Where the Crawdads Sing: Reese's Book Club

This is a wonderful book, and it kept me entertained the entire time!

It’s a story that keeps you waiting,wanting to know more. Once you start getting into this book and start becoming the main character, you are part of her and you need to know what happens next. The author wrote an excellent book. I would read it again and tell people the should read it too

It was an ok book. The narrator wasn't the greatest. I couldn't stay engaged in the story.

This is the second time I have read/listened to this book. Kia poured out her heart to the reader. Everybody needs someone to love them. But she was so painfully shy after being left on her own for so many years. I kept hoping for her to find a friend, God, or someone to love her.

"...we may long to be in a group, but we can find unbelievable strength inside to survive, even thrive, when we are alone."

This novel... I don't even know where to begin. I believe the author says it best when she says Kya is one in a million, and all of us at the same time. She speaks to the lonely child in all of us who just wanted a friend or to belong. The pang of first love and love lost. The steeling of one's heart after people disappoint us and leave.

Kya, the Marsh Girl, is left to fend for herself after every member of her family slowly leaves her. She does, of course, have some help from lovable characters like Jumpin' and his wife Mable. Additionally a childhood friend of her brother's, Tate, teaches her to read and opens a whole new world on her Marsh.

Things get a little murky, but it all works out in the end like any good love/coming of age story. A must read. Hands down.

Not the sort of novel I usually read, but when I saw it on the table at Open Book Hour I guessed (correctly) that the environment would play a major role in the story and would interest me.

A good plot, interesting characters, but the end felt rushed, wrapping up life after the trial and a major discovery too quickly.

excellent, perfect.

I could even finish it. None of the characters seem real.

Coming of age murder mystery that kept you in suspense till the end.
Beautifully written with mesmorising detail about the characters and their enviroments. Gripping and compelling.

All the hype over the book and the movie that came out I expected a better book. I was really disappointed. I won’t be watching the movie.

Swept up and swept away by this haunting story of "the marsh girl" and her survival against physical and emotional odds that seem all but insurmountable. Does Owens stretch a bit to make the story work? To pull a few heartstrings? Well, yeah...so did Dickens. I have a feeling pieces of this story will stay with me for a long time.

A swamp and a marsh are very different environments. A marsh is a thriving and nurturing place, and it’s there, along the North Carolina coast, that Kya lived and survived after being abandoned by her family as a young girl. Kya spent her days alone, observing the surrounding natural world, and it served her well.

Though she loved her marsh dearly, sometimes the loneliness was too much, especially as she grew into a young women. But after being abandoned by everyone she loved and shunned by the locals, who could she trust with her heart?

I don’t want to ramble on too much about the plot. This stirring, character-driven novel is part coming of age story, part mystery, and part love story — between Kya and two young men who she allows in her hidden world, but most of all, between Kya and her treasured marsh.

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING is a gorgeously written and haunting novel with an unforgettable heroine, the Marsh Girl. What a bittersweet ending!! Tears, tears, tears. Just lovely.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book through Penguin’s First to Read Program in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic read from start to finish, the writing style makes the story feel alive putting the reader in close proximity to the three main characters Kya, Tate & Chase. This novel is a murder mystery along with the story of Kya—a girl abandoned by everyone who is left to survive at a very young age in the marshes of the North Carolina coast. The author paints the setting and characters well of a place and people all but abandoned by society. We read about the little girl, Kya who is left one-by-one by her family until she, at least, realizes that nature is her family.
The book pulls you into Kya’s life, her fears, her heart, and eventually some triumph over the numerous obstacles that she faces, poverty, uneducated, discrimination, and vulnerability – including a society that rejects her for being different calling her marsh trash – Marsh Girl. This story introduces Jumpin and his wife Mabel who through their kindness allows you as the reader to redeem the characters in the community who shun Kya leading you to recognize there is the purest amongst the ugly.
This book will grab you and not let you go and even at the end when you learn that Kya, now dead, did actually commit the murder you feel sad for not only her but also Tate and you just want to sit outside and ponder the beauty of nature all around you.

Not the typical kind of book I read but with the movie coming out it finally caught my attention (due to the mystery element). I am not as enamored as the rest of the world, but it’s not a bad book. The descriptions of nature, the marsh and its inhabitants, was the best part.

Truth be told, I went in expecting a tear jerk or. I was underwhelmed by the story regardless. I appreciate the strong characters, however.

Not going to call this a mystery: it is only a mystery if you are a turnip. The foreshadowing is so heavy handed I felt like I got clipped upside the head. There was some lovely writing in this book and the main plot line had great potential but I was so fed up with the main character I could have howled in protest. This was horrifically overwritten as if the author was afraid the reader would be, well, a turnip. On the plus side, I enjoyed the description of the marsh and the wildlife but I am afraid all of two legged mammals in the novel were about as subtle as cartoons. Made for a very jarring read with the lovely layered marsh as a background and great galumphing cartoon figures running around all over it.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The story of a girl/woman (Kya) who grew up alone in the marshlands of North Carolina. Known only as "The Marsh Girl" there is an air of mystery about her. When a young man is found dead, the town is quick to suspect her of his death.

The story moves at a steady pace building to a slow burn. Detail oriented and character driven gave me an inside view of what Kya was thinking and feeling. Told from past to present (1969) we learn much about Kya.

Overall I found Where the Crawdads Sing very enjoyable, I wish I read it sooner. I highly recommend this heart-felt thought provoking read.

Great book. An emotional and interesting story of an amazing girl turned woman. The character development was so good. The ending was so painful! Very good.

I didn't know what was worth all the hype and popularity until I read it. Highly entertaining and difficult to put down. There were some parts in it that I skipped over that just added spice but weren't necessary for the storyline, but overall a very engaging story.

This is one of those books that I kept seeing everywhere. Despite the popularity I just never picked it up until my sister called. She had just watched the movie and was so moved by it, she said she cried and immediately wanted to read the book because, as we all know, the book is always better. This gave me the nudge I needed and I went straight for the audiobook to see what all the fuss was about.

From the very first chapter I was hooked. Kya the “Marsh Girl’s” pain, struggles, abandonment and resilience made her such an endearing character. Owen’s writing style is beautifully vivid and captures the mood and essence of the marshland and Kya’s world.

I felt every emotion reading this book. Anger at the cruelty Kya endured, sadness for her loneliness, hope for a better life, and joy at all of her accomplishments. I love when a book makes you feel a full spectrum of emotions, and this one definitely did it for me.

As soon as I finished the book, I immediately watched the movie on Netflix. I couldn’t wait to relive the story on the screen. Even though I very much enjoyed it, there’s just something about Owen’s writing style that I absolutely loved, and I’m so glad I read the book first.

This is a wonderfully inspiring read, and it’s easily one of my favorite books of the year. 5 stars for all the feels.

This novel is so well written. I have listened to it once and read it once. It is one I will probably read again. It piqued my interest in coastal wildlife and wildlife in general. I am amazed at the resilience of a young girl, Kya, as she learns to live alone and survive. I wanted to take her home with me and mother her.
Kya was not phased by the celebrity she received as an artist and biologist. She did what she did. And her poetry was perfect!

The genius of this book is the murder mystery. That kept me going through the inevitable formulaic romance. It was rated highly for me in my recommendations but I really should have passed because I find romances boring.

Spoiler at the bottom.

Pros:
I like to read about strong independent women. I liked that she had a calling that involved both art and science.

Cons:
I had a bad reaction to an early scene. The young child Kya is hungry, and she gets a chance to go to school and have hot chicken pie for lunch. At lunchtime some kids make fun of her. So she doesn't eat her pie. She stuffs it into her milk carton and brings it home - and feeds it to gulls. This reminds me of a scene in A LITTLE PRINCESS where the hungry girl Sara Crewe is given a penny by a pitying little boy - and she doesn't use it to buy a loaf of bread, she "bore a hole in it" to wear around her neck. These authors know nothing about hunger.

And second, I saw the ending immediately. SPOILER IS HERE. This is chick lit. Of course she killed the guy and of course it was because he sexually assaulted her. It's always like that in chick lit. If it's not secret parentage and secret pregnancies, it's secret sexual assault.

I finished reading this book over a week ago, and it is still on my mind. What a fantastic novel! It's a book I'll read again, just to dive into the subtle layers of the story.

Great, intriguing story about the will and heart of humankind!

A really lovely bittersweet book.

Very slow at parts, but it was a really good story!
Definitely tugged at the heartstrings.

Oh this book. First, the ending is great. But, there are some parts I just struggled with a bit. This would have been an easy five stars if the supporting characters were not type-cast.

In the 1950s, a sensitive and resourceful ten-year-old, Catherine Danielle Clark, nicknamed Kya, is left to fend for herself in a primitive shack on the North Carolina coast. The child manages to scrape out a meager living by fishing, planting vegetables, and accepting help from a goodhearted black couple. Kya, who is illiterate, learns to read, thanks to a boy named Tate Walker, who sees something special in her. She communes with wildlife and collects seashells, feathers, and other artifacts that she organizes into an ever-expanding collection. Tate's patient instruction, plus the books he obtains for her, provide Kya with a unique education. Like her mother, Kya has a talent for art, and she creates breathtaking drawings and paintings that capture what she observes in remarkable detail.

There is a fairy-tale-like quality to "Where the Crawdads Sing," by Delia Owens. Kya gets away with attending school for a total of one day; eludes social workers who want to place her in foster care; never sees a doctor; and, in spite of enduring incredible physical and emotional challenges, grows up to become a strong and accomplished woman. Owens foreshadows trouble ahead, however, when Kya falls under the spell of a predatory and smooth-talking young man. The second half of this evocative and lyrical coming-of-age story is, unfortunately, something of a letdown. A sensational murder trial with too many melodramatic elements disrupts the narrative flow that had been so captivating.

The author's background as a naturalist adds immeasurably to the texture and beauty of "Where the Crawdads Sing." City dwellers who have inured themselves to noise, overcrowding, traffic jams, and rubbish-strewn sidewalks may envy Kya when she takes her boat out for a spin, revels in the amazing spectacle of birds in flight, and becomes an expert on every aspect of her environment. This haunting work of fiction is a sobering psychological study of the effects of loneliness, abuse, and abandonment. Furthermore, Owens leaves us with a message that could not be timelier. If developers persist in destroying ecosystems such as the marshland in which Kya lived, they will be robbing future generations of their precious and irreplaceable heritage.

Trite and foolish. Nice nature descriptions but the rest was stupid.

Tender

Not at all like any other mystery book. I was completely taken in being so beautifully written that the sights and sounds of the marsh came alive. I cried many times. I only wished it could have continued on.

I LOVED this book so much I have the regular edition and just bought the deluxe edition! The author heightened all my senses with her beautiful prose. My grandparents lived on an island in the swamp and marsh area and this book took me right back to that time and place. She nailed the details perfectly! Plus it added a little mystery to it, which is my favorite genre.