From the Bookshelf of Retro Chapter Chicks …

Where the Crawdads Sing

Delia Owens

Start date: April 1, 2020

Finish date: April 30, 2020

Discussion: Chapter Chick Reading

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Chapter Chick Reading

September-October 2025: The River Knows Your Name
By Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴… , Founding Retro Chick · 1 post · 8 views

last updated Aug 23, 2025 07:26PM

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What Members Thought

Feb 16, 2019 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, library-book

Fantastic narrator!

Beautiful and sad!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾 ...more

202 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2020 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, america, fiction, mystery, nature, animals, retro-chapter

RATING: 4.5 STARS

I love Reese Witherspoon, especially since she is a big reader, but her book picks aren't always ones I want to run out and read. I often put hyped-but-still-interested books, later on my list to read, once the hoopla dies down. I am usually in the minority when it comes to popular books - at least rating/reviwing-wise. While I wanted to read Where the Crawdads Sing, I was also scared I was not going to like it. Phew, this book exceeded my expectations. Owens writes so beautiful ...more

43 likes · Like · see review

Aug 24, 2019 Celia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction-read, 2019-read, ten-year-challenge, stellar-recs, kindle-list, recommended-read, book-club

Kya Clark, aka The Marsh Girl, was abandoned by her entire family by the time she was 10. First her mother, fleeing an abusive husband. Then her three oldest siblings, fleeing an abusive father. That left only her and her youngest sibling, Jodie, until HE couldn't take it any more. Then she was alone in the marshes of NC, to fend for herself.

Thankfully there were a few people who cared for her. Jumpin' and Mabel, who owned the Gas n Bait in Barkley Cove, gave her food and found clothes. Tate, he ...more

37 likes · Like · see review

Mar 24, 2022 debbicat *made of stardust* rated it really liked it

Shelves: buddy-read, audio-book, spring-retro-challenge-22, spring-retro-chicks-challenge

This was a buddy read with Terry. My sister recommended this book to me recently. I have been on the fence about it since it came out. Now that it is a movie 🎥 I couldn’t resist reading and I’m glad I did. I’ll offer more of a review soon. Kya is a character you won’t ever forget.

31 likes · Like · see review

Nov 03, 2019 Celia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-read, ten-year-challenge, historical-fiction-read

This is my second go-around this year for this gripping novel. This time I LISTENED to the story read so beautifully by Cassandra Campbell.

I must admit the book took on a different tone for me because I know how it ends. But that knowledge did not detract from the charming descriptions of nature provided by Ms Owens. I liked hearing them even better than reading them!!

Now I know that Kya is pronounced with a long I instead of a long E. Ah, the rewards of listening.

I strongly recommend listening ...more

23 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2019 Book Concierge rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, coming-of-age, murder, nature, north-carolina, book-club, historical-fiction, concierge, strong-women, library

Digital audio performed by Cassandra Campbell
2.5**

In the small North Carolina coastal town of Barkley Cove, everyone knows about the “Marsh Girl.” Kya Clark was abandoned, first by her mother, then by her older siblings, and finally by her father. Left to her own devices since the age of ten, she’s learned to fend for herself and keep away from any authority figures who might want to force her to go to school. But when Chase Andrews, the former football star, is found dead at the base of a tow Digital audio performed by Cassandra Campbell
2.5**

In the small North Carolina coastal town of Barkley Cove, everyone knows about the “Marsh Girl.” Kya Clark was abandoned, first by her mother, then by her older siblings, and finally by her father. Left to her own devices since the age of ten, she’s learned to fend for herself and keep away from any authority figures who might want to force her to go to school. But when Chase Andrews, the former football star, is found dead at the base of a tower, the sheriff suspects he’s been murdered, and attention is drawn to Marsh Girl.

I found this intriguing and interesting. I loved Owens’ descriptions of the marsh and the marvels of the natural world. And I appreciated Kya’s and Tate’s reverence for the ecosystem that the marsh provides.

I was invested in Kya’s story from the beginning, and her loneliness was practically tangible. I marveled at her resilience and intelligence; the way she learned to cook and to fend for herself. Yes, she had some help. Loved Jumpin’ - the proprietor of the local gas station / bait shop – and his wife Mabel who stepped in when they noticed the waif being on her own and simply offered her the assistance she so clearly needed. No questions asked and no payment expected. I also really liked the way that Tate slowly gained her trust and confidence, and the way he encouraged and supported her efforts to learn more about the flora and fauna of the marsh, not to mention teaching her to read and providing her with books so she could begin to educate herself.

However, this is where things got a little too unbelievable and soap-opera-ish for me. I kept wondering where everyone else in town was. Okay, Kya hid from the truant officer, but what about the other townspeople? Was there no kind librarian, teacher, minister, doctor, church lady who might recognize her distress and offer help? Seems that everyone knew about “the marsh girl” but no one, save Tate and Jumpin’, stepped in to help her. They simply labeled her and looked down on her as “trash.”

And then we have the whole murder mystery and the trial. After all that drama the ending seeming rather anti-climactic. If I had been reading the text, I may have just thrown it at the wall.

Cassandra Campbell does a fine job narrating the audiobook. She is an accomplished narrator, and I like the way she voiced the many characters. I’d give her 4**** for her performance. I wish she’d had better material to interpret in this case.
...more

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Nov 30, 2018 Lory Sakay rated it it was ok

Shelves: book-club-reads

I gave this a 3 because it wasn't boring but I had similar hangups that other critics have mentioned. It was quite unbelievable that Kya was truly able to raise herself and survive on her own...and yet be so civilized, and remain physically healthy, once her father left. I also felt there was a huge discrepancy in her character development. Owens portrayed her as very simple, basic, and rough around the edges girl yet she wrote poetry, was able to conceive a very intricate and deceitful plan, an ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Apr 22, 2020 Maureen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, favorite-audio, nyt-best-books-21-centuty

This is Kya’s story of survival. Kya is abandoned first by her mother and then by her siblings.. She is left to fend for herself in the North Carolina marshlands. Kya is only 6 years of age and is left in the care of her abusive and alcoholic father. Her father is hardly ever in the shack they call home.
He finally disappears himself. Kya doesn’t understand why everyone abandons her.
The marsh becomes her life. She has very little human contact except for Jumpin and Mabel his wife. Tate a childho ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Jul 06, 2019 Tasha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites-2019, historical-fiction, audio-reads

This one lives up to the hype! I grew to love 'the marsh girl' (Kya) whose real name is Catherine. The writing is just beautiful and the mystery is really good! I just looked up the author's bio and see she is a wildlife scientist who has previously published some non-fiction books about wildlife and natural settings. This explains the gorgeous setting of Where the Crawdads Sing and the beautiful biology related writing woven throughout the story. I loved it. I did this read as an audio and high ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jun 05, 2023 Theresa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pets-wildlife-animals, highly-recommended-by-me, coming-of-age, contemporary-mystery, z-dragon-hop, debut, country-life, science-climate, z-pop-sugar-2023-reading-challenge, z-2023-top-10

...what she wondered was why no one took her with them...

This is the story of Kya a/ka/ Catherine Danielle Clark a/k/a The Marsh Girl who from the age of 6 is isolated and alone in the marshes of North Carolina, the prejudice of locals towards 'swamp trash' and her own shyness and fears leading to a deeper and deeper isolation. "Please don't talk to me about isolation. No one has to tell me how it changes a person. I have lived it. I am isolation." It's initially set in 1969/1970 when the body o ...what she wondered was why no one took her with them...

This is the story of Kya a/ka/ Catherine Danielle Clark a/k/a The Marsh Girl who from the age of 6 is isolated and alone in the marshes of North Carolina, the prejudice of locals towards 'swamp trash' and her own shyness and fears leading to a deeper and deeper isolation. "Please don't talk to me about isolation. No one has to tell me how it changes a person. I have lived it. I am isolation." It's initially set in 1969/1970 when the body of the local 'golden boy King of the World' is found, follows a murder investigation and ultimate trial in which the swamp and suspicion falls on The Marsh Girl as somehow being involved in what happened. In flashback chapters, Kya's story is told, from 1952 when her mother leaves the family (Kya is 6) and beyond, with the sequence of the stories overlapping then merging. Interwoven are themes of abandonment, abuse, loneliness, prejudice, family, bigotry, forgiveness, and survival.

There is also great beauty and poetry. The passages about the marsh, its wildlife, environment, and ecology, are exquisite, bringing home how intertwined Kya and the marsh become, I can't leave the gulls, the heron, the shack. The marsh is all the famly I got." The setting is so evocative and present, you hear the beat of the gulls' wings, the sound of the waves on the shore, that soft humm of insects among the grasses. From a young child, Kya was encouraged to explore the marsh "Go as far as you can --way out yonder where the crawdads sing." ... Just means far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters..." The writing flows, keeping the story moving, the setting keeping you centered in an environment. I really liked the murder investigation and trial, finding it a welcome plot around which all the themes and characters and setting revolve. It made it feel set in a real world, a place and story you could have experienced during the 1950s/60s. It also allowed for surprises and plot twists that enlivened the last quarter of the book.

Lastly, it's a beautiful love story -- one of the heart directed to family, others, nature. All told it's an easy engaging read, surprisingly warm and light considering many of the tough themes addressed. A number of classics came to mind as I read it. This is very much a modernization of books like The Jungle Book and Tarzan of the Apes where a child is essentially abandoned to be 'raised by wolves' which led to thoughts about automatic rejection based on simply being different in some way, failing to conform. The treatment of Kya by the locals brings to mind Frankenstein: The 1818 Text and had me thinking about the importance of socialization and nurture. Unexpectedly, once the trial section is reached, I kept thinking about Anatomy of a Murder and in fact I envisioned the trial's defense counsel as an older Jimmy Stewart!

I was 100% behind Kya throughout the book, cheering her success as an artist and writer. I just wish her books really existed.

...more

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Apr 13, 2020 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu rated it really liked it

Loved how nature is described in the book, definitely a strong point. I would have loved to have seen drawings included into the story. The story reminds me of different books that I've read so there is some limits to it's originality. For instance:
The main character reminds me a bit of the main character, Victoria, in The Language of Flowers. The trial and hostility in the town towards Kya reminds me of a page taken from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Overall, a turn pager that was well written.
...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 23, 2020 ˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜ rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, in-person-book-club

I enjoyed reading this book. The descriptions of the marsh habitat are beautiful. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the time and energy to look at things without the busyness of life getting in the way.

The story is about a girl. This girl meets a boy, who if a movie is made, will have to wear the white hat. The girl meets another boy who will have to wear the black hat. It’s a work of fiction. Just go in knowing that you’ll need to stretch your brain a little and maybe a lot, to not get distracted wit ...more

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