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

[Iloveyoucaterpillar]

Saw on another thread that this seems to be a book that people rave about and I was all ready to feel the same, yet just didn't end up liking it particularly without really knowing why.

I certainly did a massive internal eye roll when it turned out that Kaya - left to support herself since the age of about 6 I think - was blossoming into an unconcious willowy beauty, as though it would be impossible to care for her character without tumbling raven locks etc.

And the idea of Tate popping along every now and then and somehow miraculously teaching her to read seemed far fetched. Perhaps I'm just jealous as my oldest DC is 3.5 and has got home his first reading books, it's made me realise the whole learning to read process will take years and at the moment the end result feels highly unlikely.

Then there is the miraculous and very convenient book deal .

I wanted to like it so much more!

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

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.

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.

@LabradorGalore

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

To be fair, Reese Witherspoon’s other TV adaptations have been excellent so she might be able to improve on the book.

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

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

@Iloveyoucaterpillar , no you're not.

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.

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