https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36809135-where-the-crawdads-sing For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens. I'm excited to read y'alls thoughts on this one. I absolutely loved the book and have recommended it to as many people as possible. If anyone needs an ebook version, let me know.
Through Chapter 9 Spoiler I dont have anything specific to say, but this book is an easy read.. This feels like a book where you get really attached to some of the characters and a something awful happens
Through Part 1 Spoiler Poor Kya always abandoned. Still dont have a clue how she figures into the murder. Still dont have any big ideas on this book, but am really enjoying the story telling.
Through Chapter 26 Spoiler Now we know how Chase fits in. Fuck Tate. What a pussy to ghost on her and not even say goodbye. Chase seems like a good dude so far. The clue about the necklace she gave him missing is not good for Kya, but IDK if she'd murk him. Nothing so far to show she's that type of jealous.
Spoiler: Part One I found myself most interested in the race of this young lady. I am sure that it was alluded to, but felt like I wasn't quite sure until I read Olive. Not sure where we are going but good writing none the less. It's no Marlon James chapter.
Spoiler Pretty sure she's white, just w an olive skin tone. I didnt realize the Jumpin was black until they talked about him being from Colored Town
Spoiler: Spoiler Yeah it was just kind of this lingering vague reference to me. Because of the date I felt like it was important. She is definitely white and I always knew Jumpin was black.
Through Chapter 31 Spoiler Well, I guess we all saw Chase keeping her as a side chick coming. For a minute I thought Tate might be the killer as a way to protect Kya's honor or something. However now that he got her a book deal, she's living pretty comfortable, the vitriol about Chase seems to have left. Tate is still the most likely to do it, but IM not sure why at this point. Darkhorse candidates are Jumpin, or Chase's wife when she finds out the meaning of the necklace. [Chapter 41 Spoiler That POS tried to rape her. Is she going to Preying Mantis' him? Chapter 46 Spoiler Don’t think it’s Jumpin of Tate. They wouldn’t let her go through trial if one of them did it
Finished 9/10 Spoiler Wow wow wow. I thought we werent going to closure on the murder, but ended up not caring because it was great to see Kya live a happy life, she was innocent ect. Then Tate found the box. Holy moly
Still on part one, and I'm not going to spoiler this, but I cringed a little when I heard the reader of the audiobook pronounce bream (the fish) the same way you'd say Sid Bream's last name.
Spoiler: 9/10 as well Hard to find a fault and absolutely outstanding ending. To echo Truman, just the trial satisfied and that would have easily made it a 7/10. I was anticipating some fuckery and was led to believe it was Tate then figured it was Jumpin' and we would find out at his funeral, but then you forget again and keep reading just being satisfied the way it turned out. Perfect set up, great ending
Finished. 8.5/10. Very easy read with a satisfying conclusion. Saw the ending coming but had just enough doubt it would come about that way. Good foreshadowing iyam. Spoiler did not catch that she was the poet though, good stuff. I thought she was the killer the whole time, a lot for the same reasons that Truman stated. Couldn’t have been Jumpin or Tate, they would have never let her stand trial. Good foreshadowing with the eating their mate stuff
Through part 1 Spoiler thinking the murder of Chase ends up being result of a love triangle between Chase, Kya, and Tate somehow
Through chapter 38 Spoiler didnt expect Jodie to show up. The death penalty caught me off guard. Seems like she's covering for Tate
Chapter 49 Spoiler the bus driver interrogation pissed me off. A skinny man on a bus could have been Kya in disguise? Gtfoh
Finished Spoiler agreed with others' thoughts who have finished. Good points about how Tate nor jumpin would have let her be on trial if they were guilty. Very satisfied by the ending. I wonder what happened to the dad and other kids? I'm picturing that the Dad probably got murdered over a gambling debt and thrown in the ocean or something
About to finish Spoiler Book is alright, my biggest gripe is 100% the characters -- I don't like any of them. The trial is great (still happening for me), so I wish it'd been a more prominent part of the book. Interesting to see how this turns out. My gf read it as well, but didn't like it sadly. I don't know who committed the murder yet, but my gf thought it was Kya from the moment the murder happened -- before Kya even met Chase Andrews in the book. Makes sense, but I was always hesitant, though the book at first didn't really want you to think it was her. Where I am right now, I think Delia wants you to be unsure of who did it -- we know Chase was bad, and that Kya had multiple motives, but her alibi is a strong one. I should finish today and will write a bit more once I know the resolution. Right now the book would get a 6 or 7 out of 10 for me. Finished Spoiler Damn. My gf called this book to a T the moment Chase was found dead — like what 5% into the book? She said “Kya murdered Chase, but she will be found innocent. It is the only reason the murder is in the book. The author literally slapped us in the face with that stupid firefly metaphor and shitty Amanda Hamilton poems.” Props to my gf. I didn’t think she’d nail it exactly.
Finished. 6.5/10 Spoiler Amanda Hamilton was lame, and I wish that wasn’t in the book at all. It was unnecessary, all Tate needed to do was to find her necklace. The poetry was bad and it just felt like a cheap way for the author to sneak some of her own poetry into a story. I thought the story was solid. I wish it hadn't been so predictable, but it was pretty good. The characters weren't very likable either. Kya was not likable at all, though you did feel for her and her situation. Then, you have Tate (too good), Jumpin (too good), Chase (obvious villain and flat - not fully developed), Sheriff (one dimensional), and most all of the other characters had too small of roles to think much of. I do think the author wove a nicely written story though, and I went with a 6.5 because it was an easy read and it never felt like a trog. A book's ability to keep my interest and for me to never dread reading it is the my top criterion, so that's why the 6.5 versus something lower.
Through Chapter 36 Spoiler: Thoughts Really enjoying this one. A very easy read as mentioned earlier and Owens has created quite a character in Kya. Was nice to see Jodie come back home a few chapters back. I also enjoyed the mention of Greenville (was born and raised in that area) though I feel that everything isn't as it seems wrt her trip. I'm not one to read much mystery and am probably missing a few clues as far as who killed Chase but it seems to me that Tate has to be involved somehow. Look forward to the conclusion.
Finished 8/10 Spoiler: Thoughts Enjoyed this and read it quickly. Kinda felt like I knew how the trial was going to go down as you got closer to the end. I didn't see the poetry part coming either. I wondered if the author would've left us hanging on who killed Chase but I think the conclusion made sense. I do think you could've fleshed some of the supporting characters out a bit more but that didn't really affect my enjoyment. Another minor quibble is that someone from coastal NC wouldn't go to Asheville to buy suits as the prosecutor supposedly did but that's me being weird.
Spoiler I think if we didnt get resolution w who committed the murderer, id be annoyed at first, but ultimately be ok with it. It wasnt all that important as far as the story went and sometimes I like when an author leaves things a little ambiguous for the reader to ponder. However, idk how she would have wrapped it up she didnt use that as a big reveal
Finished earlier today. I'll post more complete thoughts later but really enjoyed it. 9/10 for me. Edit: Spoiler OK, got a few minutes to type something up. The story was a very easy read. I definitely expected Kya to be the killer, but then the ending I figured I was wrong, so the box was a nice surprise. I was wondering why we kept getting poems from one author but I didn't connect that Kya was the author, so that makes sense. I won't pretend that I'm an authority on poetry so I don't know if they were good poems or bad poems, but they're not supposed to be outstanding poems in the book so it doesn't bother me if they were a little trite or cliched. Overall I enjoyed the book and any book that gets me to break my normal reading habits and spend extra time on it is a breath of fresh air, and this was one of those. There were some tropes, some one-dimensional characters, but those don't really bother me either. I enjoyed having a protagonist that was deeply flawed, an interesting setting, a decent murder mystery. Just an enjoyable read.
Actually Spoiler the olive skin stuff is attributed to people from Mediterranean region, so she definitely could've been mixed race, especially in the 60's with a name like Kya that would be uncommon in the southeast.
Finished yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Spoiler I figured Chase would rape her, but I thought Tate was the killer. I was fond of the poetry used but definitely didn’t expect Kya to be the famous local poet. Once it was revealed Kya was the killer, and calculated at that, I was kicking myself for not figuring it out - just because the fireflies were emphasized and how it talks about the female firefly gets what she wants. For a first published novel, Owens really blew me away with a well put together novel.