Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

750 reviews

mausi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

It took me a while to get into this book but about a quarter way through, it truly gripped me. I absolutely adored the world in which the book is set, and the author describes the marsh land and it’s biodiversity in such a gorgeous, detailed and magical way. I’m not usually the one to appreciate vivid scenery due to my aphantasia but Owens managed to create the world not only by visual descriptions but in a multisensory and emotional way which fully immersed me in the story. In addition, the book also had plenty other aspects that I appreciate, a strong character development, gripping plot and a diverse range of characters, intertwined with an educational twist. As an academic, I am astonished at the way Owens translated her academic background into a novel which further emphasises the importance of marshlands and communicates her life’s work further. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Murder, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Car accident

hungryeyes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Rape

klr0's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism and Bullying

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

sarah_hutchins's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Classism, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Racism

leighlikestoread's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I will always love this book and will get anyone I come across to read it. It will very easily become a modern classic… the beautifully written story has it all; love, adventure, sadness, reflection, fighting prejudice, and more. The story of Kya is one that I adore and will always hold close to my heart and that makes me cry buckets every time. Delia Owens is able to write so much emotion into her words… and you can so clearly picture every single plot point. 
My love for the characters Tate & Jumpin’ are unmeasurable, they are the sweetest, kindest and most heartfelt male characters I have come across and ghat I would love to be real. 
In summary, you have to read this book!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Racism, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault

emilypolcyn's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I had a lot of problems with the dialect in this book — the inaccuracies, the classism (only “bad” or “stupid” characters have a dialect, and once someone becomes educated or good they lose the accent), the racism (white lady failing pretty hard at writing AAVE in the 60s). Plus the prose would occasionally have dialect (like saying “likker” instead of “liquor”) but inconsistently and seemingly for no real reason? Not sure what that choice was but it always threw me out of it.

Very flowery writing but also was kind of giving thesaurus.com… and lots of small details about nature and food that interrupt the action without contributing anything thematically (besides that nature is beautiful and they’re in the south, which, yeah). If she mentioned grits one more time…

Also weak character development + characters who say every thought they’re having out loud (also in well-articulated prose) (unless they’re dumb and poor)

I think this really picked up during the court sequence (which I genuinely was interested in and a bit hooked by) but then slowed down again and got detached at the end. But maybe that’s just because Owens was referring to her own connection to a murder trial (which I only heard about after finishing this book and oh my god…. That lady for sure killed someone)

Spoiler

Rolled my eyes SO hard at the Amanda Hamilton reveal… like omg no way this clunky bad poetry that’s been shoehorned into random scenes the whole book was actually ~her~ the ~whole time~ wow I am so shocked

Also weird sex scenes?? And every single time she gets close to having sex she uses the phrase “circling her nipple”. Literally happened like four times 🥴

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Murder, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

xashleyxvix's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, and Death

reemoony's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

before anything else, fuck delia owens. now, this was genuinely the best book ive read this year. it sucked me in on the first page and kept me there. following kya from her childhood all the way to adulthood become my favorite activity for a week. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Bullying, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Violence, Emotional abuse, War, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Death, and Cursing

sorkka's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad

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

4.5

This book started off so slowly and boring but I am glad I persisted. The book follows the childhood and transition into adulthood of Kya,

Spoiler

who grew up in poverty all alone

. A local

Spoiler

murder

suddenly changes the tone of a book into fast paced page turner.  Throughout the book there are beautiful descriptions of the wildlife and nature of the marsh as well as explorations of the human condition and loneliness. I liked the it overall. But I would have preferred it to be less slow at the beginning and less rushed at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Dementia and Mental illness

Nature, abandonment and classism are the most significant themes of the book.

Spoiler

The side character Jumpy is abused with racial slurs. The main character Kya experiences a lot of prejudice, predominantly classism. The main character is a victim of sexual assault from a toxic relationship. The home life of the central character Kya has domestic violence, child abuse and emotional abuse. A minor character has a breakdown and develops dementia.

aquacat2's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism