Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Over a decade ago, Stephen King wrote an article about how important cover design is to promoting books. It wasn't a new point, even at the time, but it was the first time I really considered the point. It's true that I tend to make certain assumptions based on cover illustration and that's what happened to Where the Crawdads Sing. 

When it was first published, the cover of Where the Crawdads Sing was this sort of pastel landscape of a marsh with a lot of oranges, pinks, and soft yellows. Whether or not it's fair or not, I assumed it was some kind of mainstream woman's melodrama which is just not my jam. I had plenty of time to contemplate this opinion because at least five of my students were reading the thing so I spent 20 minutes a day staring at the cover while they read. 

I didn't really think about it. I just resolved not to read it in a passive kind of way.

When Netflix turned it into a movie, the book had a resurgence and a couple of my book friends both read it and raved about it. This is a pair who have great taste in books and I generally listen to them when they say I'll like something, so I gave it a shot.

Obviously, my first impression was wrong and had a faulty basis. This is a great book.

Where the Crawdads Sing is actually more of a Southern Gothic. Southern Gothic was a mode more prevalent in the early 19th century, but it features characters with irrational, horrific, or transgressive thoughts or impulses; exaggerated or grotesque charactes mixed with dark humor and an angsty sense of alienation. All this, but written in a realistic style.

Kya is the youngest of five. Her mother abandoned them and her father is abusive. Eventually, Kya is left alone in their shack in the marsh at the tender age of 7 or so. The people of Barkley Cove called her the marsh girl and for the most part left her on her own. She grew up alone and wild. So when the town start Chase Anderws is found dead, the Marsh Girl is the obvious target of suspicion.

The story moves fluidly back and forth through the timeline exploring the experiences and thoughts of Kya.

The beauty of the writing, is that despite the oddity of the circumstances, the matter of fact tone makes it all just flow into the narrative. It isn't until later reflection that the oddness of the characters and situations become apparent.

I really enjoyed it.

Now that I've read the book, I guess I'll have to go watch the movie