Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Where the Crawdads Sing

The story was fine, and the descriptions of nature were quiet good. I found it could be verbose at times, and, as others have pointed out, the dialogue was wasn't the strongest. While I liked the characters like Jumpin and such, the author builds tension only to accidentally deflate it too quickly and too soon. I have mixed feelings about this book. I got emotional at times, but it was lacking something that made the transition between the two (eventually coinciding) timelines choppy. The time jump in the last few chapters felt especially abrupt.

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maecave15's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content warnings - domestic abuse, of sex, a sexual assault scene,

I did a buddy read of this book with a close friend. 🤗

Honestly though, she enjoyed the book a lot but I thought it was just okay. I have seen this book being called a thriller in articles, but it was not even close to thrilling in any way.

The story was slow paced but I liked seeing how Kya survived on her own in the marsh. I don't think it deserved a whole movie but it was still a decent story. Her connection with the marsh and its flora and fauna was unique. I'm glad they explored that part of her and made it a central theme to her character.

I also enjoyed her friendship with Jumpin' and Mabel, and most of her relationship with Tate. Although it bugs me that the entire town is very prejudiced towards her and seemingly only her. There is no mention of the many other marsh people. She wasn't friends with the others living in the marsh, much less even noticed they existed.

Another irritation, why did all of her family leave her? I imagine at least one sibling would have taken her with them instead of leaving the youngest one (at 6yrs old) to deal with their drunk father alone.

This book feels like a mashup of nature writing, YA romance and coming of age, murder mystery, and dysfunctional families. Not in a way that was well thought out though.

The murder "mystery" didn't fit very well with her story either. It felt out of place, especially because all the chapters for that plotline where very short. It seemed as if they tacked it into the book to add some drama, but it was the least entertaining portion of the whole story. Everything about it from the initial chapters through the trial and to its conclusion, the whole thing was just not working for me. And even though the final end of this mystery was a plot twist, it just didn't fit with the character or story.

Her relationship with Tate was sweet, and I am happy with how that storyline ended up at least.

SPOILER -

I was happy to see her brother Jodie come back into her life and they reconnected and stayed in each other's lives. I don't understand how any of them just left Kya to begin with though.

Overall an okay read, and I am not mad that I read it, but I won't be going back to it or keeping on my shelves.

A quick aside, I did try to watch the movie but because I already thought the book itself was kind of slow paced the movie ended up being really boring for me. The scenes were done well cinematically but because the story barely entertained me as a book, the movie was worse. I skipped through a lot of it honestly.

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clemrain's review

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emotional mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book is basically to kill a mockingbird?

When setting foot in a novel that is sung to high praises, it’s rare to come out agreeing. Where the Crawdads Sing lives up to its praise.

I always find myself back to mystery as a genre. Though I wouldn’t say I have a huge library of them digested, I have read a fair few. This novel is nothing I’ve read before and maybe that’s why it’s so brilliant.

The writing is a bit slow in the beginning. I think the author really tried to ramp up the suspense by giving us a past and a present simultaneously. Though I enjoyed the slowness of Kya’s life, it was a difficult read because it was just so sad.

I liked that this story follow Kya’s life. It felt like a story about Kya’s life and her loneliness. The way she resonated with nature and flourished in it. She’s a trooper. Trampled over and resilient for it. Like the ground she walked barefoot on. The murder trial is something that she experienced and then we followed her life after it too. Good, interesting approach to a murder mystery.

We read the shaping of Kya and it felt so satisfying to have an in on her reason to kill. The perfect crime in the nature by the girl of nature. Satisfying.

All the side characters were entertaining and added so much to the plot. None of them felt out of place, unnecessary or boring.

Great writing. I like the pacing. The intertwining of poetry. I don’t think the past and present of Kya and the murder melded super efficiently. I think the chapters could’ve transitioned smoother.

The court scenes were intense. I felt like a ping pong ball following each and every evidence and rebuttal. I didn’t know who to believe. The tension building kept me on edge. I couldn’t put the book down to sleep.

I was convinced it was Tate. And I think the author knew readers would find themselves there after Tate gave Kya the hat. And to sneakily put in the police getting Tate was a good way to pull the readers leg. Though the scene of Tate’s father dying and it resulting in Tate and Kya getting back together was disappointing. It read like killing off a character to progress the story.

Amazing ending.

I really thought it was an accident by the end of it, but to discover the truth through a poem was excellent.

Edit: I was shocked to find out after finishing this book there are accusations of the author being racist. Which was shocking considering the contents of this book. What a world.

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saskiahill's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-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

4.75

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fiction_addiction_1994's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

TW: domestic/child abuse, alcoholism, child abandonment, leukemia (mention), attempted rape, racism
.
•What did I think of this book? (Mult POV, narrated)
I'm so glad I finally finished it! I DNFed twice before! And I'm sure I finished it only because I listened to the audiobook 😆 Anyways the language used in this book, and misspelled words gave me headaches, then EVERYTHING was so detailed I almost skipped paragraphs because feathers, trees, the marsh was described sooooo much. im not saying it wasn't good but she could have cut the full descriptions out and the book would have been shorter and the book would still be good. Kya was abandoned by her mom, her siblings, and then her dad all before 10 yrs old. She had to learn to take care of herself and discover things on her own; loneliness and love. And overcoming the justice system.. in a murder. I would only recommend this by audiobook.
.
•Thoughts and Quotes:
~ 'When cornered, desperate, or isolated, man reverts to those instincts that aim straight at survival. -p.8
~"Go as far as you can– way out yonder where the crawdads sing."-p.111
~'Within all the world's of biology, she searched for an explanation of why a mother would leave her offspring.' -p.215
~ 'If anyone understood loneliness, the moon would.' -p215
~"I've always loved you. Even as a child—a time I don't remember — I already loved you." -p.358

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stevia333k's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

So it should first be said that evolutionary psychology "evopsych" was developed as enslavement propaganda/apologia as well as (war) rape culture apologia. Like these discussions of instinct & connection are important for unpacking some political implications. I haven't done that yet. This is important because this book had a lot of listen to nature & communing with nature vibes so to know there is definitely discourses for that even if the histiographies are racist bourgeois patriarchal is helpful. Like that's been something I've been trying to learn by recently reading about famines. Point being, if this is going to be some people's introduction to listening to nature then I'll need to figure out where the starting point is at.

This book gave me Katniss Everdeen vibes, and that was definitely a thing I would think about as I read this book. I liked the setting a lot, communing with the other life forms etc. Like doing prayers at parks instead of schools is more my vibe so.

I was told this book was very feminist & that was helpful. I thought the book might've been poly but it wasn't. Like one of the boyfriends ended up being a self-centered rapist.

Anyways, I actually thought she was black until I thought about the school scene & was like wait a minute the schools were segregated back then. The discussion of desegregation if business towards the end was awkward because that's not desegregation of homes, but whatever.

Anyway, she's white. The title for this book in Spanish calls her "savaje", a savage. Thankfully there's no cultural appropriation of native/indigenous Americans, but still keep an eye on that in discussions about this book because that would end up putting a bunch of racist stereotypes on people. But that would be more the fault of the readers I think.

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_kayleighcarlin_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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redefiningrachel's review

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adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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