By Jenna Ingalls |
Staff writer
Review
I am a firm believer of reading the book before seeing the movie, so when heard that the beloved "Where the Crawdads Sing,” by Delia Owens was making its way to the big screen, I had to finally get my hands on a copy.
This story follows Kya as she grows up alone in a marsh, lining a small town in North Carolina. Although crime and romance dance through the pages of the novel, Owens writes about loneliness in a way I do not think I have ever read before.
At face value, Kya’s situation is not one many can relate to. I have lived in the suburbs my entire life, I am currently pursuing higher education, I am actively involved in my community and have a loving family, but the isolation and loneliness felt by Kya is something so innately human that I argue all of us have felt like the Marsh Girl at some point in our lives.
After a summer of quarantine, I felt like Kya in a way. Coming from my marsh into an unknown and uninviting world.
Her loneliness displayed in this book truly reflected how I was feeling in these months of isolation. You get used to being your own favorite company, so it is hard getting to spend time with others.
But Kya was never really alone, she always had the marsh. Her love for the land and the attention to detail was astounding. Reading about the marsh even made me more conscious of the little bit of nature we see on campus.
Overall, Owens did an incredible job in pulling you into the story. While reading it, you will want nothing more than to escape on an old boat where the crawdads sing.