Scan barcode
sayoni198's review
- 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
4.0
If a love story (a love story between a young girl and nature), a love letter to marshlands, a Bildungsroman, and a murder mystery could be perfectly packed into a novel, that would be: *Where The Crawdads Sing.*
Never have I read a story where the author breathes life and soul into every nonliving object like the lagoons, the sea, the rivulets, the shadows, and the mud, where the author gives life, personality, characteristic traits to nature more than to humans, to every tadpole, every firefly, every sea gull, every oak tree, every blade of grass, every heron, and every bird as if they are not artifacts to be conserved but a family, a community to be nurtured and live in coexistence with.
The novel explores the life of Kya, a girl who was abandoned by her whole family and grew up all alone in the marshlands and swamps of North Carolina, USA in the 1950s. She was isolated, neglected, and cast off by even the townspeople and labeled as the Marsh Girl or White trash. This made her learn how to survive on her own, make the gulls her family, and fend for herself for most of her childhood and youth. Human characters do have personalities in the novel yes, but they are mostly limited to the kind of impact (positive or negative, big or small) that they had on Kya. Or they were known by their professions or race or class. But it is the flora and fauna that play a role beyond as being the setting of the novel and are also the objective observer, witnesses to significant milestones of Kya's life, keeper of secrets, and a gateway or a glimpse to the world that *Delia Owens* (the author) has created for her readers.
Kya's complicated relationship with humanity goes beyond the Jungle Book-esque survival story of a girl literally raised by the marshlands. I say this because I have a special inclining for female survival stories because women, who are traumatized enough to expect nothing but abandonment from society and civilization, who no one imagines anything of who go on to do the things no one can imagine.
Where The Crawdads Sing is the story of such a woman.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Abandonment
Moderate: Racism
megsiobhan's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual assault
studywithvictory's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Stalking, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal death
marileysan's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism
martina96's review
5.0
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Murder
reveillerose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism
frdanirie's review
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Cursing
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
sakusha's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
serenitysky98's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Death of parent
texas118_mbs's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent and Classism