Book-It '22! Book #17: "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens

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Title: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Details: Copyright 2018, Random House

Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "HOW LONG CAN YOU PROTECT YOUR HEART?

For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl.

But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life— until the unthinkable happens.

Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps."


Why I Wanted to Read It: This has come up again and again and I knew nothing whatsoever about the plot, but sick of seeing it constantly referenced, I figured I'd at least give it a look.


How I Liked It:
BEFORE I GET INTO THIS REVIEW PROPERLY, AN IMPORTANT NOTE!
I will not be giving this a grade for various reasons. In the past, I've reviewed bigoted content, and my review grade is generally given (or understood to be given) for content outside the bigoted content, if I can.
However, for this one I don't feel comfortable doing that with work so recent (within the last four years), with a still-living author,  a big budget adaptation of the work coming this summer, and the fact the author has a pretty rough history, apparently.
So this review has no grade.

Also, I won't spoil the ending and big twists of the book, but there will be mild spoilers, as well as references to domestic violence, suicide, alcoholism, sexual violence, anti-Black racism, and white supremacy. Please proceed accordingly.

Endings are everything. Well, not everything, but a heck of a lot. A bad ending can make a good story fall flat on its face, a great ending can make a great story even better. Endings are extremely important.

But before we get to the ending, meet town golden boy Chase Andrews! The book opens with his mysterious death beneath the fire tower in Barkley Cove, North Carolina in October of 1969. Did he die by suicide? Was it an accident? Or was it murder, and who did it?

But before we solve that mystery, we're going back to 1952 and the Clark family! Youngest child, six-year-old Kya (named Catherine Emily Clark, but "Kya" is how she said it and what everyone calls her) witnesses her mother leaving their chaotic home and wonders where she is going and when she will be back. Her closest sibling is her brother Jodie, seven years older, who insists their mother will be back. She isn't, and by dinner time, Kya's two much-older sisters made dinner, so they, a much-older brother, Kya, Jodie, and their abusive alcoholic father could eat. In the weeks that follow, when it's clear their mother isn't returning, Kya's oldest three siblings all depart. Eventually, so does Jodie (who'd be only thirteen or fourteen), the only one to bid Kya goodbye, as he can't live with their abusive father either. Kya is left almost completely alone, as her abusive father she rarely sees.

She knows to make some things for herself and there's her mother's neglected garden, but there's only so much she can do. Her father, when realizing everyone but Kya has left, burns her mother's paintings, dresses, books, and the radio she loved, much to Kya's horror. After, he gives money for her to buy food weekly, but in return, she must keep up the house.

Kya learns to go to the supermarket and even to cook better (she struggles to master cornbread), and one day takes out her father's boat. There she meets a fascinating boy who remembers her as Jodie's sister, and helps her get back home when she's lost. Determined to see him again, Kya starts being nice to her father in order to get him to lend her the boat. Such was her original mission, but it turns out they for awhile just have a loving relationship, at least by his standards. He teaches her to fish, encourages her pursuits, and in turn, takes her to a little shop run by a friendly Black man named "Jumpin'" named for the fact he's always "jumpin' up to help" (more on him later).

All goes well until a letter comes from Kya's mother, finally! As Kya has never learned to read, she can't read it, but whatever it is sends her father off the deep end again. He burns it and starts drinking again and finally disappears.

Heartbroken, Kya must do something for money. She starts digging mussels and sells them to Jumpin', who becomes her friend. Feeling pity for the struggling child, Jumpin and his wife Mabel give her clothes from their church donation bin and as Kya ages, it's Mabel who largely helps with her period, among other things.

Kya does see the boy she met again, and his name is Tate. Both share a love of the marsh, and he teaches her to read and to count (she's avoided school mostly, save for attending one day on the promise of food, as at school she is bullied and mocked). He also starts loaning her biology books, which she devours. She's able to read her mother's remaining books, and also the family Bible where she learns the proper names of all of her siblings and her parents. Through a bit of artistic license, when Kya learns to read and discovers her family, we learn that her father's people came from decent money, were destroyed by the Depression, and he married a wealthy Louisiana woman, Kya's mother. He suggested a family swamp property would be a great place to raise their family, and despite her reservations, Kya's mother gave in. Their father fought in World War II, but it's pure dumb luck he suffers an injury and is treated as a hero instead of the coward he actually was at the time. His shame makes him drink, and Kya is conceived when her parents are on a reconciliation period.

As Kya learns to read, poetry also starts being peppered through the book. Emily Dickinson shares space with someone named Amanda Hamilton.

Tate and Kya grow older and fall in love, but being older, Tate is too afraid to have sex with her. Eventually, he must go off to college, promising to return.

Through all of this, Kya's developed quite a reputation as "the Marsh Girl" and the fact she's only comfortable with a few people (two of them a Black shopkeeper and his wife) does nothing to help this reputation. On return from college, Tate sees Kya without her seeing him, and believes she could never fit into his university world. He dumps her and Kya is devastated.

Kya goes back to her solitary, sad life, but young people are coming out to the marsh occasionally, and town golden boy Chase Andrews is out with friends when he spots the Marsh Girl, who's grown up to be quite a looker. He comes back alone and strikes up a conversation with her and asks her on a date. Copying as best she can the clothing of his popular female friends, Kya goes with him on a picnic and he pretty much tries to have sex with her on the first date.
She refuses and shuts down, and he apologizes. Through his persistence, they start dating, Kya shying away from sex every time. He promises to marry her, makes claims about her meeting his parents, and finally coerces her into a cheap motel bed. Kya finds the experience unsatisfactory, but assumes that's normal.
He's completely uninterested in Kya's passion for marine biology, only finding it amusing/interesting that the Marsh Girl who is rumored to not be able to even spell "dog", not only knows extensive details about everything in the marsh, she also knows their Latin names. After a steady routine of having her cook for him (to "practice being married") and having sex with her (but the two never going anywhere in public together), Chase is content but Kya is not. Even more so when Tate comes back, apologetic for breaking it off, and warning her that Chase has girlfriends (Tate himself has seen Chase bragging about Kya's sexual prowess before they've even had sex, a fact he keeps to himself). While Kya tries to drive him away by literally throwing rocks at him, Tate professes his love for her and urges her to write a book about her biological findings and promises to set her up with a publisher.

Sure enough, Kya sees Chase's engagement announcement in the paper. Heartbroken, she hides when he comes, ending the relationship. Kya finally starts writing books and they're bestsellers. She's able to do some much-needed repairs on the shack and make it quite nice, and buys the rights to the property where her family has lived for generations, so no wealthy developers can ever get a hold of the marsh. Her brother Jodie also returns, this time as a Vietnam vet. He's sorry for leaving, and fills in missing family history, including what happened to their mother. He shares in her joy at her publishing success and vows to stay in touch. He also urges her to take back Tate.

But Chase isn't done with Kya. He drunkenly approaches her one night and beats her and tries to rape her. Kya is able to fight him off, just barely, and vows to kill him if he ever comes near her again. This is unfortunately witnessed by two fisherman.

Kya meets with her publisher in the city later, and while she's away, Chase is found dead. Turns out that their relationship wasn't as secret as Chase thought, and also his mother has found evidence of their relationship (an illustrated book Kya made for him that he kept), and Kya is a suspect. She's arrested for his murder and put on trial, where she's given support from Jumpin' and Mabel, Tate and his father, and Jodie.

Kya is found innocent of murder, escaping the death penalty. She and Tate live happily ever after for many decades, expanding the shack (which can't even be called a shack anymore) to be both a home and a workplace for both of them. Kya continues to publish and is given many honorary degrees, and things are happy until Kya dies suddenly in her sixties.

While going through her things, Tate finds papers and evidence of a hidden life and what exactly happened to Chase Andrews is revealed.

You know what I said about endings? I have to say that the ending chosen for this book (which I will not give away) bumped the story from a pretty good one (absorbing, anyway) to a damned good one. Minus, of course, many factors.

For one, the author can't quite write historical fiction. If you're writing historical fiction, there's a sort of beat that takes place where you're both writing for the period (and the way the period would look at something) and the fact you're also translating the period for a modern audience. It's a spell that's too easily broken, and too often the author chose modern terms for which there is easily a past equivalent (in the 1950s, I'm fairly sure no one "speed-walked", but they definitely "hustled"). She also struggles with the Southern accent phonetics in a way that sounds far more "caveman" than Tennessee Williams ("Whar's ev'body got to?"). This is even worse with the Black characters.

And about those Black characters! Oof. Racist tropes abound, both old and more newly coined. Jumpin' is a Stepin Fetchit, his wife Mabel a Mammy. Kya gets to score both White Savior and TROT (That Racist Over There, meaning that more obvious, out there examples of overt bigotry are shown in comparison to the white main character, Kya) when she goes to visit Jumpin' and Mabel and brings a bag of mussels, only to see two white boys harassing Jumpin' and even throw a rock which hits him (he of course nobly doesn't react). She then beats both boys with her bag of mussels until they run away.

Kya also likens herself to a Black person when explaining to Jumpin' why she won't report her attempted rape to the police (which if ever someone would understand they can't trust the police, I'm pretty sure it'd be an older Black man in the rural deep South at midcentury):

"Well, sump'm gotta be done. He cain't go an' do a thing like that, and then just go on boatin' 'round in that fancy boat a'his. King of the World."

"Jumpin', you know how it is. They'll take his side. They'll say I'm just stirring up trouble. Trying to get money out of his parents or something. Think what would happen if one of the girls from Colored Town accused Chase Andrews of assault and attempted rape. They'd do nothing. Zero." Kya's voice became more and more shrill. "It would end in big trouble for that girl. "Well, it'd be the same for me, and you know it. Please promise me you won't tell anybody." She ended in a sob.

"Ya right, Miss Kya. I know ya right. Ya don't gotta worry 'bout me doin' anythang to make this thang worse. But how d'ya know he ain't comin' after ya again? And ya a'ways on yo' lonesome out there?" (pg 302)

Jumpin' and Mabel have done a lot for Kya, and Kya in turn shares her joy at her publishing success:

An hour after Tate left, Kya motored to Jumpin's wharf, another copy of her book tucked in her knapsack. As she approached, she saw him leaning against the wall of his weathered shop. He stood and waved to her, but she did not wave back. Knowing something was different, he waited silently as she tied up. She stepped up to him, lifted his hand, and put the book in his palm. At first he didn't understand, but she pointed to her name and said, "I'm okay now, Jumpin'. Thank you, and thank Mabel for what you did for me."

He stared at her. In another time and place, an old black man and a young white woman might have hugged. But not here, not then. She covered his hand with hers, turned, and motored away. It was the first time she'd seen him speechless. She kept on buying gas and supplies from him but never accepted a handout from them again. And each time she came to his wharf, she saw her book propped up in the tiny window for all to see. As a father would have shown it. (pg 222)

That dialog is painful (and it's far from the only extremely clunky dialog in the book). And did we really need the "another time and place" line? Finally, I feel like Kya could've paid them back financially, or at least tried.

It's not surprising that this is getting a screen adaptation, as this is exactly the type of story Hollywood loves. White saviors and Black people who basically only exist to serve the white plot. This shares a lot in common with The Help.

Save, of course, for where it takes a considerably more sinister turn when you consider the author's past statements about Africa (to be fair, were those her views or the views of her husband at the time, in the 1990s? Does she still hold them now? She should make that clear).

But the racist tropes aren't, as I said, the only failing, nor is the spotty historical accuracy. The author's dialog as I said runs to clunky too frequently (this is her first novel) and it's not just the phonetics, and she's fond of cartoon cruelty (meaning showing over the top cruelty to a character to the point of almost camp; this happens in real life all the time but is incredibly hard to depict in fiction without it looking ridiculous and like a cheap ploy for sympathy for a character). She's big on telling not showing as well, and Kya's fascination with marine biology and likening everything to it runs to comedy in places where it really shouldn't. The solved mystery of Kya's missing mother seems more like a slap-dash afterthought.

Still, there's a compelling story and genuine suspense. It's cliche to say that the marsh itself is a character and this book doesn't need another overused trope, but it's true. The marsh sustains and parents Kya and she misses it when she's away, as it's her most consistent relationship.
And while the author drops the ball with dialog and occasionally the historical accuracy, she's got a way with description:

Other mornings Ma spoke about adult things Kya didn't understand, but she figured Ma's words needed somewhere to go, so she absorbed them through her skin, as she poked more wood in the cookstove. Nodding like she knew. (pg 9)

But it's the ending that was my favorite part, personally. It's a good twist and it's one area the author did quite well. Endings can't fix everything, but they can do a whole lot. It's not enough to cover the many flaws of this book, but it's enough to make it worth a read.


Notable:

"Well, we better hide way out there where the crawdads sing. I pity any foster parents who take you on." Tate's whole face smiled.

"What d'ya mean, where the crawdads sing? Ma used to say that." Kya remembered Ma always encouraging her to explore the marsh: "Go as far as you can-- way out yonder where the crawdads sing."

"Just means far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters." (pg 111)

DISTINGUISHED READERS, WE HAVE A TITLE!

_______________________________________________________________________

In 1965, Kya makes a trip to a bigger, fancier neighboring town, specifically its library.

She handed Mrs Hines, the librarian, a list of college textbooks. "Could you please help me find The Principles of Organic Chemistry by Geissman, Invertebrate Zoology of the Coastal Marsh by Jones, and Fundamentals of Ecology by Odum..." She'd seen these titles referenced in the last of the books Tate had given her before he left her for college.

"Oh, my. I see. We'll have to get a library loan from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for these books."

So now, sitting outside the old cabin, she picked up a scientific digest. One article on reproductive strategies was titled "Sneaky Fuckers." Kya laughed. (pg 182)

I flat out contest there was any way "Sneaky Fuckers" (emphasis on fuckers) was appearing in a scientific digest's article title in 1965. But there is indeed a biological term that's called the Sneaky Fucker Strategy coined by biologist John Maynard Smith. I couldn't find any evidence that it was used in print any earlier than 1977, but that doesn't mean it wasn't. It could've been established as a theory in 1965 and print documentation existing, but I find it hard to believe (and would be eager to see proof) that it could be used so casually in an article headline at that time.

____________________________________________________________________________________

She wasn't sure what the two fisherman had seen, but they'd never defend her. They'd say she had it coming because, before Chase left her, she'd been seen smooching with him for years, behaving unladylike. Actin' the ho, they'd say. (pg 271)

No, they would not. Kya is describing two white fishermen who witnessed her attempted rape by Chase, her former boyfriend. I could see "Actin' the hooker" or "Playin' the hooker" (or "hussy"-- this is rural North Carolina in 1969) but "ho" is quite a stretch.


Final Grade: NO GRADE