Book Review | Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

 

Hi my lovelies, hope you are all well and welcome back to another book review. Today, we're going to be talking about the highly acclaimed Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. If you've been on bookstagram and keeping up with the top reads in the book world, then you will know that everyone raved about this book and it was on The NewYork Times Bestsellers List for both 2019 and 2020. Reese Witherspoon's production company have since bought the rights to the film, and Normal People's Marianna (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is set to play the novel's protagonist Kya. So, all good things you might think... well I'm sorry to disappoint, but this book just did not do it for me.

I don't know whether I set too big expectations, or (controversial opinion incoming) it just wasn't for me, but I could not get into it. I felt it was really slow and that, particularly at the beginning, the nature writing completely overwhelmed the actual storyline. It got to the point where there were so many birds and trees and feathers that I didn't know what was happening in the story itself? At least this book taught me that I am definitely a reader who likes a strong plot line and fast pace to keep me hooked. 

Although I can appreciate the beauty of the writing and imagery, I was left wanting more from the characters and their interactions with one another. I definitely feel more time could have been spent on the relationships between the characters, particularly Kya and Tate. I wanted to learn more about the characters that weren't necessarily Kya, especially Chase, where I felt the character analysis was quite surface level. To be honest, this could have been the whole point of his character, but I just finished the book wanting more. I read another review of this book which described it as 'stuck in third gear', and that is exactly how I felt reading it.

The pace did pick up towards the middle and end, but I was just striving to finish reading so I could find out what happened and move on to my next read. Like I said before, maybe my expectations were just too high after hearing all of the hype, but the ending left me feeling unfulfilled, a bit "meh", and if I'm completely honest, was a bit of a let down. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm still excited to see the film and am hoping (fingers crossed) I will enjoy that much more, as the nature scenes and setting of the marsh are sure to make a beautiful picture. 

Overall, I would rate this one ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ , giving credit to the somewhat interesting characters (I'm looking at you Kya) and beautiful nature imagery. So there we go guys, short and sweet today but those are my thoughts on Delia Owens' Where The Crawdads Sing. I'm currently reading My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell, another highly acclaimed bookstagram read, so I'm looking forward to seeing what all the hype is regarding that one and sharing my thoughts with you all. Take care and I'll see you next Friday with another blog post. Lots of love xoxo