Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Absolutely enchanting!
I don’t think I have been this excited about a book since I read A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory.
There is absolutely no question that this book deserves all the credit it has received since its release. Hats off to Delia Owen for writing what I can only describe as a true masterpiece. A story that gets you to feel human again.
A beautifully written story tackling love, growth, abandonment, polarisation, prejudice and self-discovery. For me, stories are only as good as their characters, and I have never been so sucked into characters. Like some of the other people in the story, I found Kya to be mysterious and fascinating.
I fell in love with Kya, Tate and Jumpin – and I don’t think I will ever forget them. They touched my heart and made my emotions go up and then crashing down like stormy waves throughout the story. I learned a lot about how it would be to live in a Marsh in Southern North Carolina near the coast, and I started to think a lot more about nature. The nature of wildlife and humans – and their commonalities. Delia’s in-depth knowledge of nature is phenomenal and this added enormous value to the story.
Kya (Catherine) is only a young girl when her family members start abandoning her – the sad sense of abandonment becomes a strong theme echoed throughout the story. Her siblings and mother leave due to Kya’s father being a drunk and abusive veteran. And Kya attaches herself to nature to survive and because she knows nature won’t abandon her like everyone else in her life.
She learns to earn some money and forms a father-and-daughter-like relationship with a black shop owner called Jumpin. Jumpin and his wife help young Kya by getting her clothes and treating her like a human being, unlike many of the town’s people who refer to her as “The Marsh Girl” and “dirty”. Much of the community treat her with prejudice and don’t let her associate with other children.
She finds solace with a few social connections but mainly with nature. And even with all the dangers she faces, she fears loneliness the most.
I’ll stop there to avoid giving away the sophisticated and well thought out plot. There is so much to this book that I could talk about it for days or even weeks. It touched so many aspects of living that it demands to be remembered – I will certainly be remembering this book for a long time.
