Where the Crawdads Sing: Reese's Book Club

This is a really great debut novel by Delia Owens. What I liked most about this fine novel is the writing style. The author's style is picturesque and has a flow to it. It is clearly written, but is not a light read. It is the kind of book I needed to give my full attention. The story involves two separate time lines that slowly weave together. The protagonist is a young lady who has a difficult childhood and who learns to cope with life on her own terms. As I stated above the writing is often exquisite. Although very good, the story itself is not quite as good as the writing. But the writing is so great that for the story to be as great as the writing would make this one of the greatest novels ever written. I would not go that far. But the book overall is excellent. As is often the case I listened to the audiobook while simultaneously reading the book on Kindle. The narrator is Cassandra Campbell. The audiobook is as excellent, and is worthy of the writing. I have what I refer to as a "flawed inner narrator". As such the audiobook was really worth the extra expense to me. **** Above, I have tried to avoid references to the story, one may wish to skip the below until after reading the book. **** If one has already decided to read the book, one may wish to skip this part. I will try to remain vague. There were parts of this story the seemed unlikely to me. When one parent departs and goes to her family, they seem to make no attempt to find her children. As a grandfather, this is unthinkable to me. Supposedly there were some threats. That would mean nothing to me. There is also a violent felony mystery within the story. As a retired detective, there were parts of that episode that I found completely outside my personal experience. I am not saying the matter could not be resolved, but they did not even come close. It is not that really amateur hour police work never occurs, it does. But a case that weak does not go to trial, especially with the potential penalty involved. It was more like a civil trial than a criminal trial. I suppose those were the parts of the story that were most unrealistic to me and bothered me the most. It is the WRITING that I found most compelling. And most of the story is really quite good. ***** End of discussion of the story itself. ***** In summary, I felt this is a really great reading experience. I am so glad that I had a chance to read this book. I absolutely intend to read her next novel should there be one. As I compose this review there is no second novel of which I am aware. Should there be one, I will seek a copy immediately. Thank You...

The Australian media broadcaster ABC through ABC Radio National, is currently asking readers for their choices for the top 100 Books of the 21st Century. Hundreds if not thousands of votes have already been received and avid readers are sharing their picks on The ABC Book Club facebook page. Having seen countless numbers of readers selecting Wherer the Crawdads Sing, I decided to buy it and am so very, very glad I did. It is beautifully written and a fabulous story about a young girl's unfortunate, dysfunctional family and her strength and perseverance in overcoming immense odds to not only reach adulthood, but become a shining example of never giving up. With a strong emphasis on preserving and appreciating the beautiful harmony of the environment, it gives an insight into the balance required for all lifeforms - humans included - in marsh/swamp/sea environments. The main characters are wonderfully crafted and they come to life throughout the book - which really was a page turner and hard to put down! I am feeling quite bereft since finishing it - it was such a thoroughly enjoyable, engaging book. It will be a very hard act to follow. Am hoping that Delia Owens writes more novels - I am very tempted to read her non-fiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist Can highly recommend it - would love to add it to my list of best 100 books of the 21st century - in fact I reckon I'd place it in the top 20!

Where the Crawdads Sing is an absolutely haunting and beautiful novel that stays with you long after the final page. While the 2022 movie adaptation was visually stunning, Delia Owens’ writing gives the story an extra layer of depth and emotional room to breathe that the film just couldn't match. The true heart of this book is Kya. Her fierce, free spirit and her raw survival instinct make her an unforgettable protagonist. The bond between her and Tate is beautifully drawn—built on mutual respect, a shared love for the wild coastal marsh, and a deep understanding of who Kya truly is. The book weaves together a rich love letter to nature, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a gripping courtroom drama. But it is the final act that seals it as a masterpiece. The ending is a absolute gut-punch—a stunning twist that I never saw coming, yet one that makes perfect sense when you look back at Kya’s life through the lens of nature's laws rather than society's. An incredible read that completely eclipses its film counterpart. Highly recommended!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens sat on my book shelf for months waiting patiently until I had the time and inclination to read. Highly recommended from friends, the book remained unopened. Then I attended a writer's workshop with several successful authors. A question asked of a local North Carolina bestselling author resulted in a wave of comments raising disdain for the acclaimed novel. Guess what I did when I came home? Right. I opened the book and dug into it. Before I heard one more comment--negative or positive--I needed to determine for myself what I thought about the book. Once started, I had to finish. Good sign. The language of the naturalist captured me in its net. I lost myself in the descriptions of island life off the coast of North Carolina where even the tiniest of creatures and the most obscure of flora received its due. The character of Kaya broke my heart in its innocence and cheered my heart for her resilience. Tension builds throughout as she learns more about the world away from her narrow experience with human life forms after abandonment by those who should have taken care of her. But...and this is a big one...this book published by G.P. Putnam's Sons contains some errors that should make the editors at the big house cringe and rush to correct. The first one that disappointed me occurred while the police chief and deputy sit after a long day of detective work to figure out who murdered a local man. They are on the deck of their station facing the marsh and then the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The author writes that the two are drinking a beer while watching the sunset. I read the line to my husband and asked him to tell me the location of the novel. "California," he replied. You'd think. But no. A simple, silly mistake that should have been caught and corrected. Then there are multiple references to folks in this small community heading on over to Asheville, North Carolina, as if it's just a short jaunt. Once it's when the father needs to check on his disability payments. In another instance, a mother wants a special gift, but the Ace Hardware near the island didn't carry it so she drives over to Asheville . Sorry, but Asheville may be recognizable to the rest of the country, but anyone who knows the area knows two things. Asheville isn't a big city nor the closest one to the coast. Try Raleigh or Charlotte for checking in the with the VA. Same with the Ace Hardware. I don't think a busy struggling mother would drive more than three hundred miles for a toy when other larger cities are much closer. The critics at the writing conference where I first heard of this complaint speculated that the publishers wanted to use a popular town as reference. But anyone who knows the state at all knows that Asheville is the furthermost city from the coast located in the western part of North Carolina. Fiction elaborates, exaggerates, enhances, and embellishes reality. But if an author uses real places, facts and details should be accurate. I usually put down books that contain such blatant errors. Fortunately, Ms. Owens created such an otherwise compelling read, I forgave and forged ahead to the end. I don't blame her. I blame her editors and proofreaders. I recommend reading the book and ignoring the stupid errors. It's worth it and captures the life teeming on the sea shores in all its bizarre, beautiful, and horrific glory. Click here for Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I loved this extraordinary book. Ms. Owens draws pictures with words that rivals paintbrush on canvas. In fact, the book is one long canvas of beautifully written words, page after page. One can feel Kya's isolation and pain, smell the marsh grasses and palmettos all while sneaking peeks at Big Red. I grew up with the adage "different strokes for different folks" so not everyone will enjoy WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING. Unfortunately, it is a tragedy that reading the classics (in addition to more entertaining "beach reads") is no longer a requirement or is not as strong as it once was. Reading many voices and genres contributes to an appreciation that staring at text messages won't necessarily satisfy. To be clear this is fiction and fiction always, always requires some suspending of belief. In this book, there are no car chases or major escape scenes or near misses for the detective or blown up cars so if action-packed is what one enjoys, then this book doubtless would not suit those readers. On the other hand consider this small literary passage from WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING: "She stared at dust motes, dancing silently in one direction as though following some dreamy leader. When they hit the shadows, they vanished. Without the sun they are nothing." I've seen dust motes many a time so I marvel that an author can give such personality to them! Of course, most of the beautiful words revolve around the marsh and its inhabitants, Kya, her family, her loneliness and her feelings and the townspeople not dust motes. However, that snippet is classic to how well written this book is all throughout. Of note Asheville is not as close to the coast as some other North Carolina cities but Asheville is surrounded by mountains, an attraction held out to Kya (a full day trip she is told), plus her paternal grandparents reportedly lived there (not a spoiler). The mystery is handled perfectly. But that mystery is only one element of the book. It is so much more than that. Kya is not the first young child (real or imagined) who had to (has to) survive against many odds: in Kya's instance, the erratic Monday money for food while still a child just to name one. Other discussion points such as whether or not it's fire flies or lightning bugs is so beside the point IMO since it depends on where one grew up. We called them lightning bugs but out of town relatives called them fire flies. They are the same insect and very entertaining to watch. Kya tells us much about these insects that I did not know and this information fit into the story. (BTW, there is a great show in the Smokies put on by lightning bugs (fire flies) during their mating season. People actually take chairs and go watch!) Aside from quibbles about southernisms (LOL) some have, the book holds one's attention from beginning to end. The ending was perfect. It suited the book I believe. This book has earned its 5-star rating and I hope Ms. Owens writes another book soon. Finally, the descriptions of the marsh itself and its many inhabitants, including Kya, is worth the price of the book yet the reader gets all these bonuses: a mystery, human survival, human relations contrasted with extraordinary naturalist behavior and descriptions and an aching heart for all the Kya's of the world. Highly recommended for those who like a great story interwoven amongst beautiful, haunting words. I won't remember that blown up car in a beach read beyond next week even though the book was fun to read but WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING will live with me (and other readers) for a very long time. An extraordinary book!

Every once in a while you encounter something so phenomenal that you can't imagine anything ever topping it. That was my feeling after reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which is now my favorite book of all time. Ms. Owens has weaved an incredibly masterful tale that combines a heartearming, coming of age story, a murder mystery, themes of lonliness, solitude, class conflict, love, abandonment all set in the majestic beauty of the low land marshes of North Carolina, painted in colorful and expressive prose by the author. It would likely be impossible for anyone else to have written this story and pulled it off in the way Ms. Owens has. Her decades long experience as a zoologist in solitude in remote areas of Africa, living with, and studying animal behavior gave her the essential background to bring this story to life in a way that couldnt have been done otherwise. You can't help but to root for, sympathize with and fall in love with the central character Kya. The novel follows her life from a poor, persecuted little girl, who is abandoned by her family, shunned by society and given impossible odds for survival. Yet she not only survives, coexisting and learning from nature everything necessary to survive; but she also succeeds and thrives showing the indominance of the human spirit. And in the end she finds love and peace and companionship which had always eluded her. This book is listed among the top 100 books of all time. That actually doesnt do it justice. I believe it deserves the number 1 designation hands down. As an aside. Although movies are almost never as good as the book. The Reese Witherspoon produced adaptation of this book into a movie was perfectly done. Read the book, them watch the movie, for a double treat.

First things first, I love being in nature. It’s still winter here in the Midwest. Even though we are starting to get hints of spring, it’s not in full bloom. Being able to escape into the forest and the marsh through this book was so awesome. Delia Owens’s descriptions really bring the scene to life. I’ve read a few opinions on the book saying that it was too descriptive, but it was perfect for me. All of the characters had really interesting developments. I felt like every character had their stories wrapped up in a fitting fashion. One of them, we never really find out what happens – but, again, it’s fitting. Kya is the main character, and I don’t think you could even ask for more character development. It seems like we got just enough of her life story for it to be complete and wrapped up. That is SO satisfying to me because you don’t always get that. I just absolutely loved this book. A mixture of a coming of age story as well as a murder mystery and a love note to nature. It’s just beautifully written. The story is told so well. I didn’t want it to end. I would recommend it to anyone who loves nature. This book has one of the greatest last chapters I’ve ever read in a novel. It ties things up without blatantly just laying out answers to your questions. It’s so beautifully written and wraps up years of Kya’s life swiftly but respectfully. 5/5 Stars Memorable Quotes: “Sometimes she heard night-sounds she didn’t know or jumped from lightning too close, but whenever she stumbled, it was the land that caught her. Until at last, at some unclaimed moment, the heart-pain seeped away like water into sand. Still there, but deep. Kya laid her head upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.” “Crows can’t keep secrets any better than mud; once they see something curious in the forest they have to tell everybody.” “Autumn was coming; the evergreens might not have noticed, but the sycamores did. They flashed thousands of golden leaves across slate-gray skies.” “Evil was not in play, just life pulsing on, even at the expense of some of the players. Biology sees right and wrong as the same color in different light.”

A book like no other I’ve ever read. I was entranced all the way through. It starts slowly but picks up momentum and will leave you with a bit of a hole in your heart. I’m an old, white man from the North, and simply love this book about a young girl/woman growing up alone in a marsh.

Excellent writing. I could not put the book down and I haven’t finished a book in 3 years.

Très beau roman

i’m pretty sure this is my favorite book so far. i loved it sooo much. at first i had a rough time reading it because of some of the vocabulary (english is not my first language but i prefer to read in english) but after familiarizing with it i had the best time reading it. i felt a lot of emotions: love, anger, disappointment, sadness, joy. i don’t cry easily and i sobbed really hard while i was reading this. you are wasting time by not reading this, trust me.

Received mine in good condition.

This is a beautiful though heartbreaking novel, packed with exquisite descriptive prose as it tells a shocking story of abandonment, neglect, survival, awakening and finally hope, and all woven around a murder mystery set in marshlands on the outskirts of a North Carolina coastal town during the 1950s and 60s. Kya is a shy, skinny six year-old when her mother suddenly up and leaves home - a tiny shack housing a handful of kids, a drunken husband and not much else. Within a few short months, all of Kya’s siblings have deserted her too, until it’s only this innocent little mite and her cold-hearted pa left - and even he’s only there intermittently when alcohol isn’t addling his brain and makin’ him ornery. For several years, Kya has to fight to survive on grits, a few mussels and not much else as she ekes out a living from the swamp she calls home. The novel’s pages are riddled with racial tensions and those age-old discrimations simmering between the rich and affluent and that ‘poor white trash’, while bringing to life a story about a young child surviving on next to nothing while harbouring an endless expectation that things will someday get better. Delia Owens’ characters were all rich and diverse, and each one made me either angry or grateful depending on their role in Kya’s unique and meagre life. Jumpin’ and Mabel brought a glimpse of hope and care into her sad, bleak existence, so much so, I wanted to climb inside the pages to offer them my thanks for seeing a need and doing their best to meet it. Then there was Tate - I fell in love with this young man right from his first entrance into Kya’s lonely world, despite his choice once he went away to college. A young man who was such a warm light in her personal darkness, and showed a kind and generous heart towards a neglected though resilient young child. Somehow he saw beyond this scruffy waif with nature as her only company - one who knew it’s intricacies better than most - and yet, as a teenager, still had no inkling as to what came after the number twenty-nine. Tate was a true example of being raised by caring parents who taught him to practice kindness, and most especially in one particular portion when Kya was coming of age. I wanted to give him a hug for his sensitivity and concern. He was the kind of friend everyone needs, especially a lonely young outcast. This was a book I didn’t want to end, although many times my heart ached for this precious little child/young woman alone in that desolate place. It is a heart-wrenching story, yet it’s also peppered with uplifting little nuggets just when you feel your heart breaking into tiny fragments from another of life’s bitter blows falling upon Kya’s scrawny shoulders. The author’s word pictures were exquisite and my soul eagerly gathered up all of those vivid images she made, like this one.... “She laughed for his sake, something she had never done. Giving away another piece of herself just to have someone else.“ And then there was this longer more poignant piece that had me wishing I was there to eavesdrop and watch everything from inside the shadowy overhang of a weeping willow... “Kya leaned closer to him, not enough to touch. But she felt a sensation – almost like the space between their shoulders had shifted. She wondered if [he] felt it. She wanted to lean in closer, just enough so their arms would gently brush together. To touch. And wondered if [he] would notice. And just at that second, the wind picked up, and thousands upon thousands of yellow sycamore leaves broke from their life-support and strained across the sky. Autumn leaves don’t fall; they fly. They take their time and wander on this, their only chance to soar. Reflecting sunlight, they swirled and sailed and fluttered on the wind drafts ... and the two of them leapt and skipped through curtains of falling leaves, reaching their arms wide, snatching them before they fell to the earth... As she ran back through them, they caught like gold in her hair ... the leaves rained and danced around them as silently as snow … He lifted a leaf gently from her hair and dropped it to the ground. Her heart beat wildly. Of all the ragged loves she’s known from wayward family, none had felt like this… And for the first time in her life, her heart was full.” (There are more magnificent word pictures nestled in between those ellipses, but I didn’t want to give everything away from this poignant piece of prose ... hopefully, this little skerrick will make you want to read it all for yourself!) Another portion that grabbed my heart was, “His eyes were the same as they had been. Faces change with life’s toll, but eyes remain a window to what was, and she could see him there.” The novel’s title sums up Kya’s raw way of life perfectly as the meaning behind the expression ‘Where the crawdads sing’ is ‘...far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters.’ I take my hat off to the author for writing this both tragic yet moving piece of perfection, and highly recommend it to everyone. Definitely a 10/10 from this awe-filled lover of words, and most assuredly one I’ll read over and over as long as I have breath to do so. It actually took far longer than expected to finish, but only because I wanted to savour every morsel - and some portions were read again and again to grasp every hidden facet purely for the gold found in each one.