Why this book: Selected by my SEAL Reading group as our next selection

Summary in 3 Sentences:  This is a coming of age story of a young girl grwoing up  isolated in a shack in the marshes on the coast of North Carolina, Her parents have abandoned her, and she teaches herself to survive on her own with a bit of help from just a few people in the nearby town, as she grows from childhood, to teenage years to young adulthood. She lives in harmony with the plants, animals and the natural environment of the marsh, but in that process comes in contact with young men in the community, and eventually is accused of murder, when one of her former suitors is found dead.

My Impressions: An engaging, enjoyable, and quick read at 368 pages.  A fascinating and unusual story focusing on an imaginative and interesting protagonist. The cover endorsement reports it as “,,,At once a murder mystery, a coming of age narrative, and a celebration of nature”  which pretty well sums it up. 

The story features Kya, whose  mother and older siblings left their home to escape their alcoholic and physically abusive father. They simply disappeared, leaving their home, and the marsh and coastal community in North Carolina where they lived, leaving the youngest child of barely 6 yrs old, Kya alone with their disturbed father.  After their departure, he largely ignored her and left her on her own, and provided her very  little money or support .  She eventually found ways to make a little bit of money, taught herself how to cook what little there was to eat and she did her best to mimic what she remembered watching her mother do before she packed up and left, after a particularly abusive episode with her father,   

A year or so later, with no warning or notification, her father left and never came back and she had no idea what happened to him.  The truant officers were able to get her to attend school for only one day, but the other kids laughed at and made fun of her, so she never went back to school,  and learned to hide from the truant officers.  She felt alone and abandoned, but was determined to survive on her own. She never revealed to authorities that her father had disappeared, in order to avoid being put into a foster home.  Over time she learned what she needed to know to survive and with a bit of help from an old black man who ran a marina gas station where she bought gas for her boat, she made a life for herself – alone. 

As she got older and into her teenage years she spent much time out in the marsh areas adjacent to the primitive shack she lived in, and made friends with the animals and creatures of the marsh where she felt at home and unthreatened.  Out in the marsh she also ran into and made friends with boys of approximately her age, friendships that in a couple of cases led to romantic relationships.  One of those boys taught her to read, do simple math and other basic skills most children learn in elementary school, and he regularly brought her books, old textbooks and other items that allowed her to teach herself more about the world she lived in.  As she progressed into young adulthood, she became very proficient in reading, and spent much time increasing her knowledge of the biology, flora and fauna of the marsh.   She also  went thru the disappointments that most young people experience in unfulfilled love and dreams, but in her case,  these disappointments and trauma amplified her already sense of abandonment and distrust of town people – especially men.  

Meanwhile in Barcley Cove, the small town near her shack in the marsh, Kya was referred to as the Marsh Girl, and was demonized as strange and illusive, an object of ridicule and salacious rumor, and was made fun of by most of the town’s populace.  When one of the boys with whom she’d had a relationship is found dead under mysterious circumstances, she becomes a prime suspect, and is arrested and put on trial.   The last part of the book is largely about the trial.

The ending is surprising and satisfying.

Some of what I got out of the book, in addition to an entertaining read:

•  We get inside Kya’s head, experience her fears and distrust, and see from her perspective how abandonment, disappointment and betrayal trust can affect sensitive people – how it can drive them into increased isolation and an inability to trust anyone.  
•  We also learn from her how her connection to the birds, insects, animals, other flora and fauna can be a joy to those who take the time to commune with the natural world.  It was all she had, and she learned to love and trust it.  She felt part of that world, and fount there an acceptance and affection she didn’t get from people in the “civilized” world.
• We got a glimpse into small town culture in rural coastal North Carolina in the 1950s and 60s.  The author represented with spelling the North Carolina accent, and we got cameo glimpses of several of the colorful old south characters in the town – some with very narrow prejudices, others much more open. 
• Her trial at the end was a good tutorial on the judicial system, in small rural towns,  and how popular opinion can seek to influence justice, in spite of the system’s best efforts to be impartial and give the benefit of the doubt to the accused.

As much as I enjoyed reading the book and following the story,  I saw a few flaws that for me kept Where the Crawdads Sing from being a classic.

• • Kya developed talents and capabilities as an expert on marsh life that were beyond what I would expect even for a truly gifted student.   We didn’t get a convincing description of her efforts to achieve the level of expertise she achieves in the book.   Kya learned to read and then rather quickly it seemed, was reading text books and scientific journals.    We learned late in the book that her explorations of the marshes were recorded in intricate drawings with notations that garnered praise from experts in the field.  We learn that her work was praised by experts and then published, and I didn’t even recall that she had developed a talent for drawing and providing scientific notation! 
  • The ending was a surprise, as it was meant to be, but it didn’t entirely make sense to me.  Another friend of mine said she had guessed it all along.  Nothing to be revealed here, but I’d be interested in what others think – whether the ending worked for them.  

In our discussion with the SEALs,  nearly all really enjoyed reading the book, though most saw some of the same flaws I did.  A number of things were brought up that I thought were intersting:  Man’s law vs Natural law. the long term impact of child abuse, the racism that is described in the book, and how it has changed/evolved from the 60s which was the setting of the book. Also brought up were Pat Conroy’s books also set in coastal/marshy areas but in South rather than North Carolina – Prince of Tides and The Water is Wide.  And the idea that Kya referred to the marsh as her “mother” when her mother left, and how an isolated person can develop an almost supernatural relationship to nature.  

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