Am I the only person who did not love Where the Crawdads Sing?

It was terrible! As for the poetry...😏

I thought it was a good enough page turner but nothing like as wonderful as a lot of people seem to think. The characters are cardboard and I found the ‘twist’ at the end unconvincing. I did like some of the writing about the marsh. And the poetry is dreadful.

@Iloveyoucaterpillar , no you're not.

I thought it was ok at the time, but not more than that. For all the reasons others have mentioned. It went to a charity shop as I knew I wouldn’t re-read it or pass it on to anyone I know.

Agreed. The description of Kaya's beauty was so cliche and jarringly predictable.

I also agree with the comments about Salt Path. My friend absolutely raved about it but I found it tedious and underwhelming.

Oh I liked it! Although I totally get all the points made on this thread! I was mostly there for the landscape and nature writing.

Also loved the Binding, which I suspect is also a tad dubious!

Hated Eleanor oliphant.

Great thread. I hated it. Especially the 'poetry'. I do find it inexplicable that so many people really loved it. The Salt Path was another in that catagory.
Reese Weatherspoon is welcome to it. She did a truly awful adaptation of Vanity Fair.

I disliked it too, for all the reasons you did OP. The godawful "poetry" was the last straw for me.

It's chicklit which is fine, but not an amazing book.

I have been disappointed by so many books that people rave about that I am much more cautious now. Slogged through My Brilliant Friend and cannot believe how anyone could love it

I havent read Crawdads because I know that I would hate it!

Bit fed up altogether with American stuff if I'm honest.

Daisy Edgar Jones (Marianne in Normal People) is going to be in the film of it.

To be fair to MN, this is the only place I've seen a lot of criticism of these very popular books.

I loathed Eleanor Oliphant too, and couldn't get through Crawdads.

I thought it was awful. I only read it because people on here raved about it. But then I didn’t like Eleanor Oliphant either. Or that other MN favourite, The Heart’s Invisible Furies.
I do get some great recommendations from these threads though.

I was in a bookshop the other day and the woman in front of me at the till was telling everyone she buying copies for all her friends as it was the best book she had read in years, I had to bite my tongue. It was the most unbelievable tosh. If they had omitted the murder plot and poetry completely and just focussed on her struggles with growing up alone and the complex relationships with her family it would have been a big improvement.

No. I found parts of it ludicrous. I found it mawkish. I found it twee.

And I was similarly 🤷‍♀️on that thread

But if you only read say a book a month, it would likely stand out.

Yy me too. Wanted to like it so much. But didn't.

Bored, not notrd

The poetry was woeful.

Hated it.

More than most of you on here, because the nature noted me too!

I absolutely hated it but tried to persevere.. finally ditched it when I came across “Sunday Justice”. Oh come on!

The whole thing is, as PP have pointed out, a thinly veiled bit of chick lit, sadly bursting with cliches despite its potentially brilliant setting.

I didn’t rate the poorly executed plot.
Hated the dialogue.

Of course she was the best looking girl in town
Of course she learnt to read in about four minutes
And then landed a book deal
Of course she didn’t have any developmental issues from being neglected - for some reason this was the most irritating angle of the story. She was abandoned but somehow came out of it innocent and articulate and able to form bonds with other humans....!

The author spent too long thinking about writing about purdy lil birds and not enough time thinking about THE BOOK.

The poems were weird and jarring but I did love the nature descriptions.

I enjoyed the beauty of the surrounding and the struggles of her raising herself. I didn’t believe that she would turn into a stunning beauty but youth is often beautiful in itself.

However the murder plot was harebrained and just so poorly executed.

The beauty in the wilderness was lovely. I just wish the interactions would have been more accurately portrayed.

Reese Witherspoon is making it into a movie so I can imagine it will become more saccharine induced for the spectrum of film

Well, I enjoyed it (and recommended it!), but can see in retrospect what you all mean. I read it on holiday. Maybe that helped? I am impressed by how many of you read the whole thing anyway. I give up books too easily.

Nonsense from start to finish. It really bugged me that she was always wearing something white..er grey and dingy don’t you mean..she washes her clothes in the creek for godsake!!

It was awful! You summed up why beautifully. I can't understand why so many people liked it.