“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot”- Aldo Leopold
Delia Owens‘ first novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, took book clubs by storm across the world. I think most avid readers I know recommended it to me after its release. So, I chose it for my own book club when it was my turn to pick.
Owens introduces us to a little girl named Kya. Kya lives in Barkley Cove, a coastal marsh in North Carolina. The little girl starts out living with a family, but they all end up leaving for one reason or another. Her brothers, mother, and father abandon her. Kya is left alone at ten years old to fend for herself out in the wild. Out in the reclusive marsh land.
The rest of Where the Crawdads Sing follows Kya’s life up to her very end. We learn about how she survives as “the marsh girl,” the relationships she develops, a murder mystery, but mostly, we learn how she uses nature to educate herself, and heal from being deserted.
Yes, in the middle of this very unique “coming of age” story, there is a murder mystery that parallels Kya’s life at a certain point. Personally, I think the book would’ve done just fine without this element intertwined. An abandoned marsh girl is interesting enough for me to keep reading. However, it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the story, and the reveal is very clever.
Before Delia Owens was an author, she was a zoologist, and her love for all things nature is definitely present in Where the Crawdads Sing. It’s likely my favorite part of the entire book. The descriptions of the marsh lands are so tangible, and they almost leave you in a trance-like state. The reader feels like she’s right there next to Kya as she drives, steers her dingy boat, or as she fishes for mussels near her home. I listened to it on audio book, so the vivid images of the marsh land in my head were even more appealing.
I think one of the main things I took from Where the Crawdads Sing is that nature is always going to give you the tools for survival. Kya was resilient, but she had a symbiotic relationship with her marsh home that kept her alive and free-spirited. She learned things we couldn’t even imagine learning sitting in front of a computer screen.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is, get out there and get all up in nature.
Lastly, download the Libby app. Right now. I borrowed this book and others through my local library for free.
Final overall rating: 6/10.
Brittany Fernandez is a Lifestyle Writer for SoBros Network. She’s a Nashville native covering events on the local scene, B-movie horror reviews, and everything in between. Her go-to karaoke song is “No Diggity.” Follow on Twitter: @brittbutspooky
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