Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Where the Crawdads Sing

The novel was an enjoyable and easy read. The MC, Kya, is engaging, albeit a bit unbelievable in terms of practical plausibility and psychology. The ending had a melodramatic twist to resolve the mystery – for a while before that I had up to four characters I had suspicions about. At least I was right about one of them!

The novel focuses quite a bit on the beauty of the natural world, which weaves in well with the plot line. I thought the pacing of the plot was good, though more use of foreshadowing would have worked more powerfully. Also, the musings by the MC on evolutionary biology and human behaviour struck me as quite reductionist, and seemed to be a way of explaining away the characters’ actions without psychological depth or ambiguity. The interweaved poetry occasionally worked well, but more often felt a bit jarring.

Overall, if you don’t expect too much, it is a great “airport read”.

CW: Extramarital sex.

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kailiyahknight's review

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emotional mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

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willow_witch's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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kghunter's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious relaxing sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This is the first book I’ve ever read that’s based where I grew up (not exact but in the N.C. OBX). It is now one of my favorite books ever, a heartbreaking but marvelous read. The ecological and environmental imagery is magnificent. My only critique as a born and raised local is that if you know the area you know the author, Owens, isn’t from here because she stays talking about Asheville like it’s a day trip. All I have to say to that is—sweet heart, dear darling Delia, I wish you’d of looked at the map just a beat longer when writing this because that kept breaking my immersion lol. But, the Greenville references were a solid addition so the occasional eastern to western N.C. space time continuum jumps were made up for in part.

Update: I’ve gone back and forth on my rating for this, hesitating to give it a full 5 stars bc i felt it didn’t objectively measure up to the quality of the other books I’ve given 5 stars on this app so far. But ya know what, fuck that sound (if you didn’t understand this marsh adjacent pun then you ain’t my people and i need you to stop reading my reviews rn. like actually, i’m being so serious, please collect your belongings and vacate my account immediately thnkugudbye) because I love this book so much I considered buying my own copy to make a custom cover for it (I book bind as a hobby) and mailing to the authors P.o. box just as a thank you for writing it because I’m a massive dweeb.

There were so many times reading this book that I cried, that I smiled until my cheeks hurt, that my pulse quickened in suspense. I love this book so dearly and I hope one day I find the time to make a custom copy for the author.

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user1681144's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I tried way too many times reading this book

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