Where the Crawdads Sing

Still ones of my faves

Incredible book horrible movie

Slow and boring.

Despite taking almost the entire summer to read this book, this book was, at one point one of my favourite reads this year. Originally the striking imagery, vivid detail and interesting plot and structure made for a fascinating read. Learning about Kya's childhood and flashing between the past and present was a dynamic and bold structure choice, that was easy to follow and gave enough context and plot, whilst also painting a beautiful scenery for the readers to picture. However, as the summer and the book went on, it slowly became less intriguing. Following Kya's arrest in the second act of the book, the pace slowed down and there became less to picture, which, so far, had been the strongest point of the book. And while some may argue that that was point, that Kya was in prison and so if Kya can't be immersed in her marsh, then the reader can't either. But it got to the point, where it felt as though everything was dragging out a bit, especially the anticlimactic end to the novel, which saw Kya die in her old age and it then be revealed that she did kill Chase Andrews all those years ago. Having it be revealed after her death, felt a bit like a cop out, especially since so much time was spent following Kya in prison and court.

Ahh, I had such high hopes for this book! The first third of the book had promise; I loved the gorgeous, descriptive prose. Unfortunately, it falls apart from there. The major plot points felt contrived. Chase somehow goes straight from sleaze to potential rapist. He moved too quickly on his first date with Kya and was a selfish lover, but he didn’t show any indication of violence or even possessiveness until that pivotal point in the story. I think the author needed a way to have Kya at the mercy of the townsfolk to even further highlight their prejudice and her isolation, so a trial seemed the most logical way to do that. Chase becomes a violent creep and we have a murder trial. (And can we all agree that it’s bizarre and unlikely that Chase wore his ex-girlfriend’s necklace every single day, even once he was married, and his wife and mother were just…okay with it?) The dialogue is almost painful to read, particularly the sherif and deputy giving a verbal play by play of their every action during the investigation. The courtroom scenes stretch on longer than they need to, especially because they feel so unnecessary. At one point, Kya kind of mentally checks out and I thought to myself, “even the author wanted this section over with.” Near the end, after all that struggle and loneliness, Kya’s new beginning with Tate is almost glossed over. It is what most readers are holding out for and it’s nearly a footnote. Why? The author wanted to get to the bit where we find out that Kya actually did kill Chase (which I think everyone kind of knows by that point anyway). Two stars because the nature descriptions are really lovely, almost poetic.