It's hard to review the book “Where the Crawdads Sing”
I love the main character when I read through the opening chapters. However, my opinion of her changed by the end, and I no longer have the same fondness.
This book initiates the death of Chase Andrew. The subsequent chapters describe the past and present between the suspect and the victim. However, the protagonist (Kya) is also the suspect, her journey and life invite deep contemplation on personal experience, family, trauma, love, and societal biases.
Let me tell you about the plot.
The story revolves around Kya, who is abandoned by her family at a young age. She is isolated by people and learns to survive the harsh condition of the marsh. She falls in love with two men and one of whom is Chase Andrew. Kya has an unhappy family. When she grows up, she witnesses her father's abusive behavior toward other family members, resulting in one by one of her family escaping from the bad father. The author captures the profound sense of loneliness that Kya experiences during this period.
Tate enters Kya's life and becomes a significant influence. He teaches her how to read and how to love. He inspires her with a sense of creativity and helps her to study nature. I couldn't put the book down because I found myself engrossed in their tender love story. However, Tate is a human being, and he realizes that they may not have a future together. They are different. He has a bright future with a good career and a beautiful life in the city whereas Kya lacks formal education. Ultimately, Take makes the difficult decision to leave Kya behind and pursue his own path.
She suffers from lovesickness. She asks herself one hundred times why she is abandoned by those she loves. Tate brings her a sense of connection and belonging and again goes away.
Chase Andrew is the second lover of Kya. The way Chases loves her is different from Tate's. Andrew is a bad boy and flirts with Kya for his own self-gratification, ultimately betraying her trust. He left a deep emotional scar in Kya’s heart. My heart still sank when reading the chapters describing the pain of Kya.
I love the way the author compares the contexts of Kya’s life and animals in nature. Through this lens, the book explores the inherent traits of males, who often strive to attract and mate with females before moving on to seek other opportunities for reproduction.
When Chase Andrew died, the community suspects Kya thought Kya of being involved in his death. What happens next? Please read the book, I don't want to spoil the plot for you.
To me, this book reaches my heart. I experienced different emotions. I am sad, happy, and disappointed with Kya's experiences with her family and love. I feel like many people have the same idea as Kya because of the family background and love experience which can lead to difficulty in trusting others or fully opening their hearts.
Kya is a strong, intelligent, and wild girl. Despite the lack of social connection, she forms a profound bond with the marsh, which cultivates her and gives her a home. Her love for the marsh's creatures makes her become a famous scientist and author although she learned at school for a day. In the world of Kya, nothing is impossible. In the real world, many people don't believe a person who never enters school can't become a scientist, or read and understand scientific documents. But, I think if we have a passion for nature, and we spend our whole life on it, we can do it. Nature teaches us very much, but modern people don't like to learn, they like to learn at the university and they argue that the university teaches us.
No one wants to go through trauma and chooses their family and parents. Trauma is an inherent part of life and we have to face and live with it rather than seeking a way to escape from it.
Everybody is an individual, solely, and independent. We depend on ourselves and one another. We have met a lot of weird people, some of them are different from us. It doesn't mean we treat them with less respect. Everybody needs a sense of natural connection. Without accepting and appreciating these differences, the world would become a cold and inhospitable place, lacking the warmth of human understanding. It is important not to let prejudice or judgment turn others into perceived “wicked" individuals.
The death of Chase Andrew is not solely a consequence of betrayal; it reflects a lack of love in its truest form.
She knew his favorite lagoons and paths through difficult quagmires; always following him at a safe distance. Sneaking about, stealing love. Never sharing it. You can’t get hurt when you love someone from the other side of an estuary.
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