I wasn't planning on reading this book, but a friend of mine liked it and thought I would, too. He even lent it to me, so I kind of had to read it.

Abandoned at a young age, Kya managed to survive on her own in the North Carolina marshlands. She was rejected by most of the people in the nearby town, so she spent almost all of her time alone in the marsh. Most of the book switches between Kya's life during the '50s & '60s and a murder investigation & trial in '69/'70.

I wasn't expecting to like this book, but I ended up invested in the story. I felt really bad for Kya and I wanted good things for her. Also, the parts about the marshlands were really interesting.

This has some tough subject matter. Child abuse, abandonment, isolation, attempted rape, and hostility by a community towards a child. ( )

I hardly ever write long book reviews, but this one compels me to do so. It was on my TBR list, but then I started seeing a lot of 1 star reviews. Wow, when people don’t like this book, they really hate it. So I decided not to read it. But then Target had a B2G1 sale so I picked it up. It was free. I’m so glad I did.
The protagonist, Kya, is a totally likable character. She’s been used, abused, abandoned and neglected by virtually everyone in her life, but she is a survivor with a reasonable amount of bitterness,anger and distrust which drives many of her decisions.. Not so much that she’s unlikable. I felt her character was well fleshed out and I could understand the reason behind some of her self-defeating actions. Another well drawn character was Tate, even though I wanted to wring his neck and push him off the boat. One gets the impression from reading this book that the author, Delia Owens, must really hate men because there’s not a single redeeming male figure in the story with the exception of Jumpin’. Jumpin was kind, compassionate and consistent - which is why I thought Jumpin’ was the killer, because no man is that good.
The plot: I read all 368 pages straight through, so there’s that. I really, really wanted to know who the killer was, even though I thought I knew (I didn’t), I wanted to find out if Kya was ever going to lift herself out of her self-imposed isolation of the swamp, I wanted so badly to know that she finally finds acceptance and trust and love. Which brings me to the improbable plot elements that so many 1-star reviewers have complained about. This is a work of fiction. I’m perfectly fine with stretching belief for the sake of a good story. It wasn’t that big of a stretch, anyway. ( If you want to talk about improbable plot elements, read The Count of Monte Cristo. Laughably improbable, but rip-roaring fun.) So just be aware that this book is about a little girl who is abandoned in the marshes of North Carolina and manages to care for herself and survive with very little outside help for her whole life. If that’s too fantastical for you then you probably will be joining the 1-star reviewers.
The setting/place: Oh, yeah. This is where Ms. Owens excels. While people with short attention spans might find the narration of life in the marsh tedious, I found it beautiful. I’ve lived in Louisiana and spent some time on the bayous, and this took me back. I could smell the sharp, tangy scent of decay, I could feel the salt and humidity on my skin and could hear the deafening silence. Part of the narrative reminded me a bit of Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides, so there’s that.
Language: This is probably Ms Owens’ weakest area. Ms Owens should never, ever, EVER write in dialect again. I'm giving her a pass on this though. It's almost impossible to write in southern dialect without coming off sounding like a mockery. Steinbeck could do it. Faulkner could do it. Everyone else should just step away. I suspect a lot of the 1-star reviewers are pissed-off Carolinians furious at how she butchered the dialect. What she wrote is unlike any dialect I've ever heard. In places the dialogue wasn’t realistic and I wasn’t sure if this was because Kya, being isolated all her life, wasn’t accustomed to conversation with another human, or if it was the writing. I liked the story a lot better when nobody was talking. That being said, there were some places where I had to close the book and quietly muse on Kya’s latest idea or thought.
WHODUNNIT??? **spoiler spoiler spoiler**
In most mysteries, the author usually causes the character who appears to be the most guilty and has the best motive to be innocent and the killer is a secondary character. Which is why I immediately dismissed Kya as the killer. She was drenched in guilt and certainly had motive. I was sure the killer was Tate. Then I was absolutely positive the killer was Jumpin’. So I didn’t see the ending coming because it was so obvious. Thinking back though, Kya had fended for herself, protected herself and relied on herself all her life. Why should she have needed anyone else’s help taking care of Chase?
I'll wrap this up by saying this book made me very hungry. Grits. Ham. Black eyed peas. Biscuits. One of my favorite lines was young Kya saying "I may not know much, but I know you can't have grits without salt." So true. ( )

The book that never ends. Every time I thought the story was going to wrap up, it just kept going. I wasn't a fan of the mixture of genres that went on in the book and I found most of the story hard to believe. The writing was good, but I just never felt motivated to actually read this book. I found that I just wanted to get it over with and move on. ( )

Loved this book so much. A fascinating study of the natural world and a profound meditation on loneliness and longing. ( )

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
Print: COPYRIGHT: 8/14/2018; PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam's Sons; ISBN 978-0735219090; PAGES 370; Unabridged
Digital: Yes (There’s a nice map of the marsh at the beginning)

*Audio: COPYRIGHT: 8/14/18; ISBN: 978-0525640394; PUBLISHER: Books on Tape; DURATION: 12:18:24; PARTS:11; File Size: 351604 KB; Unabridged

Feature Film or tv: Yes. Same title. Released in the United States on July 15, 2022, by Sony Pictures Releasing under Columbia Pictures.

SERIES: No

CHARACTERS: (Not comprehensive)
Chase Andrews – Local boy, football star
Katharine (Kya) Clark (“Marsh Girl”)– A girl who grew up on the marsh
Jodie Clark - Kya's brother
Tate Walker - Jodie's friend

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: I saw the movie and knowing that the books are usually better than the movies, unless the book is based on the movie instead of visa-versa, I decided to listen to the book as well.
What’s it about? A girl who grows up on the Marsh. She’s abandoned by family members one-by-one and must fend for herself from a young age. By the time she comes of age, she is attached to her home, surroundings, and even to her isolation. The dangerous part of her situation isn’t so much the wild environment, but the nearby community that she must learn to protect herself from.
What did I think? Very good. Made me wish the character was based on someone real so I could find her books on the marsh!

AUTHOR:
Delia Owens
From Wikipedia –
“(born c. 1949)[1] is an American author, zoologist, and conservationist. She is best known for her 2018 novel Where the Crawdads Sing.

Owens was born and raised in Southern Georgia, where she spent most of her life in or near true wilderness. At such an early age, Delia always knew she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. However, by the time she started college, Owens decided to tackle a career in science instead of literature. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of Georgia, and a PhD in animal behavior from the University of California, Davis. [2]

Owens met her husband, Mark, in a protozoology class at the University of Georgia when they were both graduate students studying biology.[3] They married in 1973, and a year later boarded a plane to South Africa to begin their research studying animals in the Kalahari Desert and Zambia. She recounted this period in her memoirs Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna.[4] The couple were expelled from Botswana and are wanted for questioning in Zambia in relation to a murder investigation. They are no longer married. Since returning to the United States, Delia Owens has been involved in bear conservation.

Her debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, was released in 2018. It was a major success and went on to become one of the best-selling books of all time. It was adapted into a 2022 film of the same name.”

NARRATOR:
Cassandra Campbell
From Goodreads___
“Cassandra Campbell is an actress, director, and teacher as well as an accomplished voice-over artist. Voice credits include numerous books on tape, documentaries and commercials in both Italian and English. As an actress she has performed in New York at the Public Theatre, the Mint Theatre, and the Clurman as well as many others. Regional work includes StageWest, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, Millmountain Theatre, and The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she a faculty member at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.”

GENRE:
Fiction; Literature; Mystery

LOCATIONS:
Barkley Cove, North Carolina

TIME FRAME:
1952 - 1969

SUBJECTS:
Murder; families; nature; isolation; prejudice; poverty; marsh life

DEDICATION:
“To Amanda, Margaret, and Barbara
Here’s to’d ya
If I never see’d ya
I never knowed ya.
I see’d ya
I knowed ya
I loved ya
Forever.”

SAMPLE QUOTATION: (From the Prologue)

“Marsh is not swamp. 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.
Then within the marsh, here and there, true swamp crawls into low-lying bogs, hidden in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat. Even night crawlers are diurnal in this lair. There are sounds, of course, but compared to the marsh, the swamp is quiet because decomposition is cellular work. Life decays and reeks and returns to the rotted duff; a poignant wallow of death begetting life.
On the morning of October 30, 1969, the body of Chase Andrews lay in the swamp, which would have absorbed it silently, routinely. Hiding it for good. A swamp knows all about death, and doesn’t necessarily define it as tragedy, certainly not a sin. But this morning two boys from the village rode their bikes out to the old fire tower and, from the third switchback, spotted his denim jacket.”

RATING:.
5

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
11-12-2022 to 11-20-2022 ( )