Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

To say the least, the month of September has been jam-packed and I’ve been movin’ and groovin’ at a healthy pace. Thank God for coffee and a sense of humor.

So what have I been utilizing like no other? Audio books! You guys, I’m still in awe of the fact that I haven’t jumped on this miraculous invention until my 30th year of life. Truly tragic when I think of all the books I haven’t yet indulged in because of my lack-luster reading speed.

I hit the library jackpot a few weeks ago and was able to snatch up Where the Crawdads Sing without having to end up on the dreaded Waiting List. Praise the Book Gods. And I can tell you right now, it was amazing and definitely one of the best books I’ve read in 2018.

This is a Southern coming of age mystery, set in the marshlands of North Carolina and spanning the late 1950s to the 1990s. The reader follows the life of Kya Clark, a girl raised by nature in a world that keeps pushing her away.

At the beginning of the book, Kya and her family are painted as isolated hillbilly’s who have been ostracized by society because of their alcoholic father and their lack of ties to the town. Kya is the youngest in her broad of brothers and sisters and as she’s being introduced to the reader, her mother is walking away down the road with a suitcase.

As time goes on all of her brothers and sisters, and eventually her abusive father, slip away from the marsh, leaving Kya to fend for herself. As she grows up, she becomes better known as the Marsh Girl; a peculiar young woman living in the backwoods alone, without any formal schooling or intrinsic value to her community. Kya is viewed with fascination and disdain in equal measure; a constant source of torment-fueled entertainment for the town kids and speculation for everyone else.

Kya is a remarkably resilient and self-reliant character. These qualities are a necessity for her to be able to survive the rugged and ruthless wilderness she calls home, without the love and support of a family or her community. She forms bonds and alliances with a character called Jumpin’, an African-American shop owner,  and another character called Tate, an empathetic, bookish town boy. Through these relationships, she grows and is exposed to the beauty of humanity and all the things that have been unfairly denied to her.

A popular man in the community named Chase is found dead at the beginning of the story and the lines that bind him to Kya place her in the crosshairs of vicious gossip and suspicion. The timeframe switches from present to past and the reader is able to see how all these tangled lives are interwoven through the years. How one action, word or mistake can change the entire path one chooses to take…

This was a truly well-written book. Kya is a remarkable character. Her struggles, her fearlessness and her sheer refusal to be a victim of her circumstance are powerful and admirable. Her demeanor may appear quiet and unassuming, but Kya’s indomitable spirit shines throughout the story, at all points of her journey. Her brilliance and passion for the wetlands she lives in is captivating as well. I found myself even more drawn to her because of her fervor for the plants and animals surrounding her home, because of the companionship she’d formed with them throughout her life and her need for connection.

The mystery of Chase’s death is intense as well, and the witch hunt to prove Kya’s guilt was equal parts enraging and spine-tingling.  I would highly recommend this book for people who enjoy southern mysteries, books that span a lifetime, and stories where the underdog comes out swinging. It’s very much in line with a few classics I love, that I will include below.

If this is a book that sounds up your alley, you can find it here:

Other books you may enjoy are:

Happy & healthy reading!

Alexis

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