Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Where the Crawdads Sing

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens

33 reviews

maecave15's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

clemrain's review

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book is basically to kill a mockingbird?

When setting foot in a novel that is sung to high praises, it’s rare to come out agreeing. Where the Crawdads Sing lives up to its praise.

I always find myself back to mystery as a genre. Though I wouldn’t say I have a huge library of them digested, I have read a fair few. This novel is nothing I’ve read before and maybe that’s why it’s so brilliant.

The writing is a bit slow in the beginning. I think the author really tried to ramp up the suspense by giving us a past and a present simultaneously. Though I enjoyed the slowness of Kya’s life, it was a difficult read because it was just so sad.

I liked that this story follow Kya’s life. It felt like a story about Kya’s life and her loneliness. The way she resonated with nature and flourished in it. She’s a trooper. Trampled over and resilient for it. Like the ground she walked barefoot on. The murder trial is something that she experienced and then we followed her life after it too. Good, interesting approach to a murder mystery.

Spoiler

We read the shaping of Kya and it felt so satisfying to have an in on her reason to kill. The perfect crime in the nature by the girl of nature. Satisfying.

All the side characters were entertaining and added so much to the plot. None of them felt out of place, unnecessary or boring.

Great writing. I like the pacing. The intertwining of poetry. I don’t think the past and present of Kya and the murder melded super efficiently. I think the chapters could’ve transitioned smoother.

The court scenes were intense. I felt like a ping pong ball following each and every evidence and rebuttal. I didn’t know who to believe. The tension building kept me on edge. I couldn’t put the book down to sleep.

Spoiler

I was convinced it was Tate. And I think the author knew readers would find themselves there after Tate gave Kya the hat. And to sneakily put in the police getting Tate was a good way to pull the readers leg. Though the scene of Tate’s father dying and it resulting in Tate and Kya getting back together was disappointing. It read like killing off a character to progress the story.

Amazing ending.

Spoiler

I really thought it was an accident by the end of it, but to discover the truth through a poem was excellent.

Edit: I was shocked to find out after finishing this book there are accusations of the author being racist. Which was shocking considering the contents of this book. What a world.

Content Warnings

saskiahill's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

fiction_addiction_1994's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

TW: domestic/child abuse, alcoholism, child abandonment, leukemia (mention), attempted rape, racism
.
•What did I think of this book? (Mult POV, narrated)
I'm so glad I finally finished it! I DNFed twice before! And I'm sure I finished it only because I listened to the audiobook 😆 Anyways the language used in this book, and misspelled words gave me headaches, then EVERYTHING was so detailed I almost skipped paragraphs because feathers, trees, the marsh was described sooooo much. im not saying it wasn't good but she could have cut the full descriptions out and the book would have been shorter and the book would still be good. Kya was abandoned by her mom, her siblings, and then her dad all before 10 yrs old. She had to learn to take care of herself and discover things on her own; loneliness and love. And overcoming the justice system.. in a murder. I would only recommend this by audiobook.
.
•Thoughts and Quotes:
~ 'When cornered, desperate, or isolated, man reverts to those instincts that aim straight at survival. -p.8
~"Go as far as you can– way out yonder where the crawdads sing."-p.111
~'Within all the world's of biology, she searched for an explanation of why a mother would leave her offspring.' -p.215
~ 'If anyone understood loneliness, the moon would.' -p215
~"I've always loved you. Even as a child—a time I don't remember — I already loved you." -p.358

Content Warnings

stevia333k's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

So it should first be said that evolutionary psychology "evopsych" was developed as enslavement propaganda/apologia as well as (war) rape culture apologia. Like these discussions of instinct & connection are important for unpacking some political implications. I haven't done that yet. This is important because this book had a lot of listen to nature & communing with nature vibes so to know there is definitely discourses for that even if the histiographies are racist bourgeois patriarchal is helpful. Like that's been something I've been trying to learn by recently reading about famines. Point being, if this is going to be some people's introduction to listening to nature then I'll need to figure out where the starting point is at.

This book gave me Katniss Everdeen vibes, and that was definitely a thing I would think about as I read this book. I liked the setting a lot, communing with the other life forms etc. Like doing prayers at parks instead of schools is more my vibe so.

I was told this book was very feminist & that was helpful. I thought the book might've been poly but it wasn't. Like one of the boyfriends ended up being a self-centered rapist.

Anyways, I actually thought she was black until I thought about the school scene & was like wait a minute the schools were segregated back then. The discussion of desegregation if business towards the end was awkward because that's not desegregation of homes, but whatever.

Anyway, she's white. The title for this book in Spanish calls her "savaje", a savage. Thankfully there's no cultural appropriation of native/indigenous Americans, but still keep an eye on that in discussions about this book because that would end up putting a bunch of racist stereotypes on people. But that would be more the fault of the readers I think.

Content Warnings