Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
Review by Priscilla Comen
Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
Review by Priscilla Comen
Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens, is the story of “the marsh girl”, Kya Clark. After her ma walks away in her high heels with one valise, Kya lives with her pa. He is a heavy drinker and doesn’t talk to her. She teaches herself to cook grits, she does the laundry, sweeps the floor, and sleeps on the outside porch. Her Pa, brothers and sisters leave home. Author Owens makes it all real and lonely, showing us the back story of Kya’s parents, how they met, how her pa never went to school or to work, and how, after five children, Ma left.
One day, Kya takes her pa’s little boat into the marsh and meets Tate, a young boy fishing there. He helps her find her way home. He often leaves something for her on a stump: a feather from a rare bird, or a spark plug for her motor. When authorities come to take her to school, she goes only once. Afterwards, when they come, she hides in the weeds. She knows many things about nature, but not how to read; Tate says he can teach her and does. Author Owens tells us about a murder the sheriff is trying to solve. A man has fallen or been pushed from a fire tower, to his death. This sub plot continues throughout the novel.
Kya and Tate grow closer each hour they are together. Kya learns what love is. But one day, Tate leaves for college, promising he’ll return in summer. She waits for months and years, goes to Jumpin’s for supplies, and meets Jumpin's wife Mabel, who gives her clothing, paint supplies, and good food. Her shack fills with colors, knowledge, and beauty. She turns nineteen and meets Chase Andrews, a strong young man, tall, elegant, who didn’t go to college but works for his father. They picnic together and she gives him a shell necklace. They make love. She doesn’t feel lonely any longer. After Chase’s body is found at the bottom of the fire tower, his mother tells the sheriff he wasn’t wearing the shell necklace.
Author Owens has a BA in Zoology and a PhD in Animal Behavior from UC Davis. She accurately and poetically describes the birds, plants, and animals. When Tate returns to Kya, he leaves with samples of Kya’s drawings and text to take to a publisher. One day she sees an announcement of Chase’s engagement to a local woman in the newspaper. When Chase's body is found in a marsh along with red wool fibers from Kya’s hat, the sheriff arrests her and she must stand trial. Although Kya was in the nearby city at the office of her book publisher the day of the murder, the evidence piles up against her. The scenes in the courthouse are tense. Will Kya be acquitted? Will we find out who killed Chase Andrews? What happens to Tate when he graduates from college? Find this amazing book on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
One day, Kya takes her pa’s little boat into the marsh and meets Tate, a young boy fishing there. He helps her find her way home. He often leaves something for her on a stump: a feather from a rare bird, or a spark plug for her motor. When authorities come to take her to school, she goes only once. Afterwards, when they come, she hides in the weeds. She knows many things about nature, but not how to read; Tate says he can teach her and does. Author Owens tells us about a murder the sheriff is trying to solve. A man has fallen or been pushed from a fire tower, to his death. This sub plot continues throughout the novel.
Kya and Tate grow closer each hour they are together. Kya learns what love is. But one day, Tate leaves for college, promising he’ll return in summer. She waits for months and years, goes to Jumpin’s for supplies, and meets Jumpin's wife Mabel, who gives her clothing, paint supplies, and good food. Her shack fills with colors, knowledge, and beauty. She turns nineteen and meets Chase Andrews, a strong young man, tall, elegant, who didn’t go to college but works for his father. They picnic together and she gives him a shell necklace. They make love. She doesn’t feel lonely any longer. After Chase’s body is found at the bottom of the fire tower, his mother tells the sheriff he wasn’t wearing the shell necklace.
Author Owens has a BA in Zoology and a PhD in Animal Behavior from UC Davis. She accurately and poetically describes the birds, plants, and animals. When Tate returns to Kya, he leaves with samples of Kya’s drawings and text to take to a publisher. One day she sees an announcement of Chase’s engagement to a local woman in the newspaper. When Chase's body is found in a marsh along with red wool fibers from Kya’s hat, the sheriff arrests her and she must stand trial. Although Kya was in the nearby city at the office of her book publisher the day of the murder, the evidence piles up against her. The scenes in the courthouse are tense. Will Kya be acquitted? Will we find out who killed Chase Andrews? What happens to Tate when he graduates from college? Find this amazing book on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.