Where the Crawdads Sing Book Review

 Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

2018

Coming-of-age Fiction

** Spoiler-free **

I picked up this novel after emmmabooks on Youtube recommended it in a video about her transition to the adult novel world (youtube link here). I found the video very helpful  after years of reading Young Adult because I find myself attempting to make the same journey. Now that I'm in university, some Young Adult novels I used to love don’t relate to my life as much anymore. 

Where the Crawdads Sing was the perfect novel to begin my dive into the adult novel world. The book spans the lifetime of protagonist Kya, following the character as she grows up in the outer banks of North Carolina in the 1950s. At a young age, Kya is abandoned by her family and learns to survive alone. Later portions of the novel explore how her years spent alone as a young child affect her into adulthood. The novel follows a dual narrative, divided between Kya’s childhood experience and her trial as an adult for the murder of a local man in town.

The plot was very interesting and I was drawn into the novel. Where the Crawdads Sing takes place in a landscape completely foreign to my own. I have never lived in an area as isolated as Kya nor have I ever visited the Southern United States. Despite my lack of familiarity with the setting, Owen has an amazing ability to capture the North Carolina setting. Nature and its preservation is a big theme of the novel, and Owens writes it in a way that lives and breaths. In the way that nature flows and ebbs through Kya’s character, the natural landscape brings life to the books.

I really enjoyed the exploration of Kya’s character. It was interesting to get inside her head and see how her inner narration differed from that of other characters because of the isolation. Her experience felt believable and still relatable. 

One of my only complaints about the book would be some of the dialogue. I have a thing where I like to whisper some of the protagonists’ dialogue out loud to get a feel for the character. Some of Kya’s biggest moments, where she is talking out loud and voicing her thoughts, the dialogue felt stilted past the point of awkwardness. Even though Kya is a character without much socialization, I felt the weird phrasing brought me out of her experience. 

Nonetheless, I understand why this book is so popular and talked about. While I may not have found it as life altering as some other readers, it is an interesting read and truly makes you wonder what you would do in the Kya's shoes.

3.5/10