Generally speaking, the American South doesn’t have the best reputation. Slavery. The Confederacy. Conservatism. Gun Slingers. Those are things that come to mind for many when they think of the South. To be fully transparent, those are things that came to mind I read the synopsis of the novel and realized it took place in North Carolina. In actuality, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is about none of these things; it is about so much more.
Where the Crawdads Sing begins in the 1940s and follows the story of Kya. Kya and her family live in a shack in the marshes just outside Barkley Cove, North Carolina. Although her family had wealth at one point, Kya’s family is now incredibly poor, and thus, rely on the land to survive. Her mother plants vegetables in the garden and her father takes the family boat into the marshes to collect whatever fish and muscles he can muster.
In addition to facing poverty at such a young age, Kya also witnessed domestic abuse. Her father, a World War II veteran, suffers from alcoholism and would, on occasion, take it out on his wife. Finally, after another horrific act of domestic abuse, Kya’s mother gathers her things, puts on her crocodile heels, and walks down the road, never to be seen again. This results in a domino effect and Kya’s two eldest sisters, then her two eldest brothers, leave the shack. Kya is left with emptiness and her alcoholic father. Then, he too leaves.
With no one to rely on, Kya turns to herself.
While Where the Crawdads Sing is technically a coming-of-age/ murder mystery story, to me, read like a love letter to learning, oneself, and to nature. The writing style and process of self-education that Kya goes through reminded me a lot of Tara Westover’s novel Educated, which is one of my all-time favorite reads. Furthermore, the story tackles issues of prejudice and the wrongful nature of making unjust assumptions about others. About the wrongful nature of excluding someone merely because they are different. A lot of these themes covered in Where the Crawdads Sing can be applied to our modern reality, and I hope other readers see that as well.
In my opinion, this book is 1000% worth the hype. Should Delia Owens publish another novel, I would unquestionably read it.
Where the Crawdads Sing receives 5 stars from me.
Amanda Reads 