Where The Crawdads Sing

I cannot stop thinking about this book.  For a first time novel it has hit the ball out of the park.  It is one of those stories that stays with you long after you have put the physical book down. I hope Delia Owens can do it again.

Kya is eight years old, living in a swamp backwater of North Carolina, in a broken down shack.  For a minute you believe this could almost be a true story, with a father who is a violent alcoholic and a mother who has lost her bearings. It could be reminiscent of Educated or The Glass Castle which were each explanations of real lives that seemed like this novel.  But slowly the story unravels as Kya explains her life.  Her mother just packed her suitcase and put on her best clothes and walked away one day.  She barely remembers two older siblings who also left when she was young.  Her final brother, four years her senior, who taught her how to hide in the swamp, from Dad when he is on a violent rampage, left soon afterwards.  Within a few years of trying to keep house for her father, who comes and goes in a drunken state, he finally goes off one day and never returns.  The only thing he really taught her was to fish before he disappears.

Kya grows up wild, feeding herself on mussels found on the beach and grits she figures out how to cook in a pot on the stove.  She rarely goes to town to interact with other townspeople.  When the truant officers come and try to put her school she hides in the swamp.  One day at school with other children teasing her made it clear that was not somewhere she wanted to be.

As she grows through her teen years she learns to forage for nettles and berries.  She catches fish and mussels both to feed herself and sell to Jumpin, a black man who runs the marina and sells her gas for the boat and other supplies.  His wife brings her used clothes and teaches her about menstruation and becoming a woman.  The rest of her knowledge of sexual relationships she learns from the birds and the bees.

As she matures into a beautiful young woman, she gets involved with two young men.  Tate is the quiet studious young man who comes from humble means and teaches her reading and mathematics.
Chase is the rich, high school football star, who takes advantage of Kya's naivete.
But Kya also shows us that she can overcome obstacles and becomes quite learned in the area of nature and science.

This is a story set between 1952 and 1970 in the south.  It shows the country's attitude for that time period toward African Americans and the poor.  Prejudice, with a Colored Town area and separation of people and fearful of what they could not understand.  Kya is labeled "marsh girl" and is ostracized for being uneducated and different.

Of course there is a mystery running through the novel.  As Kya tells her story, we are also following the story of a body that was discovered dead in the swamp.  The book begins with a prologue of two young boys out playing and discover the body.  Whose body and how it got there are revealed as a police investigation is laid out in contrast to Kya's story.

A wonderful slice of life, reminding us of the way we dressed, ate and socialized.  The competition of boys to show their masculine prowess and the division of social status. All of this can be compared to where we are on all these topics today.