Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Where the Crawdads Sing; Delia Owens

G.P Putnam - 2018

AUTHOR: Delia Owens
PUBLISHER: GP Putnam
PUB. YEAR: 2018
SETTING:  North Carolina
FORMAT:  - library
RATING: 5/5 stars


Catherine Clark (Kya)  as the youngest child of 5 who grew up in a dysfunctional home in a rural area of North Carolina. When "Ma" took off one day, one by one Kya's older siblings followed suit. At the age of 10, Kya finds herself alone with her alcoholic and abusive father.   Kay is smart and fearless but, illiterate and lonely as well.  She is shunned by many as she is wild looking and dirty and her time in the classroom is short-lived. She soon becomes known as the "Marsh Girl", spending long days there exploring. Her father leaves for long periods of time and when one day he fails to return home, Kya finds herself on her own without any money. For her, the marsh lands soon becomes her home.

In 1969 when the body of Chase Andrews, a well-known, star quarterback is found along the marsh, Kya becomes a suspect in his death.

The story is told in two timelines; 1952 and 1969. An addictive, coming of age story,  love story and mystery.  The writing is beautifully descriptive. The Kya character is both heartbreaking and resilient to read about. I loved the way that the suspense built, ending in a way that I wasn't expecting. This is truly a wonderful debut novel, worthy of all the positive buzz it's received.  The author is a wildlife scientist and her love of nature shows in this well-written novel. This would be a terrific book for book club discussions.

21 comments:

  1. I have this book on audio to listen to next year. So glad that it worked well for you, Diane. I bet it would be a great book to discuss.

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    1. A terrific book club pick for sure. I'll be curious how the audio is as Kya is not well educated so I'm thinking the audio could be off-putting at times??

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  2. We almost picked this one for one of my reading groups. Yesterday it became part of the Tournament of Books long list. I will be reading it.

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  3. Sounds good and that title is terrific!

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    1. I never knew what a crawdad was LOL - Up north, it's a new term for many I guess.

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  4. I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't heard about this book until reading your review, but it sounds good so it's going on my TBR list. Good thing Christmas is coming!

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    1. Really? I hope you will enjoy it. It seems I've read lots about it - everywhere.

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  5. Everyone is loving this book - I need top pick it up.

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  6. I've heard great things about this one so I am glad to hear that you enjoyed it.

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  7. Four bloggers I follow, you included, have given this novel a five star rating. No doubt this one is a must-read.

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  8. I'm going to recommend this to my book club!

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  9. Oh, glad to hear audio was good. I had a feeling it might not be good in audio.

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  10. So many bloggers love this book... sounds like it belongs on my list, too!

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  11. Yeah I liked this novel too. I fell into Kya's life and just went with it .... lonesome but full of nature.

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  12. It's so refreshing when a novel actually lives up to the hype! I want to read this one even more now :)

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  13. Just added this to my library list as well.

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