Where the crawdads sing *Warning - contains spoilers*

[AvoidingRealHumans]

Has anyone read this? I'm part way through and loving it.
I want to finish it but don't want it to end. No spoilers please

IMO it’s not really worth persevering with itWeekday.
Life’s too short, and it really doesn’t improve further on.
I was a bit disappointed in it to be honest, but I know it’s very popular on here.

*Bold fail.

So much filler in this book. Could have cut a third off and wouldn't have missed it. It was ok. I'd never bother to re-read though.

I started this before lockdown and keep putting it down to read other things, it's just not engaging me at all. The descriptive writing is beautiful but the characters and story just aren't doing it for me (I'm about a third of the way through). I think I might bail out.

Have just finished this, having stayed up most of the night!

Absolutely LOVED it! It's definitely worth today's tiredness. Excited that it's being made into a film although I'm often disappointed if the film's not quite as I imagined the book

I thought the premise was great but the way it evolved into a murder mystery/courtroom drama/romance was such a waste of a good idea. I’d have much preferred to find out how growing up alone and isolated affected her psychologically/caused all sorts of issues re attachment disorder etc but she still managed to survive and make a living with her science studies and books.

And yeah, as soon as we started getting descriptions of how beautiful she was and that’s the only reason anyone was interested in her, it kind of made me go

Just finished this book, and have mixed feelings towards it.

I was absorbed and captivated by the story. The nature descriptions were wonderful, and conjured up good imagery of the area.

However, at the end, I felt disappointed. One minute they were investigating Kya, and then seconds later she was in court. Actually, ithink the court case was okay.

However, after the court case, the story seem to be rushed. At the end, it implied that she was the murderer. However, there was no explanation as to why Kya was up on the tower with Chase, and even that she was there She could have come across him dead and taken the necklace. Also, was she even there, or was she visiting the publisher?

Also, it implies she was the poet. Why was this added in at the end?

Also, like posters above have said, it became cliche. The child who can look after herself, learn to feed herself, read, make money, become a published writer etc. It was all too a bit convenient.

I didn’t hate the book, and enjoyed it for what it was, but I felt it was flawed.

Also not a fan of Eleanor Oliphant.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

@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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

@Panticus

I absolutely hated it - I thought it was garbage and ended up skimming to get to the end. I cannot understand why it is so well regarded - it rates its socks off on Goodreads. The characters were shallow and the whole plot so cliched - I'm getting angry just thinking about it! I'm yet to find anyone in real life who agrees with me. Where are my people?!

I agree with you! We did it in my book group and I would have given up on it otherwise. Unbelievable plot and characterisation.

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

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.

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

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

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.