Where the Crawdads Sing (by Delia Owens)
This book has been collecting dust on my bookshelf for ages. I bought my copy of Where the Crawdads Sing when I went to an author event with Delia Owens at my local independent bookstore, Joseph-Beth, back in 2019. You can read my blog post about the event here. Sometimes, I think I put off reading a book by a new author who’s gotten a lot of praise because I don’t want the excitement of a really good book to end. It’s comforting to know I have a book waiting for me that I’ll probably love.
I absolutely adored Where the Crawdads Sing! It’s a book that has everything I love in a novel. It’s a historical fiction, a coming-of-age story, a murder mystery, and a love story all set against the breathtaking backdrop of coastal North Carolina. Kya Clark finds herself in a tough situation that forces her to break free from the rules of society and raise herself from the age of six. Abandoned by her family and unfairly shunned by her community, Kya lives in solitude, except for a few people who show her genuine kindness. The folks in town have been giving her a passive-aggressive nickname, calling her the Marsh Girl. Throughout the story about Kya’s upbringing, the police are trying to solve the murder of Chase Andrews, a popular former high school football player from the local community.
From the very first page, I was hooked! I was astonished by the way Kya was abandoned by her family and mistreated by the townspeople. It took me a while to finish this book because of our greenhouse project. Here are two things I learned while reading it: first, it seemed like the part of the story about Kya’s childhood went by really slowly. But once I finished the book, I realized how important it was for that part of the story to be so detailed. Second, no matter how long it had been since I picked up the book, I was always right back in Kya’s world. I think this is a testament to Delia’s amazing writing skills.
I have managed to avoid watching the movie based on this book because I wanted to read the book first. Check out this movie trailer I found - it looks incredible!
As I had mentioned before, I went to the author event at my local indie bookstore. I’ve written a blog post about it that you can find below.
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