Some one told me today that they were not sure whether or not to read “Where the crawdad’s sing” #wherethecrawdadssing because my review of the book was extremely short. I decided to write another one – for my laziness should not be the reason that friends are missing out on this masterpiece.

“Where the Crawdad’s sing” is an ode to the marshlands of North Carolina. It is really a coming on age story, a story of love and of beating the odds. It is about the hate that mobs carry, the love that individuals hold and how the latter beats the former any day. The “Marsh Girl”is a wonder, a mystery, a child. How this child breaks the odds to become an incredibly strong, unbreakable woman is the premise of this beautiful book. The landscape that surrounds her is not just the context, but it is a character in itself, a family and companion to her lonely existence.

The author Is a wildlife scientist, and her love of nature is as strong, if not stronger, than her depiction of this fierce character. She weaves these two together such that her prose reads like poetry. I often found myself pausing to imagine myself wherever Kya was. Kya grows up in isolation, learning how to survive in a world that is not willing to accept her and yet she understands people and their true nature.

Somewhere in the middle of this story is a murder which sparks more attention than the communal, longstanding rejection and abandonment of a child. Therefore, the book goes back and forth in time to answer two questions: who committed the murder – and the second more important one, – will Kya ever find love and acceptance?

Read the book to find out. I give it a full five stars!