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dontjudgeabrooke 's review for:
Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
I've become increasingly wary of super-hyped books and those chosen for celebrity book clubs, and I had also started reading this book a year ago and gave up about 30 pages in because I just couldn't get into it. In addition, it seems that in the wake of its initial craze, this book has recently begun to be a frequent answer to the prompts "popular books that disappointed you" and "books that don't deserve the hype." So when I restarted it this time, I went in with low expectations, dragging my feet.
But I...kinda loved it. The exploration of the effects of loneliness and isolation, the interweaving of the natural and manmade worlds with all their beauty and violence, getting to know Kya over the course of her life. Maybe it was the fact that I've moved to North Carolina since my last attempt and have visited the very coast Kya loves so much, I don't know. I kept waiting to hate it, but the hatred never came. There weren't even really any parts I disliked (aside from some minor timeline inconsistencies), although the chapters of HEAVY nature description in the beginning don't exactly suck the reader in right away. Actually, that aspect of the book reminded me of my most recent read, East of Eden. The first chapter of EoE is an extremely detailed description of the Salinas Valley, and I put that book down for a while after the first chapter for the exact same reason: I thought I would be similarly bored for the rest of the book, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
For my own recollection, I want to add one of my favorite reading memories ever: Last summer, my boyfriend and I spent a gorgeous July day trekking through a wooded creek for hours. For one long stretch, we even followed closely behind a mama duck and her babies. Once we reached a good swimming spot, we swam for a while and then read in the sunshine on the bank. This was the book I brought along that day, and in hindsight, it was the perfect choice.
*Listened to audiobook while following along with physical book
But I...kinda loved it. The exploration of the effects of loneliness and isolation, the interweaving of the natural and manmade worlds with all their beauty and violence, getting to know Kya over the course of her life. Maybe it was the fact that I've moved to North Carolina since my last attempt and have visited the very coast Kya loves so much, I don't know. I kept waiting to hate it, but the hatred never came. There weren't even really any parts I disliked (aside from some minor timeline inconsistencies), although the chapters of HEAVY nature description in the beginning don't exactly suck the reader in right away. Actually, that aspect of the book reminded me of my most recent read, East of Eden. The first chapter of EoE is an extremely detailed description of the Salinas Valley, and I put that book down for a while after the first chapter for the exact same reason: I thought I would be similarly bored for the rest of the book, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
For my own recollection, I want to add one of my favorite reading memories ever: Last summer, my boyfriend and I spent a gorgeous July day trekking through a wooded creek for hours. For one long stretch, we even followed closely behind a mama duck and her babies. Once we reached a good swimming spot, we swam for a while and then read in the sunshine on the bank. This was the book I brought along that day, and in hindsight, it was the perfect choice.
*Listened to audiobook while following along with physical book