Book Review: Where The Crawdads Sing
By: Delia Owens
This was such a fun book to read. Such a sweet coming of age story as the Marsh Girl learns how to navigate life from an outsiders perspective. Add in the murder mystery of the local town bog shot and you'll be on the edge of your seat trying to decipher who did it.
Where the Crawdads Sing was a quick read for me. It was a 2 fold kind of story. The first was the suspenseful I loved the story of how Kya survived in the marsh and who helped her along the way. The young love that unfolds from a childhood friend into adulthood proved that money and flashy things are not everything. Finally the reoccuring symbolism between nature and human behaviors was a fun way to relate the basic instinct of our inner beasts.
The second part is the murder mystery of the local hometown hero's death. Who did it? How did they do it? What was the motive? With everything pointing at Kya will she make it out of jail alive or will everything prove to be to circumstantial and have to be timed perfectly for it to all happen the way the sheriff describes it.
Favorite Parts:
The Relationship between Kya and Tate as he starts out it turns from friend to romance
Ownes Surveys of the marshlands are beautiful and you feel like you are there
Kya's achievements and overcoming of life's challenges with little help
The love and care from those in Kyas life as they "take care" of her without her fully understanding
Heads up:
There is a little petting talk in the book. Personally I feel like the book didn't need as much as it had in it or as much detail.
A few of the books details are off for the timeline and time period but they do not deter from the main story line and what is happening in the book.
A few discussion Questions:
In what ways does Kya overcome her trials alone?
Why did Ma never come back?
Did her illness start before she left or engulf her once she knew she couldn't come back?
What about the rest of the family?
Did they ever wonder what happen to everyone else that they left behind?
What happen to her Pa?
Why didn't the grandparents ever seek out the children?
Does Tate's relationship begin as loyalty for Kya's Brother, being his friend?
Who did it? Who killed Chase?
Did Chase's Girlfriend/ Wife know about Kya? How did she feel?
Is it possible for a child to survive as long as Kya did alone?
In what ways did Jumpin and his wife raise Kya?
Who influences kya's life and upbringing and how? What does she do alone?
How did you feel about how Kya reacts during the trial as the sheriff describes what he thinks happen?
Kya's education stuns the whole town and proves them to be wrong in their expectations how do you feel they would treat here after the trial if she had tried to integrate into the community?
Did she do it? Who did you think did it?
Why did she keep the evidence/truth hidden from Tate?
Who else could have been suspected of doing it? Did anyone else have the knowledge?
