where the crawdads sing book review guardian

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens review – in the swamps of North Carolina

This lush debut about an isolated girl who finds education and solace in nature is already a US bestseller

I n screen dramas, during a scene of sex or violence in a living room, the camera will often slyly reveal that a David Attenborough wildlife documentary is playing unwatched in the corner. The naturalist’s whispered observations about the tactics of the “male” or “female” comment ironically or ominously on the human interactions.

That trope is spectacularly extended in Where the Crawdads Sing , the debut novel by Delia Owens, an American wildlife scientist. It lands in Britain boosted by the cherished trinity of New York Times bestsellerdom, a frenzied foreign sales fight, and a film in development by Reese Witherspoon (her online book club picked the novel in September 2018).

The main storyline spans – in a date-jumbling, tension-building order –1952 to 1970, following Kya Clark between the ages of six and 25 as she grows up alone in a shack in the swamplands of North Carolina after being abandoned by her family. She learns from the wildlife around her, gaining tricks of camouflage to evade truant officers and acquiring hunting skills to feed herself and catch mussels and fish to sell to shopkeepers in the town beyond the creek.

As a human who knows only nature, all Kya’s reference points come from her surroundings – and her creator’s day job. Her observation that mother animals and birds always return to their young leads her poignantly to believe that her childhood solitude will be temporary. When, as a teenager, she starts to attract attention from two townie boys, kind working-class Tate and arrogant posh boy Chase, her dating rituals are drawn from observing the sex life of fireflies. She also, crucially, observes the dangers of predation in the wild.

Among the many modern phenomena of which isolated Kya has no inkling is the vast popularity of crime fiction. But Owens knows the tricks of the genre, beginning the novel with a prologue set in 1969 in which a young man has died suspiciously in the swamp. The rest of the book cuts between the investigation, in which bigoted witnesses incriminate the “swamp girl”, and flashbacks to Kya’s youth and young adulthood, as local suspicion grows that makes the white people dislike her almost as much as they do the residents of the area known, in the prejudiced term of the time, as Colored Town.

Appreciating the fictional limitations of a feral recluse with no vocabulary or life skills, Owens provides tutors for Kya. As a result, the tone of the central section sometimes feels like YA, as Kya is instructed by a wise African American woman (one of the supporting characters who flirt with virtuous cliche) in the mysteries of men and menstruation.

But soon the narrative is satisfyingly reclaimed for older adults when at the local library Kya reads an article entitled “Sneaky Fuckers” in a science journal, which describes deceitful mating strategies. These include undersized bullfrogs who hang out with the alpha males with a view to picking up spare females, and the male damselfly, to whom God or Darwin has given a useful scoop that removes the sperm of a prior impregnator to clear the passage for his own.

As with those Attenborough clips in screen fiction, these anecdotes hover as metaphors for the behaviour of males in the story, and will allow the director of the eventual film to have fun with pointed cutaways. The divided timeline – a standard cinematic structure – will also help the screenwriter. And somewhere in stage schools now are the actors who, playing the young and older Kya, should have a shot at Oscars.

She is a vivid and original character. At times, her survival in isolation comes close to superheroism, but Owens convincingly depicts the instincts and calculations that get Kya into and out of difficulties. Without too much sentimentality, there is a strong emotional line in her desire to have a “shred of family”. The potential soppiness of a coming-of-age romance is also offset by the possibility that Kya is a murderer, although Owens has studied the big beasts of crime fiction sufficiently to leave room for doubt and surprises.

The storylines involving social competition and violent death feel like a reworking, from a young female perspective, of Theodore Dreiser ’s classic 1925 melodrama An American Tragedy . Like Dreiser, Owens combines high tension with precise detail about how people dress, sound, live and eat – the case studies in her book are both human and natural.

Surprise bestsellers are often works that chime with the times. Though set in the 1950s and 60s, Where the Crawdads Sing is, in its treatment of racial and social division and the fragile complex-ities of nature, obviously relevant to contemporary politics and ecology. But these themes will reach a huge audience though the writer’s old-fashioned talents for compelling character, plotting and landscape description.

• David Attenborough

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Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review

I finally just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens . I don’t think I would have read the book, but for the fact that for the past several years, Where the Crawdads Sing has comfortably taken residence near the top of the New York Times Bestseller’s list for fiction in both the hardcover and paperback categories. I finally gave in and had to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I’m sure that curiosity is also part of why the book has dominated the bestseller’s list for so long.

I have to admit that I had a couple of false starts with the book. A while back I tried reading it as part of a book club, but after about a dozen pages, life and work caught up with me and I didn’t finish. About half a year ago, in the midst of the pandemic, I tried reading it again and gave up about 50 pages in. I found the prose as slow as marsh water. The language was occasionally good, but not excellent, and certainly not material for literary classic in the making.

And yet, week after week Where the Crawdads Sing taunted me from its perch atop the New York Times Bestseller’s list and from its dusty place on my bookshelf, and I got more and more curious.

The ending must be good , I kept thinking. It must start slow and then pick up pace . And so, last week, when I sat down to read Where the Crawdads Sing , I set my mind to finishing it. I’ll admit I had to force myself through the first two hundred pages, a slow-paced ramble through the life of a child abandoned in the swamp. But the last hundred or so pages of the book delivered all the promise of a bestseller, and I can see why it has appealed to such a wide audience.

I found myself somewhat heartened by the fact that such a slow-paced book could be so popular. Maybe American readers still have patience for the tale carefully and slowly told. Maybe there is still room in the American psyche for the subtle. The poetic, even.

The Times reports that Where the Crawdads Sing has sold over 4.5 million copies. But why? In a world where sexy romance and Stephen King-style horror dominates the market, what is it about Where the Crawdads Sing that draws such a crowd?

I have several theories why this slow-paced novel succeeded.

First, the last 100 or so pages of the novel deliver a fast-paced courtroom drama climax to the murder mystery that tantalizingly opens the novel. If the novel is a roller coaster, the last 100 pages are its thrilling drop, but I was left feeling uncertain if the drop was worth all that climb.

Where the Crawdads Sing feels almost like two novels, folded into one. There is the slow life of the marsh and Kya, the protagonist abandoned in it, woven together with syntactical acrobatics that only a former naturalist could perform (Delia Owens is a zoologist and conservationist), and then there’s the murder mystery and courtroom thriller that make up only one-third of the novel.

Owens weaves the two together decently well. There’s a fascinating tenebrism between Kya’s slow-paced marsh life and the fast-paced courtroom thriller that closes the novel. I’d be willing to endure Kya’s obsession with insects and marsh plants for 100 pages, while I wait to find out what really happened to the deceased and possibly murdered Chase Andrews, but 200 pages buoyed by a thin and somewhat maudlin love story, felt like a little much. When Kya’s brother returns later in the book and asks her how she made it, Kya herself says, “That’s a long boring story.” I couldn’t help but agree.

Still, I can see the last 100 pages of the novel keeping many readers awake late into the night, and sometimes, that’s all you need as a reader to make the book a good recommendation. Like restaurants, books succeed and die based on the recommendations of their guests, and I can see Where the Crawdads Sing getting passed around merely on the strength of its ending.

But that brings me to my second point, and the second reason why I think the novel succeeded. While Owens is hardly a poet, poetry is woven so intimately into this tale, it is ultimately impossible to extricate poetry from the story itself. Again, Owens’s Where the Crawdads Sing is hardly the material of literary legend, but its use of light verse will appeal to a certain audience raised to believe that Rupi Kaur should be our modern poet laureate. For readers whose interaction with poetry likely ends at Mary Oliver, there will be delight in the poetry on offer here. What fascinates me about the inclusion of poetry in this novel is that the novel itself admits to the weakness of its own poetry. About one of the poets featured in the book, the narration notes, “Tate had thought Hamilton’s poems rather weak.”

Yet, it is not the verse itself that holds the narrative together, but the quiet poetic moments that serve as the real structure of the story, its true joints and beams. Owens has her moments.

There’s Owens’s description of the angry ocean, where “Waves slammed one another, awash in their own white saliva, breaking apart on the shore with loud booms.”

The first sentence Kya ever reads is this: “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” Tate, Kya’s love interest is a good critic, and he notes, “That’s a very good sentence. Not all words hold that much.”

But again, these lines hardly elevate the book to the realm of the bards.

So what is it, really about Where the Crawdads Sing that drew so many people in?

Where the Crawdads Sing debuted at a time when Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was seeing renewed attention due to Lee’s publication of Go Set a Watchman . You can’t read Where the Crawdads Sing , with its southern drawl and courtroom drama and not think of To Kill a Mockingbird . In Where the Crawdads Sing , Boo Radley is Kya, and Jumpin’, the Black man who helps her survive, Atticus. For those who wanted Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman to offer more of the redemptive air of To Kill a Mockingbird than it had, perhaps Where the Crawdads Sing satisfied that unmet need that Harper Lee could not or would not give.

The book also manages to skirt divisive politics, only lightly addressing issues of racial inequalities and segregation, while depicting a somewhat separate, but peaceful co-existence between the White and Black members of this particular fictional southern town. Racial issues are all but glossed over. For those looking for an escape from racial consciousness, politics, or civilization at large, Where the Crawdads Sing lets readers hide in the woods with Kya for a while. The book is hardly progressive, and violence against women plays a central role in furthering the narrative. Perhaps the most political moment in the whole book was when Owens discusses the fact that the big developers plan to drain the swamp and build hotels, hinting at the reality that Kya’s world won’t last for long. We all emerge from Where the Crawdads Sing and return to the real world, where the destructive phrase “drain the swamp,” triggers something very different, but perhaps something not so different, at all.

About the Writer

Janice Greenwood is a writer, surfer, and poet. She holds an M.F.A. in poetry and creative writing from Columbia University.

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

by Delia Owens ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 14, 2018

Despite some distractions, there’s an irresistible charm to Owens’ first foray into nature-infused romantic fiction.

A wild child’s isolated, dirt-poor upbringing in a Southern coastal wilderness fails to shield her from heartbreak or an accusation of murder.

“The Marsh Girl,” “swamp trash”—Catherine “Kya” Clark is a figure of mystery and prejudice in the remote North Carolina coastal community of Barkley Cove in the 1950s and '60s. Abandoned by a mother no longer able to endure her drunken husband’s beatings and then by her four siblings, Kya grows up in the careless, sometimes-savage company of her father, who eventually disappears, too. Alone, virtually or actually, from age 6, Kya learns both to be self-sufficient and to find solace and company in her fertile natural surroundings. Owens ( Secrets of the Savanna , 2006, etc.), the accomplished co-author of several nonfiction books on wildlife, is at her best reflecting Kya’s fascination with the birds, insects, dappled light, and shifting tides of the marshes. The girl’s collections of shells and feathers, her communion with the gulls, her exploration of the wetlands are evoked in lyrical phrasing which only occasionally tips into excess. But as the child turns teenager and is befriended by local boy Tate Walker, who teaches her to read, the novel settles into a less magical, more predictable pattern. Interspersed with Kya’s coming-of-age is the 1969 murder investigation arising from the discovery of a man’s body in the marsh. The victim is Chase Andrews, “star quarterback and town hot shot,” who was once Kya’s lover. In the eyes of a pair of semicomic local police officers, Kya will eventually become the chief suspect and must stand trial. By now the novel’s weaknesses have become apparent: the monochromatic characterization (good boy Tate, bad boy Chase) and implausibilities (Kya evolves into a polymath—a published writer, artist, and poet), yet the closing twist is perhaps its most memorable oddity.

Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7352-1909-0

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 14, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018

LITERARY FICTION

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by Mark Owens & Delia Owens

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SEEN & HEARD

BOOK TO SCREEN

by Robert Harris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 22, 2016

An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it...

Harris, creator of grand, symphonic thrillers from Fatherland (1992) to An Officer and a Spy (2014), scores with a chamber piece of a novel set in the Vatican in the days after a fictional pope dies.

Fictional, yes, but the nameless pontiff has a lot in common with our own Francis: he’s famously humble, shunning the lavish Apostolic Palace for a small apartment, and he is committed to leading a church that engages with the world and its problems. In the aftermath of his sudden death, rumors circulate about the pope’s intention to fire certain cardinals. At the center of the action is Cardinal Lomeli, Dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job it is to manage the conclave that will elect a new pope. He believes it is also his duty to uncover what the pope knew before he died because some of the cardinals in question are in the running to succeed him. “In the running” is an apt phrase because, as described by Harris, the papal conclave is the ultimate political backroom—albeit a room, the Sistine Chapel, covered with Michelangelo frescoes. Vying for the papal crown are an African cardinal whom many want to see as the first black pope, a press-savvy Canadian, an Italian arch-conservative (think Cardinal Scalia), and an Italian liberal who wants to continue the late pope’s campaign to modernize the church. The novel glories in the ancient rituals that constitute the election process while still grounding that process in the real world: the Sistine Chapel is fitted with jamming devices to thwart electronic eavesdropping, and the pressure to act quickly is increased because “rumours that the pope is dead are already trending on social media.”

Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-451-49344-6

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016

GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | LITERARY FICTION | RELIGIOUS FICTION | SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE

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by Robert Harris

THE SECRET HISTORY

by Donna Tartt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 1992

The Brat Pack meets The Bacchae in this precious, way-too-long, and utterly unsuspenseful town-and-gown murder tale. A bunch of ever-so-mandarin college kids in a small Vermont school are the eager epigones of an aloof classics professor, and in their exclusivity and snobbishness and eagerness to please their teacher, they are moved to try to enact Dionysian frenzies in the woods. During the only one that actually comes off, a local farmer happens upon them—and they kill him. But the death isn't ruled a murder—and might never have been if one of the gang—a cadging sybarite named Bunny Corcoran—hadn't shown signs of cracking under the secret's weight. And so he too is dispatched. The narrator, a blank-slate Californian named Richard Pepen chronicles the coverup. But if you're thinking remorse-drama, conscience masque, or even semi-trashy who'll-break-first? page-turner, forget it: This is a straight gee-whiz, first-to-have-ever-noticed college novel—"Hampden College, as a body, was always strangely prone to hysteria. Whether from isolation, malice, or simple boredom, people there were far more credulous and excitable than educated people are generally thought to be, and this hermetic, overheated atmosphere made it a thriving black petri dish of melodrama and distortion." First-novelist Tartt goes muzzy when she has to describe human confrontations (the murder, or sex, or even the ping-ponging of fear), and is much more comfortable in transcribing aimless dorm-room paranoia or the TV shows that the malefactors anesthetize themselves with as fate ticks down. By telegraphing the murders, Tartt wants us to be continually horrified at these kids—while inviting us to semi-enjoy their manneristic fetishes and refined tastes. This ersatz-Fitzgerald mix of moralizing and mirror-looking (Jay McInerney shook and poured the shaker first) is very 80's—and in Tartt's strenuous version already seems dated, formulaic. Les Nerds du Mal—and about as deep (if not nearly as involving) as a TV movie.

Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1992

ISBN: 1400031702

Page Count: 592

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1992

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by Donna Tartt

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Where the Crawdads Sing

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What to Know

Daisy Edgar-Jones gives it her all, but Where the Crawdads Sing is ultimately unable to distill its source material into a tonally coherent drama.

A particular treat for viewers who love the book, Where the Crawdads Sing offers a faithfully told, well-acted story in a rich, beautifully filmed setting.

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Book Review: Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

By: Author Jen - MMB Book Blog

Posted on Published: 3 February 2023  - Last updated: 21 July 2024

Where The Crawdads Sing is the bestselling debut novel by Delia Owens, published in 2019.

The book came so highly recommended I was almost reluctant to read it as I was doubtful it could possibly live up to all that praise.

As both a Richard and Judy Book List choice and a pick for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club , it seems to be universally adored. However, I was keen to find out for myself.

I was aware Delia Owens was co-author of three non-fiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist, and I was interested to see how she was able to transfer her skills in nature writing to creating historical fiction.

Disclosure : This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

Genre: Literary Fiction Author: Delia Owens Buy: Amazon | Waterstones Published: 2019

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. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a profound coming of age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

Where The Crawdads Sing Book Review

I really loved this story and read the entire book in less than two days.

On a superficial level, this is a coming-of-age murder mystery. However, it is so much more than that. This is Kya’s story – a poignant tale of survival, loneliness, and the longing for connection.

The story is not a fast-paced one. Delia Owens takes her time, flipping from past to present to allow the reader a true insight into Kya’s world. The novel is written mostly from Kya’s point of view but occasionally enters the perspectives of other characters. This gives us an insight into how they view the marsh and its almost legendary inhabitant.

The locals’ suspicions and prejudices combine to create a preconceived idea that Kya cannot be trusted. The more she keeps herself to herself, the more the rumours spread. What follows is so much more than a “whodunnit?” Did Kya kill Chase? She certainly had a motive. Or is she simply a misunderstood, innocent woman doing what she can to survive?

The story is a good one but for me, it’s the writing style that makes this novel such a hit. Owens’ poetic, descriptive prose transports the readers to the North Carolina coastal swamp. The marshland almost become a character in its own right. You can visualise the vivid sights and sounds of Kya’s home and admire the secret wonders that lie within it. You can clearly see Owens’ expertise in the natural world as her descriptions are so evocative and detailed.

I felt moved by Kya’s innocence and saddened when she was continuously abandoned by her family members and those who were supposed to love her. I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the murder of Chase and the ending was, in my opinion, perfect.

There were moments of implausibility. Would an illiterate marsh girl be able to self-educate to the level of an academic? However, I enjoyed her character development and how it highlighted how their was always more to “the swamp girl” than met the eye.

Overall, I loved Where the Crawdads Sing. The beauty of the story and the descriptive writing made it one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

Where the Crawdads Sing Movie

Delia Owens’ debut novel was not only a huge bestseller, but it was also made into a live-action movie produced by Reese Witherspoon, bringing the story of Kya and the North Carolina marshlands to the big screen.

What to Read Next

If you enjoyed Where The Crawdads Sing, I would recommend also reading Go as a River by Shelley Read and Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller .

This book is featured on the following lists:

7 Books That Actually Lived Up to the Hype

Complete List of Between The Covers Books (Sara Cox Book Club)

Related Book Lists

• Richard and Judy Book Club List 2023
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Michelle Twin Mum

Monday 22nd of February 2021

I've seen this book recommended so man times but I'm just not sure. I suspect I'll have to get it in the end and see for myself. Mich x

[email protected]

I'm always looking for murder mystery type stories so this looks right up my street!

This sounds like my cup of tea, love a good murder mystery! Would definitely take my mind off a few things getting stuck into a book I think

Natasha Mairs - Serenity You

Why haven't I picked this one up yet!? I have heard so many good things about this book, I really need to buy it.

rhianwestbury

I really enjoyed this book, although it did take me a good portion of the book to properly get into it, probably due to the slower pace as you've said x

The Literary Edit

Where the Crawdads Sing Review (Author Delia Owens)

Before starting this Where the Crawdads Sing review and in all my years of book blogging, I’ve learnt that, on the whole, books are divisive. Much like many things in life – such as, for example, whether north or south of the Thames is the better part of London, or which city – Melbourne or Sydney – is the more liveable one (I’m a south London and Sydney-sider for anyone who’s remotely interested) opinions are, more often than not, split. There will be those that adore a book, those that don’t, and those that fall somewhere in between. This was until I read – and posted about my reading – Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, on both my Facebook and Instagram account, to entirely unanimous praise of Owens debut.

And no sooner had I started to read Where the Crawdads Sing than I began to see why it was so consistently adored by all who had already read it.

Where the Crawdads Sing Review

A story of resilience, survival and hope, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens tells the story of Kya – known locally in the North Carolina town in which she resides as the Marsh Girl – who is abandoned at a young age by her parents, siblings and finally the school system; and left to fend for herself.

As Kya grows and learns more about life through her interactions with the creatures of the Marsh, two young men enter her life. One is her brother’s older friend, Tate, who teaches her to read and shows her acceptance and happiness. But when he, too, leaves the Marsh behind for a learned life at university, she learned not to trust nor depend on anyone but herself, and resigns herself to a life spent along on the marsh, until Chase Andrews comes along.

And so when Chase is later found dead, rumours are rife as to Kya’s possible involvement in his murder. Over the years there’s been much hearsay as to the nature of Kya and Chase’s relationship, and with no other suspects so-to-speak, the finger is swiftly pointed at Kya.

Rich with poetic prose, lyrical depictions of the marshlands and atmosphere, Where the Crawdads Sing is a beautiful and compelling read steeped in nature. A fusion of murder, mystery, coming-of-age and love-story, Where the Crawdads Sing is a poignant and powerful tale that will stay with its readers long after its gripping finale and I couldn’t wait to review Where the Crawdads Sing.

Where the Crawdads Sing 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.

Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell,  Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

About Delia Owens

Delia Owens is the co-author of three internationally bestselling nonfiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist in Africa— Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant , and  Secrets of the Savanna . She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in  Nature, The African Journal of Ecology , and  International Wildlife , among many others. She currently lives in Idaho, where she continues her support for the people and wildlife of Zambia. Where the Crawdads Sing is her first novel. Check out her website for a detailed biography .

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5 comments on “Where the Crawdads Sing Review (Author Delia Owens)”

I somehow missed this book. Adding this to my summer reading list. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lucy!

Thanks for stopping by Crystal! I hope you love it as much as I did xo

I finished reading this book only few days ago, and I can say it’s one of the most “unputdownable” books I’ve ever read! And when I think that I hadn’t heard about it before I received it as a gift from a dear friend 🙂

Hi Georgiana, I’m so glad you enjoyed it too – it really is a wonderful book! xo

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‘Where The Crawdads Sing’: Review

By Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic 2022-07-12T16:00:00+01:00

Daisy Edgar-Jones shines in this otherwise pulpy adaptation of the Delia Owens bestseller

Source: Sony Pictures

‘Where The Crawdads Sing’

Dir: Olivia Newman. US. 2022. 125mins

Toxic masculinity, domestic abuse and the shunning of the less-fortunate: Where The Crawdads Sing seethes with myriad social ills, but this adaptation of the Delia Owens bestseller proves to be an unconvincing, melodramatic affair that only occasionally locates the story’s mournful heart. Daisy Edgar-Jones plays a loner who’s lived away from society, only to be suspected of murder because the community considers her nothing more than a freakish recluse. A mixture of love story, courtroom drama and whodunit, the film tends toward cliche, packed with underdeveloped performances and unearned plot twists.

Daisy Edgar-Jones, superb in the 2020 miniseries  Normal People , brings a vulnerability and subtle steel to Kya

Sony will release Crawdads on July 15 in the US and July 22 in the UK, the anticipation bolstered by the book’s popularity. (Since the novel debuted in 2018, it has sold approximately 12 million copies.) Reese Witherspoon produced this adaptation after selecting the novel for her influential Book Club, and will be hoping that real-world controversies surrounding the Owens family and a murder in Zambia in the 1990s, as detailed in a recent investigative piece in ’The Atlantic’, won’t deter potential viewers. But while there’s certainly room at the multiplex for an event film that has nothing to do with superheroes or Minions, it’s more likely that it will be less-than-glowing reviews that impact theatrical prospects.

Rural North Carolina, 1969. Kya (Edgar-Jones) lives by herself in her family’s rustic house out in the marshlands, all her life being cruelly nicknamed “The Marsh Girl” by the townspeople. But when the handsome, popular Chase (Harris Dickinson) is found dead — and because they engaged in a secret romantic relationship — Kya is put on trial, the kindly retired local attorney Tom (David Strathairn) stepping in to represent her.

That trial is juxtaposed with a series of flashbacks as we see the adolescence of the now-25-year-old Kya, who survived an abusive father (Garret Dillahunt), endured poverty, received no formal education and learned to fend for herself, eventually attracting the fancy of a fellow nature-lover, Tate (Taylor John Smith). However, Kya and Tate are soon split apart due to complicated circumstances, leading to her tentative courtship with the cockier Chase.

Director Olivia Newman ( First Match ) works with cinematographer Polly Morgan to capture the beauty of the landscape, suggesting an earthly paradise in which Kya can escape from the world. ( Crawdads was shot outside of New Orleans.) But it’s a paradise that’s constantly threatened, either by her violent father in flashback or by society Kya goes to trial in 1969, facing the possibility of the death penalty if she’s found guilty. 

Edgar-Jones, superb in the 2020 miniseries Normal People , brings a vulnerability and subtle steel to Kya, who is used to being shunned, although that public scorn has done nothing to crush her spirits or dampen her artistic flowering. The character ends up being too much of a construct — a milder variation of the feral wild child cut off from the so-called civilised world — but Edgar-Jones does her best to illuminate Kya’s buried trauma and resilient decency.

Unfortunately, neither of the men in her orbit are especially riveting romantic options. Smith plays Tate with a winning wholesomeness, but his rapport with Edgar-Jones lacks electricity. As a result, the characters’ love affair is a little too chaste, which is meant to contrast later with Chase’s bad-boy demeanour, resulting in a fractious relationship that draws uncomfortable comparisons for Kya to the way her father treated her mother. Dickinson exuded melancholy soulfulness as the dim, hunky model in the Palme d’Or-winning Triangle Of Sadness , but in Crawdads he’s trapped in a far more one-dimensional role as an entitled, snide jock. 

Newman fails to enliven familiar scenes of courtroom intrigue — spectators react with predictably overheated shock to each surprising bit of testimony — and as the flashbacks begin to hint at what happened to Chase, Crawdads builds to an unsubtle condemnation of a close-minded patriarchy that literally and figuratively puts a woman like Kya on trial.

To be sure, the film has valid points to raise about sexual assault and society’s refusal to believe women, but the story’s page-turning pulpiness comes across as shallow and sensational rather than thoughtful or emotionally charged. As for Crawdads ’ final reveal, in a more compelling picture such a twist would have forced the audience to question how we perceive “victims” and “survivors.” Instead, it merely feels glib, an artificial way to hit viewers with one last narrative wallop. 

Production company: Hello Sunshine

Worldwide distribution: Sony Pictures

Producers: Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter

Screenplay: Lucy Alibar, based upon the novel by Delia Owens

Cinematography: Polly Morgan

Production design: Sue Chan

Editing: Alan Edward Bell

Music: Mychael Danna

Main cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., Jojo Regina, Garret Dillahunt, Ahna O’Reilly, David Strathairn

• United States

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Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing // Delia Owens

The first novel of retired wildlife biologist, Delia Owens had rather low expectations by publishers. Within a year and a half,  Where the Crawdads Sing  had topped the Sunday Times bestsellers list, sold over four million copies, and earned Reese Witherspoon’s stamp of approval, as she added it to her acclaimed book club and with her production company, won the film rights to it. 

Atmospheric and tumultuous, Owens’ writing is dreamy. She creates a sublime narrative which tells the story of an isolated girl surviving on the fringes of society in North Carolina during the 1950s and 1960s. Against the backdrop of racial and social strife, the narrative follows Kya, viciously pegged the “Marsh girl” by the narrow minds of townsfolk. 

Owens switches between two timelines: 1952-69, beginning from the moment Kya’s  Ma  leaves the family, and 1969-onwards, when town star, Chase Andrews is found dead and Kya is accused of his murder. 

The first timeline describes how Kya grapples with being abandoned by her family, soon becoming self-sufficient with the help of an old family friend. Exploring the Marsh leads Kya to Tate, a local boy a few years her senior, who becomes intrigued by the “Marsh girl”. Her existence becomes legend in Berkeley Cove, the fictionalised local North Carolina town. 

The second timeline describes the discovery of Andrews’ body and how the townsfolk implicate and accuse Kya. Owens speaks to the consequences of this rural small-mindedness and tendency to scapegoat those deemed socially or racially inferior. Owens does not let the readers forget the reality of what life was like in North Carolina in the 1950s and 1960s. 

Jumping back and forth between the two timelines until they finally intersect creates a sense of hopelessness for Kya. There is an inevitable sense of dread, as we anticipate heartache and loss. Every happy moment she shares with Tate or around the Marsh is fleeting. We know it will not last. 

Throughout, Owens never fails to pay homage to the natural world in which she sets Where the Crawdads Sing . She crafts an ethereal setting that comes to life, becoming a central character in its own right. You can visualise a brewing love affair between Kya and Tate, all while the autumn leaves “swirled and sailed and fluttered” around them, a “flash of golden leaves across the slate-grey skies”. The story and its characters grip you, but the filmic scenery allows the tale to fill up in your head, creating vivid images that stay with you after the final page. 

Over the lockdown period, it was moving to read a novel of raw loneliness where the protagonist finds solace and comfort in the natural world, having been rejected by the bustling world of people. Bereft of a loving family, but in abundance of the beauty of nature, Kya gives herself a purpose and something to strive for in life when she begins publishing reference books on the living creatures in the Marsh. Cut off from the outside world, Kya had to look inward. 

Where the Crawdads Sing  will transport you, move you and stay with you. Owens creates complex characters and an original storyline that feels like it is from another time, yet it deeply resonates today. With its appreciation of nature and celebration of humanity, Where The Crawdads Sing is a rare gem of a novel that will truly remain a timeless piece of storytelling. 

Words by Kim Singh-Sall

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Where The Crawdads Sing

Delia owens.

Searching for an escape in the form of a gripping, provocative, and encapsulating murder mystery novel that will keep you wanting more? This 2018 novel is truly a love letter to Mother Nature, as retired wildlife biologist Delia Owens draws on her past wilderness experiences to bring her first novel to life. 

Not only has this novel kept critics on their toes with a variety of mixed reviews but it has put Owens at the top of the New York Times best sellers list and Fiction Best Sellers list as an up-and-coming author.

Industry analysts have struggled to explain the novel’s staying power, particularly at a moment when fiction sales are flagging, and most blockbuster novels drop off the best-seller list after a few weeks.

- The New York Times

Where The Crawdads Sing transports you to a humid and abnormal summer in North Carolina where readers are quickly introduced to Kya or ‘the marsh girl’ – as she is often referred to. As an outcast, after having been abandoned by her family at six years old, Kya learns to fend for herself in the eerie marshes in the early 1950s. 

As a recluse, our main character is often ostracised by her neighbours for her lack of social skills and obscure affinity with nature. So, she finds herself befriending a local boy, Tate, who teaches her how to read and becomes a tutor and Kya’s only friend – before later leaving her too. This tale of loneliness explores how ‘the marsh girl’ navigates relationships through her understanding of nature; which later spirals into an affair with the local heart throb, leading to her becoming the main suspect in his unforeseen murder. 

Owens’s ongoing elaborate descriptions of Kya’s peace within nature in comparison to her unsettled tone when facing human interaction are what truly captivate readers who pick up this book.

Despite critics regarding Owens’s less sophisticated tone of voice and the novel itself being compared to ‘young adult fiction’, these alleged faults did not deter us from reading this bestseller. Owens perfectly weaves together Kya’s slow-paced marsh life at the start with the tremendous and thrilling courtroom mess that we are later catapulted into.

This book is more than a book about the life of a girl who lives on her own. It is a story about grief, betrayal and, more than anything else, sacrifice.

- The Daily Evergreen

Our protagonist’s journey through grief and betrayal keeps you turning the pages to see what could happen next. Just like all brilliant thriller novels, Where The Crawdads Sing, leaves you with a sense of uneasiness and questions that you know just cannot be answered…

Who is Delia Owens?

Similarly to her renowned protagonist, Owens takes pride in her ever growing love for the outside world as a wildlife biologist. She drew on her experience in the wilderness and seclusion from society as inspiration for the character she had begun working on over a decade before putting pen to paper. 

In 1974, Owens and her husband set off to study wildlife in research camps in the Kalahari Desert to closely study Lions and Hyenas. This later helped them become renowned for their education foundation work in Zambia. However, this later led the Owens into a controversy of their own regarding a real-life murder case of a poacher. Owens herself likens her story to that of Kya’s on account of the vicious rumours and accusations that were put against her. 

“It’s painful to have that come up, but it’s what Kya had to deal with, name-calling,” Ms. Owens said during an interview in New York in the autumn of 2023. “You just have to put your head up or down, or whichever, you have to keep going and be strong. I’ve been charged by elephants before.”

Want to read more?

Intrigued by Delia Owens’ riveting, suspenseful novel? Why not browse some of our previous book reviews in similar genres like Thrillers , Dramas , Crime and Fiction ? 

In the meantime, check out our blog for our insightful literary advice and keep up to date with our latest reviews page to see what we’ve been reading in our spare time too. 

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Inside the List

The Debut Novel That Rules the Best-Seller List

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By Tina Jordan

• March 29, 2019

Shortly after Delia Owens’s “ Where the Crawdads Sing ” was published last Aug. 14, Reese Witherspoon picked it as a selection for her Hello Sunshine book club , telling The Times she “loved every page of it.” It was a lucky break. The debut novel — which had a solid first printing of 27,500 — landed at No. 9 on the paper’s best-seller list on Sept. 16.

Then the book, about a young girl surviving alone in a coastal North Carolina marsh, did something unusual. Instead of lingering at the bottom of the list for a few weeks before slipping off altogether, as a small novel might be expected to do, “Where the Crawdads Sing” started to climb — and climb, and climb — finally reaching No. 1 on Jan. 20, which is where you can still find it today. It has now been on the list for 29 weeks.

So what happened? How has a small literary novel flourished while hyped books by big-name authors have flashed on and off the list? “Reese’s pick skyrocketed awareness,” says Alexis Welby, the publicity director of Putnam, “and the word-of-mouth just continued to grow from there.” Readers, she says, “just have to push the book into the hands of others so they can talk about it.” It’s now been rated over 125,000 times on Goodreads and has a 5-star rating on Amazon, where it’s been reviewed more than 7,400 times.

In December, the novel got another nice shot of publicity when Fox 2000 acquired it for film and tapped Witherspoon to produce.

On March 4, Owens announced on her website that a million books had been sold. That number has since reached 1.5 million across all formats (e-book, audio and so on). The March spike, Welby says, had a lot to do with a “CBS Sunday Morning” profile of Owens that aired on March 17: “It had a huge effect on sales and finding new readers and awareness for Delia and the book.”

“‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ is about loneliness,” Owens recently wrote on her website. “I have lived an isolated and lonely life, but from the moment my incredible readers picked up the book, I have not felt alone again.”

That’s partly because she’s spent so much time traveling around the country these last few months meeting her fans. Putnam has sent Owens out on multiple publicity tours — three so far, with a fourth and fifth scheduled. One thing that’s not scheduled yet is the book’s paperback publication. Since “Where the Crawdad Sings” is still selling so briskly in hardcover, there’s no need to plan for a paperback edition just yet.

Follow Tina Jordan on Twitter: @TinaJordanNYT

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The Book Review Podcast:  Each week, top authors and critics talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

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Heartspoken

How to strengthen connection in a digital world...at home and at work

Book Review: Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is the perfect pick for a delicious summer reading experience. Here’s my Heartspoken book review.

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Reviewed by elizabeth h. cottrell 5 stars out of 5.

This amazing book checked all the boxes of top-quality fiction for me:

• exquisite writing 
• vivid, well-drawn characters
• a fast-paced story with exciting elements of mystery and danger
• the satisfying emotions of love, hope, and redemption

Right off the bat, the author’s lyrical and rich descriptions of the coastal marsh are the kind readers crave and to which writers aspire:

“…slow-moving creeks wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace—as though not built to fly—against the roar of a thousand snow geese.”

Don’t you just feel like you’re there, experiencing that incredible scene? The marsh is almost a character itself, wild and mysterious and powerfully beautiful.

Kya is a dubbed the Marsh Girl by her unkind tormenters. Born in an isolated cabin in the coastal marsh of North Carolina, she escapes into the wild to get away from her father’s abusive rages caused by PTSD and fueled by alcohol. Her mother flees, seemingly abandoning 5-year-old Kya and her four older siblings. One by one the siblings escape too, leaving Kya utterly alone to deal with her father and his demons.

The story alternates between that time in 1952 when her mother left and the year 1969 when the body of Chase Andrews is discovered at the base of an old fire tower in the swamp. As the book progresses, the reader discovers how these two lives—Kya’s and Chase’s—intersect. We also learn how Kya, who was taught to read by Tate, was able to combine her love of words with her meticulous study of swamp wildlife to become a true authority, albeit without formal education. She and Tate become fierce protectors of their beloved ecosystem.

Besides the author’s remarkable descriptive skill, she shows a depth of knowledge about the spectrum of human emotion in her characters’ behavior and dialogue. It all rings true. 

“But loneliness has a compass of its own…”

“Biology sees right and wrong as the same color in different light.”

In expressing the impact of reading poetry for the first time, Kya says to Tate (in her swamp dialect, “I wadn’t aware that words could hold so much. I didn’t know a sentence could be so full.”

My heart was full when I finished this book. What better endorsement for a book to enrich the #HeartspokenLife.  

If you’re interested in other Heartspoken Book Reviews, CLICK HERE .

Reader Interactions

May 26, 2019 at 7:08 am

I read this book last month also, Elizabeth. I was riveted long after I came to THE END. Oh, and I loved the ending!

May 26, 2019 at 9:52 am

Yes, the ending was worthy of a big sigh and a full heart!

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Reading Ladies

Where the crawdads sing [book review].

September 28, 2018

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Genre/Categories: Women’s Fiction, Southern Fiction, Coming of Age, Family Life, Survival

Living in the marsh outside a quiet, small town on the coast of North Carolina, Kya Clark, later known as the “Marsh Girl,” is abandoned by her entire family and learns to survive in the marsh on her own from the age of ten. One by one her older siblings abandon the family, her mother leaves when Kya is about seven, and finally, her father, a difficult, unreliable, and drunk man, leaves when she’s ten. Kya attends school for one day after a truant officer catches her. On that day, she is teased by the students, knows she’s hopelessly behind academically, and never returns. Preferring the isolation and safety of the marsh, she learns what she can through observing nature. Although she can survive on her own, she begins to long for companionship as she reaches her teen years. Two boys from town attract her attention. One of them turns up dead, and she is suspected of murder. The other becomes a life long supporter and friend. A coming of age story with a fair share of tragedy, mystery, and grit, this is an unforgettable read you’ll want to devour and recommend.

Amazon Rating: 4.8 Stars

My Thoughts:

While I loved Where the Crawdads Sing , this story might not be for everyone and comes with trigger warnings for some child neglect and abandonment.

What I loved most: structure and style. Where the Crawdads Sing is atmospheric and engaging from the first page to the last. In addition, it’s an easy reading narrative that flows well and is pleasingly balanced between character-driven and plot-driven. The author creates an amazing sense of place and a memorable and unforgettable character. As a bonus, the author’s background as a wildlife scientist enables her to include many fascinating scientific facts and details about the marsh.

This story came to me at the right time as I was in the mood for an intriguing, well written, page-turner, and Where the Crawdads Sing did not disappoint! It will most likely appear on my best of 2018 list.

Along with an emphasis on science and the marsh habitat, the author creates vivid and colorful local characters that enhance the story and includes a surprising plot twist at the end (which I have mixed feelings about).

Kya Clark is certainly a most compelling character . Resourceful, brave, cunning, a gritty survivor, and clever, Kya creates a life for herself despite the most difficult and disheartening circumstances. There is a person in town that she learns to trust and who becomes as important to her as a father. He watches out for her the best that he can which is difficult because he’s African-American and is dealing with issues of hate and segregation in his own life. He understands Kya and respects her freedom and her need to live her life on her terms even though she’s so young. Despite Kya’s ability to create a life for herself as a wildlife artist and illustrator and is eventually able to trust herself to love, there is a plot twist at the end that will force you to reevaluate Kya and the decisions she’s made.

Themes in Where the Crawdads Sing include belonging, abandonment, survival, trust, coming of age, family, and caring for others. There’s a great deal to reflect on or to discuss (if this is a book club pick) as the story unfolds.

The Ending: I have mixed feelings about the morally ambiguous ending. If you consider the author’s premise that Kya learned life’s lessons from marsh creatures, I guess the ending falls into perspective. However, I wonder if this is enough of a justification for Kya’s actions. Definitely a great topic for book club!

Recommended for readers who are looking for an engaging and unique story with a strong female protagonist. It would make an excellent book club selection because of the various discussion possibilities.

Triggers/Content Considerations: child neglect and abandonment.

My Rating 4.5 (rounded up to 5 Stars

Where the Crawdads Sing Information Here

Meet the Author, Delia Owens

She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in  Nature ,  The African Journal of Ecology , and many others.

She currently lives in Idaho.  Where the Crawdads Sing  is her first novel.

Have you read Where the Crawdads Sing or is it on your TBR? Who is the most memorable character in your recent reads?

Happy Reading Book Worms!

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.” ~Denise J Hughes

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.” ~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.” ~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

My Fall TBR

I’ll be updating my Fall TBR list as I complete each read, so check this link often!

Looking Ahead:

This week I’m reading an ARC of The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain (pub date: 10/2). It’s different from my usual genres: heavy on science fiction (time travel), a bit of hisfic (as the characters travel between 1970 and 2018), and some suspense. I would characterize this as an escapist read! Full review coming soon.

I’m also ready to begin The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris  because my library hold came in. (taking a deep breath for this heavy read)

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28 comments.

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (debut author) (pub date: 8/14) I’ve read almost all glowing reviews of this one! It’s my most anticipated fall read which I’ll be reading and reviewing soon because my library hold just became available! ***Update: 5 Stars. Unforgettable character. (Full Review Here) […]

Such a wonderful post, Carol! I found Kya completely memorable, too! I loved your Crawdads review! It’s definitely worthy of five stars! I’m rushing off to work, and I’m going to think on another memorable character.

Thank you for stopping in and commenting! I love all the unforgettable characters we meet through reading!

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens Fiction/Family Life 5 Stars. Full Review Here. […]

Hi Carol– this is not a book I would pick up just based on it’s cover description– But your hearty recommendation makes it intriguing. I have it on my library list! thanks.

I think it’s worth trying….the story is unique and it’s well written and engaging…..but it may not be for everyone! I’ll be eager to hear what you think if you read it!

I just finished this book, and it was very intriguing–that plot twist at the very end has been on my mind too much ever since! Loved all the marsh wildlife and biology information. And right, not for everyone.

Thanks for commenting Ruth!

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens […]

[…] Using my five senses, can I envision a place? The time period? The atmosphere? The season? When I close my eyes and stop to think about the story, can I place myself in the story? What do I see, hear, touch, feel, taste, smell? What details do I notice? If I’m having difficulty in answering these questions, this might mean a low rating for this element of the story. How important is the setting to the story? Is the setting an important aspect of the story or could the story have taken place in any location or in any time period? Sometimes the setting can be as important in a story as a character. An example of this is Where the Crawdads Sing. […]

[…] that are too high and it ends up a disappointing read. The last book I read with a lot of buzz was Where the Crawdads Sing and it lived up to the buzz. What’s the last book you chose based on the buzz? Did you enjoy […]

[…] the most views day after day, week after week, and month after month is the review I wrote of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. This title is also the most used search term that leads readers to my blog. When my bookish […]

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 5 Stars […]

[…] viewed post: Where the Crawdads Sing (day after day, week after week, and month after month, this is the most searched for and viewed […]

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing (Fiction) by Delia Owens and The Scent Keeper (Fiction) by Erica Bauermeister (especially for readers who are interested in unique coming of age stories) […]

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (contemporary fiction, against the odds, *trigger: child abandonment) My review. […]

[…] popular post: Where the Crawdads Sing Review (week after week and month after month since the pub date, Crawdads has been my number one search […]

[…] My Summary: Living in the marsh outside a quiet, small town on the coast of North Carolina, Kya Clark, later known as the “Marsh Girl,” is abandoned by her entire family and learns to survive in the marsh on her own from the age of ten. One by one her older siblings abandon the family, her mother leaves when Kya is about seven, and finally her father, a difficult, unreliable, and drunk man, leaves when she’s ten. Kya attends school for one day after a truant officer catches her. On that day, she is teased by the students, knows she’s hopelessly behind academically, and never returns. Preferring the isolation and safety of the marsh, she learns what she can through observing nature. Although she can survive on her own, she begins to long for companionship as she reaches her teen years. Two boys from town attract her attention. One of them turns up dead, and she is suspected of murder. The other becomes a life long supporter and friend. A coming of age story with a fair share of tragedy, mystery, and grit, this is an unforgettable read you’ll want to devour and recommend. My Review. […]

[…] Most viewed post: Where the Crawdads Sing  […]

[…] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (contemporary fiction, against the odds, *trigger: child abandonment) My review of Crawdads here. […]

[…] most viewed posts. In 2017 (blogged for 6 months): 2017 Really Recommendable Reads (views); in 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing (495 views); in 2019 Where the Crawdads Sing (7,777 views)….I’m […]

[…] a few of these great reads, and today I’m eager to share my review of the page-turning Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens….a story of […]

This sounds like it would be perfect for me, but there’s something that just makes me not want to bother… can’t put my finger on it, I’m afraid. (Too much hype, maybe?)

I’m sure it’s the hype! Maybe in a few years!

[…] and resilient, Yona is a complicated character and survivalist. At times, she reminds me of Kya in Where the Crawdads Sing. As she overcomes her shyness around people, Yona becomes a strong and wise leader and saves many […]

[…] swamp setting in Where the Crawdads Sing comes to mind when I think of atmospheric settings. Also, unforgettably atmospheric is the dust […]

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Books & Bordeaux

Book Reviews, Discussion Guides, and Wine-Book Pairings

“Call no man happy until he is dead. Herodotus.” Mr. Nancy raised a white eyebrow, and he said, “I’m not dead yet, and, mostly because I’m not dead yet, I’m happy as a clamboy.” “The Herodotus thing. It doesn’t mean that the dead are happy,” said Shadow. “It means that you can’t judge the shape of someone’s life until it’s over and done.”

• Historical Fiction
• wine: riesling

Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review: The Trials and Triumphs of a Life Lived on One’s Own Terms

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to fall in love with a swamp (!) Delia Owens breaks it down and convinces you to fall in love, as well.

Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. Slow-moving creeks wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace—as though not built to fly—against the roar of a thousand snow geese. Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing is a great book-club book because it explores several themes and is a bit divisive in terms of taste—both of which make the discussion richer ! As an added bonus, Delia Owens’ website has an entire Book Club Kit  which includes a discussion guide, an interview with Delia Owens, and Kya’s cookbook. Anytime I read a book that interests me, I go online to find more information, so I really appreciate that Owens took the extra step to create these resources. For our book club, I added some questions to address topics about the book and the author that we wanted to discuss. Our discussion for Crawdads was so fun and engaging. We may have spent half the time trying to determine if Owens intended to write about a murder in isolation—when she witnessed a real-life murder in isolation in Africa many years earlier.

Jump to Where the Crawdads Sing discussion questions

Consensus from our group re Crawdads is that some elements were successful and some were unsuccessful. Owens clearly loves nature, and we all appreciated that she could describe nature so beautifully. Owens was successful in another way, too: Kya’s story prompts the reader to ask big questions . For example, questions about the interactions of economic disparities and race, the trade-offs between living on your own terms and living in dangerous isolation, the merits of formal education versus an education through experience with the natural world, and how the pursuit of a higher understanding of our world can results in a higher understanding of ourselves.

Wine Selection & Tasting Notes

Lone Orchid Riesling. Scent: Starfruit, pineapple, green apple. The note of green apple continues on the palate, and sweetness and tang is reminiscent of a green apple jolly rancher–in a fun way!

Review cont.

Kya’s inner narration references the natural world again and again to explain her relationships and work through her problems. For anyone who has ever taken a moment to appreciate the quiet calm that the natural world can bring to the noise of competing worries inside your mind, you will absolutely love how Owens describes Kya’s experience with nature.

As she pushed off, she knew no one would ever see this sandbar again. The elements had created a brief and shifting smile of sand, angled just so. The next tide, the next current would design another sandbar, and another, but never this one. Not the one who caught her. The one who told her a thing or two.

An unsuccessful element of Crawdads is the amount of telling versus showing that occurs with increasing frequency the further along you get in the novel. Our group also felt that the pacing dragged in the middle. But one of my biggest issues with the story is with the main mystery…

Any plot or style contentions aside, the ethereal descriptions of nature and Kya’s connection to the land are undeniably beautiful, and they permeate the novel. Crawdads is primarily this: a depiction of life lived on one’s own terms. And in that way, it is very well done.

She strolled like a sleepwalker as the moon pulled herself naked from the waters and climbed limb by limb through the oaks. The slick mud of the lagoon shore glowed in the intense light, and hundreds of fireflies dotted the woods. Wearing a secondhand white dress with a flowing skirt and waving her arms slowly about, Kya waltzed to the music of katydids and leopard frogs.

Where the Crawdads Sing Discussion Questions

• Coming Soon!

Review: Where the Crawdads Sing

Well, it finally happened: After months of waiting on the library list for Where the Crawdads Sing  by Delia Owens, my number came up. Yep, this best-selling hyped up literary fiction read was finally in my hands. Huzzah! Here’s what I thought about it.

The Plot Summary

For those who don’t know what this one’s about, I’ll give you a brief overview (without giving anything away). The basic premise is that a young girl (Kya) living in the marshlands of the North Carolina coast is left by her family to fend for herself. Her youngest years were spent with an abusive father, which is what causes her family members (starting with her mother) to leave. Eventually, it’s just her and her father left. He spends a little time trying to better himself and be a father to her, but slides back to the drink and then leaves too. Kya grows up fending for herself in her shack, uneducated and mostly alone.

More about the book :

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.

My Thoughts

This book starts off super slow. To be honest, for about the first third-to-half of the book, I didn’t understand what people were talking about when they went on about how good it was. Sure, there are some beautiful passages about nature and life among it, but the plot is pretty slow. It’s a long book, too, so you look at how far you are and think “hm, is this going to pick up at some point?”.

Of course, I do enjoy character-driven novels (such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ), but for some reason that first bit of this book was soo slow. I think maybe it was the anticipation of the whatever it was that was going to happen to make the book best-seller worthy!

Anyway, when the plot finally did pick up, I didn’t want to put the book down. The whodunnit part of the plot starts to get pretty intense, leading to a whole bunch of happenings that kept me super engaged. Combine all of that with the truly gorgeous passages about nature, human nature, growing up, and loneliness, and this book really sucked me in.

Here’s one particular passage I highlighted:

Kya stood and walked into the night, into the creamy light of a three-quarter moon. The marsh’s soft air fell silklike around her shoulders. The moonlight chose an unexpected path through the pines, laying shadows about in rhymes. She strolled like a sleepwalker as the moon pulled herself naked from the waters and climbed limb by limb through the oaks. The slick mud of the lagoon shore glowed in the intense light, and hundreds of fireflies dotted the woods. Wearing a secondhand white dress with a flowing skirt and waving her arms slowly about, Kya waltzed to the music of katydids and leopard frogs.

Does Where the Crawdads Sing live up to the hype?

For me, yes, it did. Although it was dragging for me at first, the way the plot picks up and climaxes and the way the book ends pulled me in so hard, I fell in love with it. Looking back at the book as a whole, I think it’s okay that it starts off so slow. There’s so much character development there, so much backstory, so many necessary words.

If you’re a literary fiction lover, I think you’ll eat this one up. If you’re reading it for the whodunnit, you might be disappointed. For me, 5 stars, would recommend!

Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Karen Russell,  Where the Crawdads Sing  is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

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[…] Literary Quicksand […]

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