WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING BY DELIA OWENS

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

BY DELIA OWENS

__________________________________________________________________________

You ever read a book and it turned out to be so lovely that you feel like apologizing to it because you left it for too long on your shelf? Well, that's what I felt like after reading this because I let this amazing piece wait on my shelf for four freakin' months. 

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING is the debut novel from Delia Owens who also happens to be co-author of three bestselling non-fiction books about her life as a Wildlife Scientist in Africa and which also explains the vivid pictures of nature she has packed in this book.

The book starts as a murder mystery, becomes a coming of age narrative, transforms into a love story but most importantly it is the exploration of nature - wild and wonderful. It is a description of what isolation and abandonment can do to a person. It is very beautifully written and like most books it has its moments but what I liked the most about this book are the poems which the author has sprinkled and adorned like glitter throughout the story. Poems - relatable, meaningful and penetrating. Poems that make you feel something. Poems that stick with you for life.

The story is set along the shores of North Carolina, the sea and the inland marshes and swamps. It is presented from two different timelines - 17 years apart (1969 and 1952) - which gradually converge as it progresses. One starts with the discovery of dead body of Chase Andrews in 1969 which sets the backdrop for the tale being unfolded and progresses with its investigation by the local sheriff Ed Jackson and Detective Joe Purdoe. The other is the life story of our heroine - Catherine Danielle Clark (Kya Clark) - who is an unfortunate 6 year old kid abandoned by all of her family members because of her abusive father. After her father also leaves her behind, she is left to fend for herself - alone, isolated and abandoned in the marsh in a small shack near a lagoon.

Kya lives alone in the marsh. Wild, shy, neglected, looked down and disconnected from the local townspeople and supposedly from the entire world. The Marsh Girl - the locals call her. She likes to sway around the creeks and estuaries in her pa's motorboat,  lying on the beach talking to and feeding the gulls, collecting feathers and shells and developing them on paper. Kya is intelligent and strong. She is an avid observer of nature. She makes her living by collecting and selling mussels and smoked fishes with the help of her only friend, Jumpin', a middle aged black man who runs a small outlet for gas and other necessary supplies at a wharf jutted into the sea.

But if there's one thing Kya has known her entire life, it's loneliness, which keeps pounding on her consciousness - repeatedly, mercilessly. She longs for a company who can reciprocate the way she does. She yearns for a partner who'll love her and who she can be with - as she is. Eventually, two young men - Tate Walker and Chase Andrews - come into her life and for a while Kya is not alone. She feels fulfilled. Kya is happy. UNTIL SHE'S NOT. After Chase Andrews is found dead, Kya is immediately roped in for his murder as a suspect by the locals who are prejudiced against her because of the rumors of the wild Marsh Girl which have been circulating around town for years. 

The rest of the story is for you to devour, reader. The book felt a bit slow in the beginning but the lovely prose of the author and heartfelt poems kept me hooked nonetheless. I'm looking forward to reading more poetry ahead. The murder mystery is finally brought to an end and much to my liking, with a poem.

I hope you enjoy and cherish it as much as I did. With that said, I'd like to end my review with my favorite excerpt from this lovely book:

________________________________________________________________

BROKEN GULL OF BRANDON BEACH

"Winged soul, your danced the skies, 

And startled dawn with shrilling cries.

You followed sails and braved the sea, 

Then caught the wind back to me. 

You broke your wing; it dragged the land

And etched your mark upon the sand. 

When feathers break, you cannot fly, 

But who decides the time to die?

You disappeared, I know not where. 

But your wing-marks still linger there.

A broken heart cannot fly. 

But who decides the time to die?"

___________________________________________________________________________________

Happy reading, dear reader!

My rating: 4.5*/5*