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Where the Crawdads Sing

Delia Owens

Start date: September 1, 2019

Finish date: September 30, 2019

Discussion: September 2019

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Showing 2 of 5 topics — 11 comments total

September 2019

Where the Crawdads Sing
By Tina , Creator · 7 posts · 21 views

last updated Sep 04, 2025 02:16PM

The Picture of Dorian Gray
By Tina , Creator · 1 post · 4 views

last updated Sep 02, 2019 03:21PM

What Members Thought

Oct 12, 2019 Tina Haigler rated it it was ok · review of another edition

"Marsh is not swamp."

Unfortunately, I am in the minority that didn't fall in love with this book. The sadness was too over the top, the writing too flowery, the plot was a bit haphazard, the Amanda Hamilton poems sprinkled here and there made me roll my eyes more often than not, and the ending didn't feel true to the character at all. Reading it was easy enough, and I was interested, but I felt sadness and anger more than anything. To be honest, I'm still a little irked about it all. So let "Marsh is not swamp."

Unfortunately, I am in the minority that didn't fall in love with this book. The sadness was too over the top, the writing too flowery, the plot was a bit haphazard, the Amanda Hamilton poems sprinkled here and there made me roll my eyes more often than not, and the ending didn't feel true to the character at all. Reading it was easy enough, and I was interested, but I felt sadness and anger more than anything. To be honest, I'm still a little irked about it all. So let me elaborate.

The sadness permeated the book from the beginning, but the fancy writing, as well as the continuous personification of the marsh, constantly clashed with the emotion we were supposed to be feeling. It was like the tone of the book and the actual printed words simply didn't mesh. The conflicting signals made it hard for me to concentrate on and absorb the descriptions of the marsh. As far as the plot goes, it jumped back and forth in time, and it wasn't necessarily in order. At first it jumped between Kya's childhood, and the discovery of the body, and stayed in chronological order for a while, but then the timeline switch would become wherever the author felt like going at the moment. I'm not a big fan of jumping back and forth, but when it's done right, it doesn't take away from the story. This was not one of those times. The poems were incessant and always by the same made-up poet. I would've enjoyed poetry here and there by different people, but the poetry in this case was underwhelming and unwanted. Then the ending was such complete bullshit, it aggravated me. It felt completely wrong and left a lot of unanswered questions. The only things I actually liked about this were the characters of Kya and Tate, and learning about the marsh.

There are tons of people who loved it, but I have to say that I wouldn't really recommend it. I don't regret reading it, but I didn't enjoy it either. However, if you like reading sad books, want your time scrambled, or don't have a long reading list, go ahead and read it. If you are like me, and that's not your cup of tea, I would have to advise you to pass on this one.

"Way out yonder, where the crawdads sing." ...more

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Apr 24, 2019 Chantal rated it it was amazing

Shelves: new-york-bestseller-list-read, ebook-nl

Oh wow, I have finished this book, I am speechless. I loved the story from the first pages, I couldn't stop reading it. What a beautiful natural written story about love, abandonment, finding who you truly are and where do we fit in this world. I was worried it might be overhyped, but it fulfilled and I even had to cry at the end of the book. If you like storytelling, this is the book for you. Worth all the 5 points and every book should be like this book!

...more

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May 20, 2019 Robin rated it liked it · review of another edition

so this book started off really slowly for me but it definitely got more intersting as it went on. with everything the main character Kya went through she certainly led an interesting life. she was victimized throughout the book (except for that one major part when the roles of victim and taunter are reversed of course). (view spoiler) so this book started off really slowly for me but it definitely got more intersting as it went on. with everything the main character Kya went through she certainly led an interesting life. she was victimized throughout the book (except for that one major part when the roles of victim and taunter are reversed of course). (view spoiler)[

she didnt ask to be born or deserve to be abandoned at such a young age when she could barely take care of herself. she has to learn how to do so pretty quickly in order to survive. i couldnt believe how everyone in her family could do that to her. she longed for someone to stay and love her and i hated when Tate abandoned her, too, and i do believe Chase actually also cared about her. each of them offered companionship at one point and abandonment at another. she represented someone different which is part of why both of them, though they did care about her, also didn't fully accept her. Tate shows this when he goes off to college then decides they can't be together anymore and then Chase also does the same thing by not bringing her to dances and dating other girls publicly while still secretly seeing Kya. i hated how both of them treated her because they were too afraid of what other people would think and how it attributed to Kya's loneliness. i also felt bad for her when she is also victimized by Chase leading her on with his lies and attempted rape when she declined his advances. then because i didn't honestly think she was capable of murder i felt she was also victimized when she was arrested without any REAL evidence. i was glad she wasn't found guilty and impressed that she made a life as a successful author considering she didn't go to school and i was glad she finally found happiness with Tate and Jodie and his family.

and i am not condoning murder by any means, but with all she went through it was kind of nice for her that she wasn't found guilty and that she found happiness eventually. but i think part of how i can feel that way is also because i honestly thought she was set up and had no part in Chase's death. i found it interesting that because of how she learned through watching creatures mate and interact that she didn't think there was anything wrong with what she did. the female creatures were dominant and several of them actually killed the male creature after mating so it made sense to her to do likewise and apparently she was also a lot smarter than most people gave her credit for because she came up with a very elaborate plan that seemed almost impossible to pull off, yet somehow she did and managed to get away with it. the fact that she got away with it, not sure that i am okay with that, but i am glad that the book did end with closure so we weren't left hanging and wondering what the real truth was. i was worried that was going to happen. (hide spoiler)]

overall this was an interesting read and different from the types of books i usually pick. it was chosen as a book of the month in one of the communities i am in and i dont know if i wouldve chosen it on my own, but i am glad to have read it. ...more

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