Where the Crawdads Sing | Book Review

【 WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING 】

A simple story with a lot of heart and an excellent tale to make you think.

Genre: Fiction
Author: Delia Owens
Published: August 2018
Publisher: Corsair
Pages: 368 (paperback)

Reading this when there’s been so much hype around it had me nervous for sure. So I’m glad to report that I enjoyed it. It’s not quite what I expected but I thought the way Kya’s world was constructed by the author was fascinating.

It’s a beautiful story of abandonment, love, family and prejudice, and I really think Owens brought out all these themes really well. I had anticipated that this would read more like a thriller than it did, but in some ways it felt like the danger that Kya was facing was not all-defining of who she was, but a simple reality – and that sense was captured in the atmosphere of the book.

Speaking of atmosphere, that was my favourite thing about this book. The visualisations of the marsh, the things Kya does and sees, were superb. Particularly paired with the work she does later in the book, it made me fall in love with the setting (and I can’t wait to see how it’s represented in the movie!)

Without giving anything away, I also really loved Tate in this book and the role he has to play. Especially when juxtaposed to Kya’s expectations of people and his resolution to get through to her. Jumpin’ was my next favourite character, and I enjoyed the way Owens has commented on prejudice by heavily drawing that comparison for readers between the treatment of African Americans at this time, and the way Kya is received by the community.

Overall I thought this was great. It didn’t blow my mind, I didn’t necessarily know how it was going to end, but I wasn’t completely surprised either. Well worth reading in my opinion!