Where the Crawdads Sing
Where the Crawdads Sing was written by Delia Owens. It has already received well-earned praise. A New York Times Bestseller. Chosen for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club. And several other accolades.
Somehow it went under my radar. It sometimes concerns me that I can be unaware of such great stories—there are just so many great books that must be read. Where the Crawdads Sing is a beautiful coming of age story told in sequence with a murder mystery.
Delia Owens has accomplished something magical with her first novel. She is otherwise known for writing nonfiction. Her expertise and love of nature is expressed poetically in the book’s heroine—Kye. A girl born and raised by the marsh. She is abandoned at a young age and must fend for herself, until two chances for love and connection arise.
However, there was one thing that bothered me about the book. And that is the singular focus it gives to the love stories, later in the book. As Kya grows, she meets and falls in love with two boys in her life. There is a bit of a love triangle set up, making the reader wonder who she will choose. However, since the novel does not take a lot of time explaining their story or motives, other than a wonderous fascination with the mysterious “Marsh Girl,” it was hard for me to connect with either boy. They both felt dull in comparison to Kya. It seemed as though she fell in love with them because they happened to be the only two people she ever knew outside of her family. I did not feel concerned for her love life, relative to the time and significance the novel gives it.
My favorite parts of the book had Kya alone, working things out on her own.
When the boys came into play, it felt a little like a movie/book trope that bothers me: Naïve wild girl falls for teacher. Think Leeloo from the Fifth Element falling for Bruce Willis. The mermaid from Splash falling in love with Tom Hanks. In this book, one boy is mean and manipulative; he is more obviously taking advantage of Kya’s naivety. But there does not seem to be any reason for Kya to fall for even the good guy Tate, other than he was there first. Only much later in the book does he do anything to stand out and support Kya, but it was a little late for me to care about him.
It is being made into a film, and I am excited to see who gets to play Kya. It is such a great character. Not just a girl in the wild, but a survivor with complex motivations and trauma. I am interested in seeing if the book will transfer well to film.
