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A review by abbeyroad1410
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The story telling format of this mystery was really fun. I enjoyed watching the story unfold simultaneously between the past and the present so that you could see how the past impacted these events and why she was suspected. Additionally, the story itself was fantastic. It was interesting to see the insider-outsider dynamic play out due to social class and poor family situations. Not to mention, Jumpin and Mabel (the best characters) showed how outsiders have empathy for other outsiders.
Despite liking many of the storytelling elements, one of the things I didn't like was Kya busting out into random poetry. Despite the reveal that she was the poet the whole time, the poetry felt like it lacked payoff and instead was placed throughout the novel to try to earn it credence as a literary masterpiece. If I'm being honest, I skimmed pretty much every poem, only reading the final one out of necessity.
Similarly, I felt the metaphors were trying too hard throughout the book. Many of them seemed forced and convoluted when a prior line could have stood on its own.
Perhaps my biggest complaint is also my pettiest: there is no way that Tate could have taught this child to read to the incredible extent he did. She attended one day of school, her family abandoned her while she was still in elementary level education, and she had never even seen her own name written out before. That plot point made limited sense to me, and I thought about it the entire novel.
All of this to say, I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the cultural elements, including the traditional Southern foods. And thank God I found out what happened to Chase because the uncertainty was really bugging me.
Despite liking many of the storytelling elements, one of the things I didn't like was Kya busting out into random poetry.
Similarly, I felt the metaphors were trying too hard throughout the book. Many of them seemed forced and convoluted when a prior line could have stood on its own.
Perhaps my biggest complaint is also my pettiest: there is no way that Tate could have taught this child to read to the incredible extent he did. She attended one day of school, her family abandoned her while she was still in elementary level education, and she had never even seen her own name written out before. That plot point made limited sense to me, and I thought about it the entire novel.
All of this to say, I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the cultural elements, including the traditional Southern foods. And thank God I found out what happened to Chase because the uncertainty was really bugging me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Racism and Death of parent