A review by zoegg
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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

2.0

my aunt got me this book a couple years ago & has been pushing me to read it ever since, so i figured i finally should get around to it just to say i did the next time i see her. we’ve visited low country in sc every year for the past decade, so i was really drawn in by the descriptions of the marsh & how kya found her means to survive. HOWEVER, i have two major qualms with this book that prevent me from ranking it any higher.

1) i love a good mystery, but the two biggest twists in the book were frankly anything but 🤷 ESPECIALLY the poet one, it really made the rest of the book seem corny in retrospect.

2) i understand the story is set in a contentious time for race relations, but i don’t think race was a big enough point in the plot for the author to make so many distinctions on it while building the setting. & truthfully, i don’t think it’s appropriate for any white author to be writing out the hard r EVER. that left such a horrible feeling in my stomach & honestly left a negative impression for me for the rest of the book.

all in all: it was fine. there are better murder mysteries out there, so i don’t think it deserves the hype it got.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings