Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens: A Book Review
Genre: Mystery (Noir); Coming-of-age
Delia Owens offers an unique story in her first work of fiction, Where the Crawdads Sing. Focusing on the character, Kya, a child who survives alone in the swamp land of North Carolina after her family abandons her. With shifting time periods, Owens gives the main story of Kya’s life while also flirting back and forth with how Kya got to where she was – all which center around the effects of being a social outcast. By giving the town the murder of one of its stars, Owns forces them to draw blame to the only person they could think do something of the sort – the one that they deem is not wholly human, but instead part human and part marsh.
Overall, the story was interesting, but it could also be improved. Personally, I figured out the shocker at the end – the clues were quite clear. The court case was also quite clear – in fact, I’m surprised the state was good with presenting a case with so much circumstantial evidence. Personally, I would expect more concrete evidence before taking it to court – or at least a partial confession. As it was, the prosecution relied too heavily on their witnesses – especially when it showed how vastly different their stories changed to go along with the questions in order to paint Kya in an unfavorable light.
While the whole book was manageable, though, I could not stand the end. It put too much onto who Kya was supposed to be after the whole shabockle and not enough about how she changed. The last chapter could have had each section stretching into at least more short chapters that continued her life and how it changed – how she changed. I also really wanted her to adopt a cat – or at least see her work on having such a relationship to something before just “marrying” Tate. To get to the point, I really did not like the last chapter. For me there where two options for Owens: 1. Stop completely at the end of Chapter 56. All strings where tied and it left the ending ambiguous. 2. Split up the last chapter in different time intervals (e.g 1975; 1979; 1980; etc) to showcase her growth afterwards more (e.g 1970: case over, Kya goes home decides to get a cat, allows herself to get closer to Tate; 1975: Tate and Kya “marry”; 1979: talk about family and all of that; 1980something: Kya’s death).
Who would most enjoy the work and who should stay clear (if necessary):
I feel like Taylor Swift fans would really enjoy this work. No, not because Swift wrote a song for the movie, but because the writing really reminded me of a Taylor Swift album.
I also feel like fans of Nicholas Sparks would enjoy this too. I did get some heavy The Notebook feels throughout the story. I think the mystery aspect would shake things up in a romance heavy reading pile, but not too much in that it overpowers the feelings romance can generate.
On a simpler note, if you are interested in biology, swamp life, water systems, and different ecosystems, this book may interest you as well.
As for who should stay clear, I would say, Where the Crawdads Sing is a fairly safe text. There are no graphic scenes of sex or violence. There is some swearing, but overall the language is pretty tame. Actually, I would say that this would be a perfect book for a teenage girl around 16, give or take a little. I feel that at this age, the girls would connect at a higher level and perhaps learn from Kya in a positive manner.
Other books like the one reviewed:
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Cry of the Lake by Charlie Tyler
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
| Plot: | 8 / 10 |
| Characters: | 7 / 10 |
| Writing: | 8 / 10 |
| Editor: | 9 / 10 |
| Total | 32 / 40 |
Title: Where the Crawdads Sing
Author: Delia Owens
Edition: Trade Paperback
Published: 2020
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
ISBN: 9780735219106
If you want to get it: Amazon; Barnes&Noble
Rosey Reviews 