Loved this book so much. A fascinating study of the natural world and a profound meditation on loneliness and longing. ( )

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
Print: COPYRIGHT: 8/14/2018; PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam's Sons; ISBN 978-0735219090; PAGES 370; Unabridged
Digital: Yes (There’s a nice map of the marsh at the beginning)

*Audio: COPYRIGHT: 8/14/18; ISBN: 978-0525640394; PUBLISHER: Books on Tape; DURATION: 12:18:24; PARTS:11; File Size: 351604 KB; Unabridged

Feature Film or tv: Yes. Same title. Released in the United States on July 15, 2022, by Sony Pictures Releasing under Columbia Pictures.

SERIES: No

CHARACTERS: (Not comprehensive)
Chase Andrews – Local boy, football star
Katharine (Kya) Clark (“Marsh Girl”)– A girl who grew up on the marsh
Jodie Clark - Kya's brother
Tate Walker - Jodie's friend

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: I saw the movie and knowing that the books are usually better than the movies, unless the book is based on the movie instead of visa-versa, I decided to listen to the book as well.
What’s it about? A girl who grows up on the Marsh. She’s abandoned by family members one-by-one and must fend for herself from a young age. By the time she comes of age, she is attached to her home, surroundings, and even to her isolation. The dangerous part of her situation isn’t so much the wild environment, but the nearby community that she must learn to protect herself from.
What did I think? Very good. Made me wish the character was based on someone real so I could find her books on the marsh!

AUTHOR:
Delia Owens
From Wikipedia –
“(born c. 1949)[1] is an American author, zoologist, and conservationist. She is best known for her 2018 novel Where the Crawdads Sing.

Owens was born and raised in Southern Georgia, where she spent most of her life in or near true wilderness. At such an early age, Delia always knew she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. However, by the time she started college, Owens decided to tackle a career in science instead of literature. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of Georgia, and a PhD in animal behavior from the University of California, Davis. [2]

Owens met her husband, Mark, in a protozoology class at the University of Georgia when they were both graduate students studying biology.[3] They married in 1973, and a year later boarded a plane to South Africa to begin their research studying animals in the Kalahari Desert and Zambia. She recounted this period in her memoirs Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna.[4] The couple were expelled from Botswana and are wanted for questioning in Zambia in relation to a murder investigation. They are no longer married. Since returning to the United States, Delia Owens has been involved in bear conservation.

Her debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, was released in 2018. It was a major success and went on to become one of the best-selling books of all time. It was adapted into a 2022 film of the same name.”

NARRATOR:
Cassandra Campbell
From Goodreads___
“Cassandra Campbell is an actress, director, and teacher as well as an accomplished voice-over artist. Voice credits include numerous books on tape, documentaries and commercials in both Italian and English. As an actress she has performed in New York at the Public Theatre, the Mint Theatre, and the Clurman as well as many others. Regional work includes StageWest, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, Millmountain Theatre, and The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she a faculty member at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.”

GENRE:
Fiction; Literature; Mystery

LOCATIONS:
Barkley Cove, North Carolina

TIME FRAME:
1952 - 1969

SUBJECTS:
Murder; families; nature; isolation; prejudice; poverty; marsh life

DEDICATION:
“To Amanda, Margaret, and Barbara
Here’s to’d ya
If I never see’d ya
I never knowed ya.
I see’d ya
I knowed ya
I loved ya
Forever.”

SAMPLE QUOTATION: (From the Prologue)

“Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. Slow-moving creeks wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace—as though not built to fly—against the roar of a thousand snow geese.
Then within the marsh, here and there, true swamp crawls into low-lying bogs, hidden in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat. Even night crawlers are diurnal in this lair. There are sounds, of course, but compared to the marsh, the swamp is quiet because decomposition is cellular work. Life decays and reeks and returns to the rotted duff; a poignant wallow of death begetting life.
On the morning of October 30, 1969, the body of Chase Andrews lay in the swamp, which would have absorbed it silently, routinely. Hiding it for good. A swamp knows all about death, and doesn’t necessarily define it as tragedy, certainly not a sin. But this morning two boys from the village rode their bikes out to the old fire tower and, from the third switchback, spotted his denim jacket.”

RATING:.
5

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
11-12-2022 to 11-20-2022 ( )

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
Print: COPYRIGHT: 8/14/2018; PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam's Sons; ISBN 978-0735219090; PAGES 370; Unabridged
Digital: Yes (There’s a nice map of the marsh at the beginning)

*Audio: COPYRIGHT: 8/14/18; ISBN: 978-0525640394; PUBLISHER: Books on Tape; DURATION: 12:18:24; PARTS:11; File Size: 351604 KB; Unabridged

Feature Film or tv: Yes. Same title. Released in the United States on July 15, 2022, by Sony Pictures Releasing under Columbia Pictures.

SERIES: No

CHARACTERS: (Not comprehensive)
Chase Andrews – Local boy, football star
Katharine (Kya) Clark (“Marsh Girl”)– A girl who grew up on the marsh

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: I saw the movie and knowing that the books are usually better than the movies, unless the book is based on the movie instead of visa-versa, I decided to listen to the book as well.
What’s it about? A girl who grows up on the Marsh. She’s abandoned by family members one-by-one and must fend for herself from a young age. By the time she comes of age, she is attached to her home, surroundings, and even to her isolation. The dangerous part of her situation isn’t so much the wild environment, but the nearby community that she must learn to protect herself from.
What did I think? Very good. Made me wish the character was based on someone real so I could find her books on the marsh!

AUTHOR:
Delia Owens
From Wikipedia –
“(born c. 1949)[1] is an American author, zoologist, and conservationist. She is best known for her 2018 novel Where the Crawdads Sing.

Owens was born and raised in Southern Georgia, where she spent most of her life in or near true wilderness. At such an early age, Delia always knew she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. However, by the time she started college, Owens decided to tackle a career in science instead of literature. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of Georgia, and a PhD in animal behavior from the University of California, Davis. [2]

Owens met her husband, Mark, in a protozoology class at the University of Georgia when they were both graduate students studying biology.[3] They married in 1973, and a year later boarded a plane to South Africa to begin their research studying animals in the Kalahari Desert and Zambia. She recounted this period in her memoirs Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna.[4] The couple were expelled from Botswana and are wanted for questioning in Zambia in relation to a murder investigation. They are no longer married. Since returning to the United States, Delia Owens has been involved in bear conservation.

Her debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, was released in 2018. It was a major success and went on to become one of the best-selling books of all time. It was adapted into a 2022 film of the same name.”

NARRATOR:
Cassandra Campbell
From Goodreads___
“Cassandra Campbell is an actress, director, and teacher as well as an accomplished voice-over artist. Voice credits include numerous books on tape, documentaries and commercials in both Italian and English. As an actress she has performed in New York at the Public Theatre, the Mint Theatre, and the Clurman as well as many others. Regional work includes StageWest, The Berkshire Theatre Festival, Millmountain Theatre, and The Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she a faculty member at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.”

GENRE:
Fiction; Literature; Mystery

LOCATIONS:
Barkley Cove, North Carolina

TIME FRAME:
1952 - 1969

SUBJECTS:
Murder; families; nature; isolation; prejudice; poverty

DEDICATION:
“To Amanda, Margaret, and Barbara
Here’s to’d ya
If I never see’d ya
I never knowed ya.
I see’d ya
I knowed ya
I loved ya
Forever.”

SAMPLE QUOTATION: (From the Prologue)

“Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. Slow-moving creeks wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace—as though not built to fly—against the roar of a thousand snow geese.
Then within the marsh, here and there, true swamp crawls into low-lying bogs, hidden in clammy forests. Swamp water is still and dark, having swallowed the light in its muddy throat. Even night crawlers are diurnal in this lair. There are sounds, of course, but compared to the marsh, the swamp is quiet because decomposition is cellular work. Life decays and reeks and returns to the rotted duff; a poignant wallow of death begetting life.
On the morning of October 30, 1969, the body of Chase Andrews lay in the swamp, which would have absorbed it silently, routinely. Hiding it for good. A swamp knows all about death, and doesn’t necessarily define it as tragedy, certainly not a sin. But this morning two boys from the village rode their bikes out to the old fire tower and, from the third switchback, spotted his denim jacket.”

RATING:.
5

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
11-12-2022 to 11-20-2022 ( )

Where the Crawdads Sing is my favourite read of 2024 so far and Kya, The Marsh Girl, is one of my favourite fictional female characters of all time. Haunting and endearing, artistic and intelligent, resilient and resourceful, bewitching and vulnerable, she’s one of a kind.

Kya’s story is told across different timelines, starting in 1952 when she is just 6 years old, flipping forwards to 1969 when the body of handsome, athletic and popular Chase Andrews is found beneath the rickety old fire tower in the marshes and then to and fro, following her life in stages leading up to his mysterious death and beyond.

I love that Where the Crawdads Sing is so many different things.
It’s a beautifully lyrical, highly descriptive study of the natural world, the flora and fauna of the North Carolina coastline, Kya’s home
It’s a murder mystery set in a small, close-knit community where everybody knows everybody else’s business and folks of colour and marsh dwellers are alienated, accused and discriminated against.
It’s Kya’s coming-of-age story, a story of loss and abandonment, abuse and neglect, strength and survival, loneliness and longing. A feral, hand-to-mouth existence, a symbiotic relationship with nature, evading the authorities and trusting nobody.
It’s a moving love story.

Where the Crawdads Sing has left me with a lasting, kaleidoscopic image of Kya, spinning around, arms outstretched with flocks of gulls flapping and eddying around her, creating a feathered forcefield to protect her from the outside world. With a lump in my throat, I was rooting for Kya every step of the way, welling up at the acts of kindness from Jumpin’, Mabel and Tate. Kya, the bogs, swamps and marshes, the grits, pokes and crawdads will stay with me for a very long time. I cannot rate this book highly enough. ( )

The perfect novel? Perhaps. It's got something for everyone: a coming-of-age story about a young friendless girl, Kya, abandoned by her family and siblings, who has to make her own way in the world as 'Marsh girl', living in a shack on the shoreline. It's a mystery story. Though this element unfolds slowly, once it developed, it had me gripped until the very last page. It's beautifully evocative nature writing too, informed yet lyrical, capturing the soul of a North Carolina marshland shoreline rich in bird and other wildlife.

This is a book about Kya herself, and about the community where she grew up in the 1950s and 60s, with its racial divisions (Colored Town is on the outskirts). None of the other characters ever moves as centre stage as Kya herself, but Tate and Chase, who at different times date her, as well as her protector, storekeeper Jumpin' and his wife are convincingly portrayed.

Over a seventeen year period, the book alternates between Kya's early childhood and her young adulthood. As a child she has to contend with her absent mother's disappearance, a drunken inadequate father, and learn how to fend for herself. As an adult she learns that friends, lovers - and she has few enough - can't always be trusted. The mystery, unveiled in the book's prologue, unfolds only in the latter part of the book, but is satisfyingly absorbing edge-of-the-seat stuff.

Perhaps the last pages were just a little too neat, and resolved just a little bit too easily so many of Kya's difficulties of trust and relating to fellow-humans. But surely she deserved to live happily-ever-after?

This book seems to demand to be made into a film: it's a highly pictorial book whose scenes I found easy to visualise. An unusual and convincing story, beautifully written. ( )