Where the Crawdads Sing is a story following the journey of the main character, Kya- and how she attempts to navigate life in the real world whilst carrying the weight of her traumatic childhood and extreme isolation from society.
Ever since Kya was a little kid, she was always on her own. As each of her family members left her one by one as a result of an abusive father, Kya continued to rely more on herself. Despite these repeated occurrences which called for her to be extremely independent, she did not stop believing in the idea that one day her mother would come back for her. This persistent hope is what drove Kya to stay indifferent to the rumors about her which spread like wildfire. It became tough to do so after she was charged with the first-degree murder of Chase Andrews.
Fighting against this murder proved a challenge for Kya, as the trial took place in town, amongst the townspeople who loathed Kya and referred to her only as “the Marsh Girl”. This was the only remotely close fact the town had gotten right about Kya though, as the marsh was her home, being the only thing that had stood by her side all these years, even when her own family had left her.
This novel can be described as nothing short of brilliant. I did not find myself bored at any point in the book and rather captivated by the story. The author does a great job of reaching out to the reader and making them feel the way Kya felt: just as innocent and scared of what lay ahead. Additionally, the ending was perfect to match the motif of the marsh and its lethal nature. I loved how the ending showed the complete shattering of Kya’s innocence and brought the book to a full circle, mirroring the circle of life.
The author, Delia Owens, shows her background as a wildlife scientist through her raw and truthful description of the marsh. She has a way with words, making the marsh seem both horrifying in all of its murderous glory and spectacular at the same time in all of its natural beauty. Despite this, I found it tough at times to understand what she was saying because rather than telling a story, she shows it. This is a sign of a well-written book, but this book takes place around the 1960s, and the references don’t always make sense if not fully explained. I would recommend this book to higher-lexile readers and for those who appreciate classics that can be tougher to read than normal teen books. I recommend this to readers from ages 15 and up