathetic person despite her upbringing. It was the author's. In my opinion, you should not be writing out slurs that do not belong to you. You definitely shouldn't use it, and the black characters, who I was desperate to know more about ( and honestly, any more townsfolk in general! beyond their tropes, but no! ) were reduced to minstrel-like characterisations.
I couldn't believe the entire second-half of the book, for me, failed to deliver on the promises that were in the first half. This was very nearly a do-not-finish, and whilst the assault scene in question was not explicit, it was explicit enough that I dissociated. I warn any person of colour or survivor of assault to be cautious when reading this book — or to avoid reading it all together.
The beautiful, colourful language — was restricted to nature. That is the greatest disappointment.
Kya, the “marsh girl”, grows up alone in the swamps of North Carolina in the 1950s/60s. Intertwined with her coming-of-age story is the mysterious death of the popular Chase Andrews in 1969. The jumping back between the two storylines really kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to hear more (I listened to this one as an audiobook).
At times Kya was a bit "woe is me", "nobody loves me" even though she had multiple people around her caring for her by that point - Tate, her brother Jodie, Jumpin' and Mable. A little bit frustrating, but I guess understandable considering her circumstances.I liked the twists - Tate being taken away by the sheriffs, and then the final twist right at the end.In terms of the murder itself, I'm not sure that if it turned out that Kya was smart enough to kill someone, not leave fingerprints or any sort of evidence, and wear convincing disguises as she got on and off the bus in the middle of the night, would have just left that hat in her closet?
Originally posted at www.emgoto.com.
Instant new favourite. I loved everything about it. It pulled on all my heartstrings, I rooted for Kya, I wished I was in her world so I could help her out. It made me long for the sea and nature, and reading it on a beach in Barcelona probably only added to the magic of Kya's world.
A wonderful story of Kya's journey from a bubbly 6 year old to the myth of being the marsh girl. If anyone wants to understand why a person would choose solitude over people, Kya's story explains it all. Poignant, yet powerful, Kya will stay with me forever. A brilliant combination of prose and poetry makes this a wonderful, cherished read.
P.S. With this book, I completed my reading challenge for the year. Couldn't have asked for a better book to bid adieu.
(I would not rate this the same now- I read this years ago and did not see it wasn't listed as read until now, but did have my initial rating still intact)
It was very cliched but that's about it. The book is good enough for a casual read. It aint a great story though.
One sentence synopsis... Reclusive and independent girl raising herself in the deep South tries to solve her boyfriend's murder while also becoming the main suspect.
Read it if you liked... Leave No Trace (If you haven't seen Leave No Trace, get off Instagram and go rent it now)
Dream casting... a younger Kristen Stewart or ‘Skins' era Kaya Scodelario as Kya, Evan Peters as Tate (could be influenced by his name being Tate in AHS)