Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
Started 03.05.20 • Finished 03.24.20 / 5 stars
How much do you trade to defeat lonesomeness?
This book has been recommended to me many times over by trusted reader friends. I was so glad to pick it up after my last book. And it turned out it provided a good contrast. Whereas Unsheltered spoke about nature in a way that was tedious, Where the Crawdads Sing brought nature to life in an especially beautiful way.
She knew it wasn't Chase she mourned, but a life defined by rejections. As the sky and clouds struggled overhead, she said out loud, "I have to do life alone. But I knew this. I've known a long time that people don't stay."
Owens also wrote about loneliness in a way that was heartbreaking but resonating. Kya's story as a whole is a sad one, marked by grievous abandonment and shattering abuse. But she is exceptionally resilient and continues to find ways to move on with her life, finding solace in the land she has come to love, and helps the reader to fall in love with as well.
Faces change with life's toll, but eyes remain a window to what was, and she could see him there.
I'd rather not give away the end of the book, but I will say that it's a book about love and loss in many forms, and about what that those kinds of losses can lead a person to do and not do. I highly recommend it.