Where the crawdads sing *Warning - contains spoilers*

Just finished and loved it right until those last few pages 😩

I listened to it as an audio which added to my enjoyment of the sense of place as I cannot do the local accent in my head.
The plot was a touch unbelievable and the poetry was terrible.
I throughly enjoyed the sense of place and the ending.

Spoiler alert.

I loved it! It's the best book I've read in a long time. I loved the nature descriptions, it made me want to book a holiday to North Carolina!

I think way we learn about Kya killing Chase was done quite well. She refused to live in fear of him coming back for her and the reference of the female insect luring the male with her charms then eating him was a good touch. She obviously used her beauty to get him to the tower then pushed the fucker off.

I loved Jumpin' and his wife. And Tate too.

Completely over hyped clap trap.

contains spoilers

Just finished it. I liked the overall premise of the story, felt the tragicness of the whole thing but found the nature and poetry bits boring.

I don’t think Kya was ever asked if she murdered Chase, nor did we see her profess her innocence but the whole thing was set up to assume she was. So the fact that there’s a hint at the end that she did do it is at odds with the whole thing. Being the poet was totally uneccessary!!

7.5/10

I finally finished, I skimmed through the last third or so. Totally unbelievable, the poetry added nothing to it, the characters were characterless, its going straight to the charity shop pile.

This has been my holiday read and I enjoyed it, read it over 3 days.

I have mixed feelings about the ending, even though Chase was abusive/a rapist I'm not convinced he had to be murdered or that Kya would have done that. It also doesn't sit right that she got away with it!

I also struggled to believe that an otherwise devoted mother would have left her young child in that situation or that no one (brothers/sisters/grandparents etc) would have rescued her.

But I enjoyed reading it and think it would make a good film.

I am reading this at the moment and while it’s not bad, it’s definitely not living up to the hype. The two things that irritate me are the poetry, which is terrible, and the dialogue - dreadfully lacked and not remotely convincing. Each character just spits out what they want to say: there’s no nuance or anything.

I do think that the book showed the impact of isolation - she never left the marsh after her trial, never spoke to anyone but Tate and despite excelling in her career never accepted an interview or accolade. She only spoke to the same small set of people in her whole life.

I didn't like Eleanor Oliphant for the reason that we were supposed to believe she was a raving alcoholic who almost killed herself, and then all it took was her friend giving her a ticking off and getting a cat and voila, alcohol problem over no AA, no support, no relapses etc. A total disservice to those who suffer from alcoholism

@Lolly21 I read that previously and found it quite disturbing as well.

Panticus, I agree with you. I thought it was just about OK, and I did finish it, but I didn't love it. No real characterisation, cliched writing and I hated the "poetry" bits.

Really loved this book. Took a while to get into it but once I was was totally hooked. Loved the nature and descriptive writing. Yes, was far-fetched in places but once I’d got over that was captivated.

Read this about the author after I’d finished it, which I found interesting, and a bit creepy! slate.com/culture/2019/07/delia-owens-crawdads-murder-africa.html

I don't think any theories are needed, the ending was very clear.

I loved it when I first read it, and was quite happy to be carried away by the implausible story. However, I think the criticisms are valid and agree there is a more interesting story about the impact of isolation on a small child. That same criticism could be thrown at Eleanor Oliphant but I don't think that claims to be anything more than a light and funny novel. Whereas the beautiful evocation of the landscape in Where the Crawdads Sing leads you to hope for a more complex story than you get.

Just finished this, it's my new favourite book of all time. I enjoyed every word, it's perfect and has everything a book should have. So interesting the novelist is a biologist (her love of fora and fauna really showed) in her 70's and this is her debut fiction novels

Well, to be fair I started it before lockdown and am still only halfway through but I probably won't bother finishing it so I don't mind spoilers.

Oooops I hadn't realised how long ago OP started the thread - just that it was current. I'll stand my 'spoiler officers' down.

That was over three months ago, I think it's probably safe to say she will have finished it by now.

@Standrewsschool. Did you miss the part where OP said she was halfway through and 'no spoilers please'?

I loved it. I found it lyrical and evocative, and the plot worked for me.

I enjoyed this book very much. Thought it was beautifully written.

Glad to find a thread on this - I've just finished the audiobook. I get pp's points about parts being far fetched or twee. I wanted to be taken somewhere & certainly was. I thought the characters where well developed. I loved & shed a tear for Jumpin. I have some theories about the ending but won't add spoilers here.

I've now just started 'American Dirt' I'll make my mind up on the controversy when I'm finished.

So glad I found this thread as I had mixed feelings about this book just as some pp have said. There were too many very unlikely things in it for me to really get totally absorbed - the book deals, for example just seemed to be so unlikely, as did the murder / court case ending with the 'revelations' at the end. They all seemed cheap tricks that were unworthy of the better parts of the novel to me.

It took me bloody ages to get into, the first half was a real drag. I like the second half and the ending though.

Only persevered because of all the good reviews

It was my book club choice - we all disliked it. Totally farfetched, unbelievable and twee.

95 pages in and not enjoying any of it, it's a real slog...absolutely hate the dialogue total waste of £7.99
I need to avoid anything over hyped in future