A review by geminimoon
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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

2.0

No God's gonna come to to this garden 
This was a Book™️. It has the fancy prose and metaphors for the sake of it. You have to suspend your disbelief to enjoy this book. The characters are one dimensional. For example, it'd make sense for Kaya to be racist if her town and her parents are racist, but no, she's an angel. I will admit that I was distracted at times while reading, but about halfway, I tried to piece together her personality only for me to not find any. Did the author accurately depict a traumatized girl? It's complicated. On one hand, Kaya is way too functional despite all she's experienced, but on the other, she repressed her childhood is repeatedly preyed upon, which is a sad reality of those who have been traumatized.

Tate is disgusting. What makes their age gap (senior and freshmen) unforgivable are the times he talks about her pureness and said, "now she really sounds like little girl."(and smiled! Ew.)

I couldnt help but wonder what the book would be like from a black person'  perspective, and at first I was like, no way they' d go after a white women, even if she was poor, before a black man. Kaya saying that she would receive the same scrutiny as the black girls is laughable. It didn't go into race because it'  not to kill a Mockingbird but wishes it could be. 

Where are the other white trash people in the story? Maybe I'm just slow. Anyway, a more compelling look would be 
Kaya getting imprisoned despite being victimized because that's the sad reality. The book mentioned all the ways the odds are stacked against her, but she beats them.

There is no mystery to the story, so, what's the message? I also couldn't think of a deserving theme. Perseverance, but it's not deserving of it due to it being unrealistic.


Expand filter menu Content Warnings