The nature writing in this book was lovely but although the main character's loneliness was stated over and over again I didn't think the writing really allowed you to deeply know her loneliness, or her state of mind and way of being as a "wild" kind of person, you just get told about it. The whole plot was a bit fantastical and melodramatic, and her backstory unbelievable.

Absolutely one of the best novels ever written. One of very few books I would consider to be a worthy comparison of “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

“A lot of times love doesn’t work out. Yet even when it fails, it connects you to others and, in the end, that is all you have, the connections.”

4.25 ⭐

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did, even from the first couple of chapters I was thinking 'hmm this isn't really for me' but then I was swept away in the story and flew through it, which surprised me. The setting in this book is so incredibly lush that I felt like I had stepped back in time, to another country and culture, and I was rapt. This is a hard book to pin down because it had so many intersecting subgenres woven in, literary/historical fiction, romance, mystery, crime, and it kind of lacks one unifying overarching theme. In my mind, this book is about nurturing nature, being at one with your surroundings, being present in the moment and respecting the way of life carved out by animals and insects native to the land, we can really learn a lot from the way animals accept each other when the other isn't a threat to them - and I really liked this aspect. It's also a story about abject loneliness and how isolation can make a person do the seemingly impossible, or drive people to do terrible things as well.

Kya is a fascinating main character, she's abandoned at only six years old by her entire family aside from her abusive, alcoholic father for a while, and then eventually abandoned by him too, and has to learn how to take care of herself and survive. I had to suspend my disbelief a little bit right from the beginning, and I'm not sure if a child so young was different back in the 1960s, but I really struggled to imagine a six year old being able to do everything she did. Despite that I really enjoyed reading about her as she found ways to live off the land, build tentative connections with people around her and her coming-of-age and exploration into adulthood. It absolutely broke my heart every time someone left her and she felt betrayed. The other characters were interesting too, I love Jumpin' and Mabel - the older Black couple who treated her like their own daughter, and I really liked how Tate got her right from the beginning, although I do have to say the romance made me feel icky - I know it was a different time, but the age difference and how young Kya was when she started her first relationship definitely wasn't my favourite part of this story. But it did serve its purpose as a plot point in driving Kya naively towards someone who didn't have her best interests at heart.

The prose and language in this book was beautiful, conjuring stunning imagery and a really believable world around the storyline, but it was also exhausting and a bit overdone at points. I couldn't really grasp the pacing, mostly it was a good steady build up to the climax of finding out 1. how Chase died and 2. whether Kya would be found guilty for his murder, but then sometimes it felt a bit tedious as the really interesting portions were interspersed with incredibly detailed scientific information about the marsh habitat, a lot of poetry (which made sense a bit at the end, but during was a bit of a sticking point), and moments where Kya recoiled within herself with a lot of inner monologue. This all worked in a way for building up the image of her seclusion and the beauty of her mind, but also sometimes made it hard to read. The way dialogue was written was also difficult for me, it was very Southern and I spent some time trying to translate what words meant. I also didn't love how the accent within the dialogue was used some of the time - Kya went from having a very strong accent to speaking "properly" despite her only interaction with another "proper" speaker being Tate. She was surrounded by others with very strong accents, even in her isolation, I don't think she would've started speaking like that.

I feel like I have said a whole lot of critical things in this review, but really I did enjoy this book overall. It stirred up a lot of emotion within me and I had a good cry at the end, I loved how resourceful Kya was and there was a lot of beauty to the way this story was told. I can definitely see why some people didn't enjoy this book though as it is a difficult one to pin down - I think it's one of those books where it'll either click with you or it won't. Also I think proximity to the location would influence the reader a lot because I don't know this world and culture very well and so it had a certain magical quality to it for me which I could see locals disagreeing with. Other than that, I definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy a good challenge with heavy, flowery prose and language, and who enjoy a book that almost has the same vibe as the classics in the historical fiction genre.

Very well written. Plenty of detailed observations of people and the natural environment. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

** spoiler alert ** So inspiring to read about how she was on her own for most of her life and yet she managed to survive. In my mind i’d like to think her other siblings survived and got their happy endings but i doubt that. If they did i’m sure they’d do everything in their power to find her like Jodie did. It’s those small somewhat unimportant details that bug me after i finish books.

** spoiler alert ** yo wtf the poem!! Im crying and screaming this book is so good!!

What a beautiful book. Only few books have captivated me from start til end like this book does. Beautifully written and exciting.

** spoiler alert ** I thought she was gonna get pregnant

Note: Last year read

This book has been highly recommended to me but honestly I felt a little letdown after reading it. I found it to be fairly predictable, and I didn't love the storytelling process of the book. Overall the story was good with a strong message, and I enjoyed the relationships and dynamics between characters. "I have never and will never forget you, Kya" (pp. 291) But, it wasn't an overwhelming 5 stars that it seems to have gained a narrative of.

It’s like CSI: Marsh-ami!

4.5/5 my heart.

I really loved this book. It takes a lot for me to come across a book that is hard to put down- once you got past the initial introduction to the story, the plot was gripping almost immediately. I thought the descriptions and emotions portrayed were beautiful and there were so many characters to hate, but also so many characters to love. The last 100 pages truly had me on the edge of my seat and I was prepared to be disappointed or frustrated by the ending, but I was not at all, I thought it was done perfectly. A perfect demonstration of being able to see beauty in things past a first glance of judgement and of giving everyone a chance.

How do you describe a book so beautiful? This story is exquisite. The writing is like poetry and the characters have such depth, you’re drawn into their lives with a kind of heartwarming eagerness. For a story pegged around abandonment and murder, it reads more like a watercolor painting. At times gentle and tender and at times rough and heartbreaking, I will definitely be putting this down as one of my favorites.

Ok -- I think this is definitely an overhyped book, largely because although the idea, the characters and the story are refreshingly heartwarming through the love of nature and how well it blends with the protagonist, everything else is underwhelming. The language (took me 70 pages to get into it, so flowery, so pretentious, so overdone, until you get used to it and stop minding), the issues that have been raised with the dialect and geographical inconsistencies (did she barely research it? did she purposefully resort to old tropes of good vs bad = non dialect vs dialect? who knows), and then there were many weak plot developments that were too convenient to be true (the tie plot points in a bow and call it a day type of scenario). Overall I gave it 4 stars because I still was absorbed by the story, emotionally convinced of it, and cared about the characters to feel the melancholy of finishing the last page, but that's because I know nothing about North Carolina or dialects, and because I persevered through the sluggish parts. What I would recommend instead of this: Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller. EXCELLENT

** spoiler alert ** I had been in a reading slump for most of this year, even considering a global pandemic that kept me in my house with nothing to do. This book helped guide me out of my reading slump and I finished the book in about a week, reading the last 150 pages in about two hours. So for that, I gave it four stars, even though it truly deserves about 3.5 stars. There are two reasons this book should (actually) receive 3.5 stars, the first being the unnatural fast-forwarding that the author did at the end of the book. Kya receives a not guilty verdict, Tate's dad passes away, Kya and Tate get married, Jumpin' dies, and then Kya dies all within 20 pages at the end of the novel. I understand that an author has a duty to tie up loose ends at the completion of the narrative but it seemed extremely rushed and unappealing. The second reason, and this may be me simply being petty, but I am in my senior year of undergrad majoring in biology. The explanation of Tate's undergrad studies was so unnecessary and juvenile. I know this is just me knit-picking but every time Owens described DNA in this story bothered me because there was no need for it haha.

:/

flat 3

Giving this book one star is being generous.

must read. check trigger warnings. off to watch the movie now.

This was such an interesting book. It is about loneliness and being different. Also about the prejudice that people have to someones odd. I think you should read this book if you liked Alias Grace by Margareth Atwood.

SOOO GOOD! Probably the best book I’ve read I absolutely adored the combination of science, art, love and murder. Kept me on invested until the very last page. A fascinating book where I too learned along with the people in the story. Easy five stars a must read!

had to dnf 2/3 through ugh describing your (white) mc with words such as "exotic" & making men (the only 'friends' she seems to make throughout the whole thing apparently) swoon over her, while simultaneously including characters' open racism against black characters isn't it

I'm glad I read where the crawsdads sing which put me out of my reading slump as it kept me hooked on to every page. Where the crawsdads sing is a very well written novel by Delia Owens about a girl name Kya living in the marsh and her love for nature but more over her story to survive & build a livelihood amids her struggle through loneliness, fear, rejection and heartbreak. Being a murder mystery book, one completely forgets that a murder is being investigated in the initial chapter of the book. The book does slip in and out of time. But the story of the marsh girl keeps a reader hooked on to the book. The book also has some beautiful written poetry for the poetry lovers. As for the mystery part, I think the writer could have done a more better job. But all in all where the crawdads sing is definitely a pages turn. I highly recommend it to every book lover.👍🏻