Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

1082 reviews

acacia_happy_hour's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault

kritzz666's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

emilyarice's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

This was so good. Kya is such an emotionally deep character with a powerful mind but has been judged her entire life, and her prospects of love, daring and fun, and her very-real mistakes, truly made her embody a real human spirit. The novel was able to be informative and teach the reader about things that they would never learn on their own (specifically about the marsh) while also tugging at our heartstrings, making us love Tate but despise Chase. The one critique I have is that the last 2 chapters of the book could have been 6.

I understand that the end of the book was not the premise of the story but was rather giving the readers fulfillment with an end to the story. It just felt very rushed compared to the rest of the story, but it also makes sense because the rest of her life was lived in peace, while the intense parts that the book is actually about required more detail. 

Anyways, I loved the book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

lindsaywalsvick's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail

laciebug's review

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Abandonment

bridgette_84's review

mysterious medium-paced

• 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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment

haleysversion's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

remusritch's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective 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

2.0

Okay I want to preface this by saying that I thought Delia Owen’s descriptive writing is a vibe, she can form a sentence for sure I enjoyed some of it (some of it I was rolling my eyes about but for the most part it was pretty) 

I also want to say I did read this for book club, having already known about Delia Owen’s being wanted for questioning relating to a murder in Zambia (her ex-husbands son shot an alleged poacher in Zambia after the Owenses had set up a wildlife sanctuary with armed guards- please research this lmao) ANYWAY I went into it already biased against the book so do take that into account. 

Didn’t like it tho. Kya felt very one dimensional for a very long time even though I wanted to like her she just felt very flat to me. I took issue with Jumpin’ in particular, as a character he felt…. Stereotypical? In a bad way? I get that it was the 50s and 60s in the South in this book and so there’s going to be racism but equally… you could have made your black character any kind of non-racist stereotype. Idk I am white and not American so may be reading into it a little bit it felt off to me?? 

Also I mentioned the whole (to Delia’s mind arguably justified) murder in Zambia, which she claims no knowledge of, but the murder plot really mirrors Delia’s own story and I’m not jazzed about it tbqh. 

Idk not a fan. Probs very forgettable.  Glad I read it for book club though, I get to see what the old ladies think about it 😂

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

jaybird27's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

The story's detailed descriptions and multidimensional main character made a great start to my 2025 reading year. I'm a fan of mysteries and historical fiction, both genres that use mixed timelines a lot, and found this handled it particularly well. Would recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Murder

windrosesystem's review

emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, and Abandonment