Deep in the Marshses

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Jones was a book I had owned for a while but kept putting off reading. It’s about a young girl named Kya who basically gets left in the Swamp by all of our family and has to learn how to fend for herself. At the same time, it flashes forward to the future where one of the kids in town is found dead and there is an investigation as to who killed him.

Honestly, I was expecting a story like Before We were Yours or Sold on a Tuesday. Instead, it had the undertones of To Kill a Mockingbird. The prose is beautiful and  the characters feel full and well developed. The jumps between time periods feel natural, building the story from each end and eventually meeting together. It’s a brilliant story about one girls fight just to be. But also how our prejudices and our words can be so hurtful even as kids. In many ways, the author highlights what loneliness and rejection can do to a person, especially someone who has been left continually to be on her own. 

I originally heard about this book because it was one of Reese Witherspoon’s book club picks of the month. I can see why. A solid four stars as the beginning took a little while to get going but once the pace picked up, I couldn’t put it down.