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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book destroyed me and then mended me in the most painful way ever (brb gonna cry for hours). I could not recommend another book more than 'Where The Crawdads Sing'!!
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's been about three years since I first read this book. I enjoy the audiobook but Cassandra Campbell's voice can be quite annoying at times, especially when she is speaking as Kya. I remember being annoyed by the ending the first time I read this book, I have now come to accept it and understand why Owens chose to right the book in this way with this perspective having this ending. I appreciate it as a studied text, but I'm still not sure I would ever chose to do it myself, and some aspects of it can be quite long and complicated so some students might struggle with it. It's a great book for reading for pleasure. I have still yet to watch the film.
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed the story and I really loved the setting and Kya as a character. But I found myself rolling my eyes several times over the author’s descriptions of fat characters, the dialogue choices for Black characters, and several other weak dialogue moments. Sometimes it felt like the author had a line they really wanted to write even though it didn’t make sense for the character to say. I also found the ending disappointing - I was very drawn in by the trial, but after that it felt rushed and some of the tying of loose strings felt forced.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Abandonment
I thoroughly did not enjoy this book. Ooooph. I don't recall my view of a book ever being this far from the general consensus.
I found the story to be slow, absurd, and entirely uninteresting.
I made it a third of a way before having to abandon ship. This passage about Kya, a girl that essentially raised herself in the swamp, literally just learning to read was the last straw:
— — — — — — — —
Slowly, she unraveled each word of the sentence: "There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot."
"Oh," she said. "Oh."
"You can read, Kya. There will never be a time again when you can't read."
"It ain't just that." She spoke almost in a whisper. "I wadn't
aware that words could hold so much. I didn't know a sentence could be so full."
He smiled. "That's a very good sentence. Not all words hold that much."
— — — — — — — —
Barf. Most YA novels aren’t *that* heavy handed.
I found the story to be slow, absurd, and entirely uninteresting.
I made it a third of a way before having to abandon ship. This passage about Kya, a girl that essentially raised herself in the swamp, literally just learning to read was the last straw:
— — — — — — — —
Slowly, she unraveled each word of the sentence: "There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot."
"Oh," she said. "Oh."
"You can read, Kya. There will never be a time again when you can't read."
"It ain't just that." She spoke almost in a whisper. "I wadn't
aware that words could hold so much. I didn't know a sentence could be so full."
He smiled. "That's a very good sentence. Not all words hold that much."
— — — — — — — —
Barf. Most YA novels aren’t *that* heavy handed.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So much hype, and it's... fine.
Kya is a great character, though she requires a healthy suspension of disbelief at age 6. Tate is a good character, as is his dad. They seem a little "born in the wrong era," but it's probably what made them likeable.
I like that we didn't find out what happened to some of her family members, that seemed like a realistic outcome. Is this a spoiler? The book has been out for a long time now, so maybe not a spoiler.
I'll mark this bit, though. I'm sure glad someone took out Chase, though I wish it hadn't been Kya. I was honestly hoping his wife grew a pair, or even Tate. I'm glad it wasn't Jumpin', that would have been pretty poor. I wasn't surprised that it turned out to be Kya, either.
Kya is a great character, though she requires a healthy suspension of disbelief at age 6. Tate is a good character, as is his dad. They seem a little "born in the wrong era," but it's probably what made them likeable.
I like that we didn't find out what happened to some of her family members, that seemed like a realistic outcome. Is this a spoiler? The book has been out for a long time now, so maybe not a spoiler.
I'll mark this bit, though.
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes