Film Adaptation: Where the Crawdads Sing
Where the Crawdads Sings is a novel by Delia Owens, that sits in many genres; Mystery, Literary Fiction, and Bildungsroman. That follows the short life of a resilient young girl abandoned by those who were supposed to love her, and raised by the marsh that surrounded her. From every which way she turned there was darkness where people should have been, and obstacles no child should have to face. And in spite of it all, she grew into an intelligent young woman whose soul was so blindingly pure it could break you in two. Scattered through the chapters of Kyra Clark’s life was another story that intertwined, a murder mystery some find too hard to solve and keeps you guessing more than you’d like. Whatever happened to Chase Andrews?
I was hooked from the prologue, just from the way Delia Owens writes. She writes like a poet; every word is hand-picked and woven together to form a sentence that evokes a part of you forgotten. Not once did reading this book become a chore; the words flowed effortlessly, even with the change in accent, and because I was so gripped by the writing falling in love with Kyra was easy. Kyra made me cry more than once; watching her grow was a heartbreaking joy, and seeing the way her mind worked was astounding. There wasn’t a thing about Kyra that I didn’t like, everything she did, and everything she said made complete sense to me, and on more than one occasion I wanted to climb into the pages and give her a hug. But she wasn’t the only character of note; there were many that crossed her path and showed her kindness in the only way they knew how; it was in these small acts that strangers became a family for Kyra; one that she didn’t realise she had until she was grown.
The book is split into two parts. Part one is a slow burn, which I enjoyed because you get the time to meet Kyra, understand and see her grow as a child, starting in the year 1952; and throughout this slow burn are a few chapters from 1969 involving the investigation into the death of Chase Andrews. It’s in part two of the book that things start to heat up; with Kyra now being a young woman in 1965 and knowing much more of the world around her than she’d like, you get to see a strong change in her emotions; everything is felt much deeper and time begins to move faster. You begin to see with more clarity who is standing in Kya’s corner, even when she doesn’t seem to see them herself. Time still jumps to the investigation, but not as often because time is catching up. It is in 1970 that the court case begins and time stands still for so long you wish it would jump because you are so desperate to find out what happened.
In all honesty, I hated the time jump chapters to 1969 in part one. I found them tedious because I was so engrossed in the life Kyra led that I didn’t want to be pulled away. They also felt very predictable. I knew exactly where the investigation was going and I often felt like skipping those chapters entirely. It was only when it got to the court case that I was finally paying the investigating my full attention; and thank you very much Tom Milton, because that Sheriff had me fuming most of the book. I know the time jump chapters in part one were a necessary evil to lay the way for the court case in part two, but really they just felt far too often and a little lacklustre.
I rated this book Four out of Five stars because even though the ending had me sobbing with the biggest smile on my face because my love for Kyra completely blinded my thought process, I can’t believe I doubted her intelligence; that twist was perfect! Unfortunately, the time jumps to 1969 for the investigation and the predictability of those chapters made me drop a star.
I didn’t know a great deal about this book. I’d heard a few things online and saw there was a film coming; so I just bought and read it without even reading the blurb. This worked in my favour, because reading the blurb now, does not do it justice. I do have to mention that the book does have a few Triggers: Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Attempted Sexual Assault and Assault. Therefore, it is better catered to adult readers.
I’d recommend this book to those of you who have a great love of nature because that love is echoed endlessly throughout the book. Those who enjoy the depth of emotion brought up by poetry. Those that love coming of age reads and love stories that cover life, death and everything in between. Those who enjoy a slight side of mystery and anyone as sensitive as me, that enjoys a good cry to a book.
I hope Kyra stays with me for a while, to see the wondrous nature around us as she does would be a beautiful thing indeed.
Favourite Quotes
“Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.”
page 34
“Of all the ragged loves she’d known from wayward family, none had felt like this.”
page 125
“”Please don’t talk to me of isolation. No one has to tell me how it changes a person. I have lived it. I am isolation.””
page 237
“Female fireflies draw in strange males with dishonest signals and eat them; mantis females devour their own mates. Female insects, Kya thought, know how to deal with their lovers.”
page 274
“She feels the pulse of life, he thought, because there are no layers between her and her planet.”
page 279
Finer Details:
Title: Where the Crawdads Sing
Author: Delia Owens
Pages: 374
Publisher: Corsair
Publication: 2019
Language: English
Rating: 4/5