Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Where the Crawdads Sing

Top positive review

This is the one - this is THE book you cannot put down

August 19, 2018

This is one of the most moving, caring, emotional novels I have ever read. I read this book only because I had met Delia and have read her wildlife books she wrote with husband Mark Owens. After starting the book this was all I could think about for days. Kya's life become part of mine and the characters ceased to live on the page... they were alive with me and I was in the marsh, feeling every feather - the air, creatures and the plants. Jumpin' became a trusted friend and so many moments touched my very soul. I should not have been surprised as Delia has a great style in her wildlife books that I love to read. But a novel like this is not my normal read. Maybe I need to now reconsider what I choose as this book stopped me cold and made me rethink a lot that happened in my life. Delia touched the human soul with her behavioral descriptions. She is not only a respected wildlife scientist, she is a human behaviorist and understands more about the human condition that just about anyone else I know. This is a tremendous treasure of a book and I'm sure it's staying in my read again list for a long time. Highly recommend the book.

1,285 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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docholden

Too unrealistic to enjoy

October 28, 2018

I was very disappointed in this book after reading all the hype about it. While the reading is good, the story is so nonsensical- a 6 year old left alone in a shack raises herself, living in the same shack, using the same boat, and no one lifts a hand to help her? In more than 20 years, the boat never breaks down, the house doesn't need repairs and she's able to wear the same clothes for many years....she's got long hair that she says is ratty and tangled but description s of it has it down her back, luxurious...she's gorgeous but bathing is optional until in her 20s...she has sex with a philanderer but never gets a vd and not once apparently does she get sick. No flu, cold, nothing....she never got shots and apparently has the immune system of a super hero because she stepped on a nail and never got tetanus....I kept reading so I'd finish and the ending is unexpected but it's generally a boring book where day after day, she's alone in the marsh....

3,744 people found this helpful

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docholden

Too unrealistic to enjoy

October 28, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

3,744 people found this helpful

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5150+ comments

Don Meyers

Did I read the same book as others?

October 1, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

About half this book was good. Beautifully written at times, and with an interesting, plausible story. But wait...the gaps ...Maybe less time talking about Kya fumbling around with sex with Chase and more time on her development as a renowned author and painter would have been nice. There's more, but you may be reading the book. I must comment though on the most ridiculous court room antics since Curly's trial in a Three Stooges short. Oh, I think I just did. (And just after reading a book on Harper Lee - if you know what I mean). This was one of the most disappointing books I have read in quite a long time. Sorry Ms. Witherspoon. Can I get my money back if I return the book?

1,568 people found this helpful

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2929 comments

Lou

Most irritating book I've read in a long time!

January 27, 2019

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I was sure I would like this book..and actually finished it. I grew more irritated with each page by the last half. I grew up in coastal North Carolina and was born in the 40s, so would be the same age as the main characters. It was clear that the author did not do her research about the area and about what would be plausible at the time of the story. When she mentioned real towns, she should have known Asheville would not be the destination city from the coast, especially in the 60s. Ma's old cardboard suitcase that had been in the closet in the marsh for 19 years would be covered in mildew, Fireflies would have been called lightening bugs. No boy in a small town in NC would have been named either Tate or Chase in 40s, more recent popular names. I could go on and on. The inconsistencies in the dialect was grating, and many parts of the story were just not believable to me. I am amazed that so many people loved the book and the poetry.

1,092 people found this helpful

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4040 comments

rickeitt

This is the one - this is THE book you cannot put down

August 19, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

1,285 people found this helpful

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1313 comments

Debbie

Take your time and savor every sentence.

September 3, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I am extremely stingy with my compliments for good books, but this tale is well-deserving of the praise. Of the last dozen or so books I've read, only two others earned five complete stars by me: She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons: A Life in Novels by Kathleen Hill, and Circe by Madeline Miller.

I have to confess that I have also had magical moments with marsh creatures such as herons, eagles, and mud turtles. Like the main character, Kya, I am a compulsive collector of treasures from those Great Rock Tumblers: the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean which makes this book so attractive to me. However, Delia Owens' writing is more than just about the natural world. She spins a good and very well-written tale about murder, courtroom drama, nature, poetry, and even love.

Another reviewer described Owens' writing as lyrical. It is. Take your time and savor every sentence.

956 people found this helpful

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77 comments

Diane Parker

You'll NEVER Want To Leave

January 31, 2019

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I read a lot. Sometimes folks refer a title to me ... sometimes I don't ALWAYS 'adjust' to the referring individuals taste. My niece recommended this title and said, "It's not so much the story line ... even though that's VERY good ... but, the WRITING style. After the first pages, I was HOOKED. Love Ms. Owen's style. Descriptive, picturesque speech.

808 people found this helpful

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22 comments

Emily O

Disappointing

September 16, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book had so many fantastic reviews. I was looking forward to reading it but quickly became disillusioned. I'm from NC and have never heard anyone talk with the type of accents Ms. Owens chose for her characters. It seems like a small thing but it was extremely distracting, and eventually became ridiculous, especially because the characters somehow switched back and forth between speaking like Mark Twain's Jim to perfect English. It made me wonder if the author has ever been to our fair state. The story was good enough, albeit predictable, and it's obvious the author did her research on marsh life. I learned quite a few wildlife facts that were interesting. The conversations just kept me wrinkling up my nose with distaste and I ended the book on a sour note.

1,093 people found this helpful

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2323 comments

P Wilson

A moving story about survival in a way that most of us can't imagine.

August 25, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Wow! I just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sing. And I will say it again, Wow! This books is so filled with emotion. Kya, the main character, is trying to survive by herself from a young age. She has been abandoned by those who should teach her, guide her, protect her. She has to fend for herself. Two men come into her life and teach her about the good and bad in life.
I only keep few book's that I know I will read again. This is staying in my library.

764 people found this helpful

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1111 comments

island reader

OMG Wonderful Wonderful!

August 29, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

My favorite book of the year by far. So beautifully written. No skimming over sections in this book. I devoured every single word. I laughed, I cried (a lot) and most importantly thought differently about life - mine and everyone else's. I became the character of Kya, desperately alone and forced to try to eke out an existence on her own in the marshes. The marshes are their own separate character, but despite the fact that I am freaked out by insects and mud and most other creepy crawlies, I could actually imagine myself enjoying the Carolina experience, hard as it was. You will root for Kya, I did, sometimes shouting out loud- You Go Girl!!!!! I read this book in one day and can't stop thinking about it. There are several clues to the surprise ending if you pay attention to the details. This is a KEEPER!

531 people found this helpful

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66 comments

Joy of Reading

Really? Not a thumbs up from me.

December 30, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Can't read, no school, starved and all alone but learns to read and then studies Einstein, really? Left all alone her whole life but the towns 2 most eligible bachelors fall for her, a good guy and a bad boy, really? I'm definitely in the minority.

442 people found this helpful

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77 comments