Take a photo of a barcode or cover
realshaydy 's review for:
Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
1. Writing:
-Though at times the writing is almost excessively poetic, I think that the marsh is well-explored to illuminate the intimate relationship Kya has with it.
-I found the writing during the courtroom chapters immersive.
2. Themes:
-Prejudice: I like the message that you shouldn’t judge someone by their cover, but that doesn’t mean that you can undergo trauma and emerge unscathed.
Kya experiences socioeconomic prejudice that often allies her with the black characters, who also experience discrimination for being different. But the racism and classicism of the times doesn’t seem contained to fiction. The book implies that you have to speak without your (generalized) southern dialect in order to be smarter or better. “Good” characters are able to lose their dialect and “bad” characters retain theirs.
-Coming of age: overall okay. I didn’t like the sexual scenes but that’s a combination of personal taste and the awkward, naive way they’re written.
-People imitate wildlife: sometime heavy-handed but I understand why Kya adapted that mindset. A childhood spent learning about people from animals adds nuance to her adult actions.
3. Plot:
-The mashup between literary fiction and murder mystery doesn’t really work until the second half of the book, when the two timelines coincide. Until then, the detective scenes are short, few and far between, and essentially forgettable.
-I expected
-Though at times the writing is almost excessively poetic, I think that the marsh is well-explored to illuminate the intimate relationship Kya has with it.
-I found the writing during the courtroom chapters immersive.
2. Themes:
-Prejudice: I like the message that you shouldn’t judge someone by their cover, but that doesn’t mean that you can undergo trauma and emerge unscathed.
Kya experiences socioeconomic prejudice that often allies her with the black characters, who also experience discrimination for being different. But the racism and classicism of the times doesn’t seem contained to fiction. The book implies that you have to speak without your (generalized) southern dialect in order to be smarter or better. “Good” characters are able to lose their dialect and “bad” characters retain theirs.
-Coming of age: overall okay. I didn’t like the sexual scenes but that’s a combination of personal taste and the awkward, naive way they’re written.
-People imitate wildlife: sometime heavy-handed but I understand why Kya adapted that mindset. A childhood spent learning about people from animals adds nuance to her adult actions.
3. Plot:
-The mashup between literary fiction and murder mystery doesn’t really work until the second half of the book, when the two timelines coincide. Until then, the detective scenes are short, few and far between, and essentially forgettable.
-I expected