A Review | Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens


Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Book Review

What’s it about?

Set in 60’s and 70’s North America, Where the Crawdads Sing is tale about an abandoned girl Kya Clark who resides in the marshes of North Carolina. She is left to survive and learn about how to not only feed and maintain herself but to navigate her life and the brushes with the townspeople who know her only as the ‘Marsh Girl.’

After abandoning a failed attempt at starting school and shying away from the townspeople who openly mock and shun her, Kya’s only friends are the gulls and storks that she shares the marsh with. But as she inevitably becomes a woman, two local boys take notice and when one of them dies, Kya becomes tangled up in the murder trial.

 

The Verdict

We really do think it’s worth the hype.

Ever ignored a book because it seemed like the whole world was raving about it? Well we purposefully decided not to add this to our bookclub and thought we would wait for the hype to die down. Well it never really did, and with news of a film making its way to our screens soon, we just knew the time had come to find out what it was all about.

We finished the book within a week! Not only do the beautiful descriptions of the marsh and its inhabitants completely transport you, the way Kya sees the world and the people around her captures your imagination.

There could be some themes that Owens could have explored more, like the relationship between the townspeople, the inhabitants of the Marsh and the African Americans that have their own town. But by not focusing too much on this you really are able to see the world through young Kya’s eyes, what she finds acceptable and how the ties of society have not bound her to prejudices and the idea of social stigma.

Both crime thriller and coming of age tale with an intertwined timeline, there is so much to keep you hooked and turning the page. You are left guessing till the very end and it is well worth the wait.

 Daisy Edgar Jones

Watch out for the film, produced by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine and starring Daisy Edgar Jones from Sally Rooney’s Normal People

 

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