Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

 

Book: Where the Crawdads Sing 

Author: Delia Owens 

Pages: 384 

Read on: Kindle 

Read in: ~4.5 hours 

Plot 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. 

General Thoughts: I've had this book lying around on my Kindle since early 2020 when it first started getting a lot of buzz. It was the early days of the pandemic and Where the Crawdads Sing was one of the first books I bought to read during the nation-wide 21-day lockdown. However, for reasons that I no longer recall, I never did pick it up in all of 2020 or 2021. I knew I'd get to it someday and, boy, am I glad I finally did! I wanted to read it before the movie came out and I am so glad I did because this is a book that deserves to be read. 

Things I Liked: 

1. Where the Crawdads Sing is a very immersive book. The author takes us deep into the natural world of the marsh lands of North Carolina, where Kya raises herself since the age of six. Relying on some basic cooking skills learnt from observing her mother and some survival skills taught to her by her older brother-Jodie- Kya depends on the natural world around her to sustain her body and soul. She learns to fish, digs out mussels and oysters and sells them in town to eke out a living. She befriends birds and observes the rich plant and animal life thriving around her to make sense of the world. All the writing about the marsh and Kya's exploration of it is so vivid and wonderful that you feel like you are right there sitting under an oak tree watching gulls, herons and egrets flying by. 

2. At its very heart, this is a book about isolation. About a six-year-old girl living all alone for most of her life, raising herself, not really forming any meaningful social bonds and still, somehow, thriving. Kya has a few friends- Tate- her brother, Jodie's, friend- teaches her how to read and write and to fall in love for the very first time. He also breaks her heart. Jumpin'- the man who runs the gas station by the marina- and his wife Mabel help Kya with hand-me-down clothes and with life advice when she needs it. Kya is self-sufficient but she yearns for companionship and, at one point, for an ordinary life with a family of her own. However, she doesn't really know how to be a part of a family and no one in her small town has ever cared to befriend her or include her in any form of social interaction. Her isolated life would seem pitiful but it isn't- something that I really loved about this book and Kya's character. 

3. This is also a book about othering. The people of Barkley Cove look down upon the families and individuals living in the marsh lands. They are dismissed as drunks and addicts. So, even when a six-year-old child is all but abandoned by her family and left to the mercies of a drunk, violent, mercurial father, no one really bothers to look out for her. Jumpin' and Mabel do, but being African American in a still-segregated South, there is not that much they could do for her. Kya is dismissed as 'The Marsh Girl', who no one befriends and everyone ignores even when she came into town to buy supplies all through her life. So, when she is arrested for the murder of Chase Andrews, it doesn't take much for the whole town to turn against her. No one cares that this is just a lonely young woman, who is not an addict or a drunk but has, actually, published two books on the birds and shells of the marsh. 

4. The writing is beautiful and there are also some beautiful poems that I found myself pausing, re-reading and highlighting in this book. 

5. Kya's journey is so inspiring and amazing! From someone who didn't know how to read at age 11, she crafts an impressive life for herself driven by her love of the natural world around her. I don't want to talk too much about what becomes of her because I don't want to spoil the book or the movie for you! :) She is an amazing character- so self-contained, sensitive, strong and yet fairly innocent to the ways of our world. Her resilience, resourcefulness and grit to survive when her family leaves one by one is just so amazing! 

Rating: 4.5/5