Where the Crawdads Sing - Page 4

hick · ‎03-28-2010

Loved this book. One of my favorites. Years and years ago, she wrote a book with her husband about their experiences in Africa - I think on the Serengheti. Loved that also.

Bridgegal · ‎03-09-2010

I finished it today and really liked it. Too much of long descriptions for me but I stuck with it. Great story.

Judaline · ‎03-10-2010

I finished it last night and was still thinking about it this morning.

Spoiler

About the necklace-what do you think happened? Do you think she arranged to meet him there and demanded the necklace back and he fell trying to take it off? (I'm going with that) or did she open the "hatch" and when he came up she pushed him right back down again and took the necklace off when he was on the ground, covering her tracks as she's always done? I was afraid Jumpin' had 'dunnit' till the end.

Alter Ego · ‎03-12-2010

@Judaline

Spoiler

IMO, you don’t go through all that subterfuge just to politely ask for something. I think it had to be premeditated and happened just how the prosecution said it did.

There was one point where I wondered if her father had come back and done it for her. I guess I just didn’t want it to be anyone else and, at least, that gave him some redemption.

IMO, you don’t go through all that subterfuge just to politely ask for something. I think it had to be premeditated and happened just how the prosecution said it did.There was one point where I wondered if her father had come back and done it for her. I guess I just didn’t want it to be anyone else and, at least, that gave him some redemption.

LoriLori · ‎03-12-2010

@Yahooey wrote:
Saw the interview on CBS Sunday Morning with the author. So interesting - her first book and it took her years to write.it. Haven't been reading much lately but I put it on hold at my library which there was a long queue

Yes there were some struggles reading the accents - at times it was sad and slow going.

True to the saying if it doesn't break you, makes you stronger - beauty of the spirit shines through
@
Love the book

It's actually her fourth book and her first novel. She and her ex-husband, Mark Owens, lived and wrote nonfiction books about Africa years ago. Which is why her writing is so nature-centered. Cry of the Kalahari is their most famous; I've never read it but I had heard the name. She took ten years writing Crawdads.

LoriLori · ‎03-12-2010

@Judaline wrote:
I finished it last night and was still thinking about it this morning.
Spoiler
About the necklace-what do you think happened? Do you think she arranged to meet him there and demanded the necklace back and he fell trying to take it off? (I'm going with that) or did she open the "hatch" and when he came up she pushed him right back down again and took the necklace off when he was on the ground, covering her tracks as she's always done? I was afraid Jumpin' had 'dunnit' till the end.

@Judaline @Alter Ego

There is a part in in the middle more towards the beginning that jumped out at me and I knew it was foreshadowing -- and it was, which to me is what you get when you spend ten years crafting a book and her beautiful nature writing that is so important to the novel:

I found a very good home for my hardcover but just located the specific passage.

Spoiler

Kya is carefully watching the mating rituals of fireflies:

"Suddenly Kya sat up and paid attention: one of the females had changed her code. First she flashed the proper sequence of dashes and dots, attracting a male of her species, and they mated. Then she flickered a different signal, and a male of a different species flew to her. Reading her message, the second male was convinced he'd found a willing female of his own kind and hovered above her to mate. But suddenly the female firefly reached up, grabbed him with her mouth, and ate him, chewing all six legs and both wings.

"Kya watched others. The females all got what they wanted – first a mate, then a meal – just by changing their signals."

When I read that I knew immediately that she caused Chase to fall through the hatch when she read of his engagement...Then later there comes the firefly poem which reinforces it. And lastly Tate finding the Chase's necklace in Kya's box and learning Kya wrote the Amanda Hamilton poems. Sooooooo lovely!

Kya is carefully watching the mating rituals of fireflies: "Suddenly Kya sat up and paid attention: one of the females had changed her code. First she flashed the proper sequence of dashes and dots, attracting a male of her species, and they mated. Then she flickered a different signal, and a male of a different species flew to her. Reading her message, the second male was convinced he'd found a willing female of his own kind and hovered above her to mate. But suddenly the female firefly reached up, grabbed him with her mouth, and ate him, chewing all six legs and both wings. "Kya watched others. The females all got what they wanted – first a mate, then a meal – just by changing their signals."When I read that I knew immediately that she caused Chase to fall through the hatch when she read of his engagement...Then later there comes the firefly poem which reinforces it. And lastly Tate finding the Chase's necklace in Kya's box and learning Kya wrote the Amanda Hamilton poems. Sooooooo lovely!

Judaline · ‎03-10-2010

Oh, my @LoriLori , you are so perceptive!! I feel pretty dumb-maybe it's because I hate preying mantis and those long spindly legs and I, between my ewww, ewww, ewwws, rushed thru that particular segment (ewww!). It's like she leaves little clues along the way, and the necklace seemed to be predominant in those clues. Of course we were all thinking the same thing. What a special author she is. I hope to read more as soon as one comes out but I realize it will take a long time to write. And how alluring that she would include a mystery into the bargain!

LoriLori · ‎03-12-2010

@Judaline, thanks. I read slowly and analytically, unless of course it's a fun book. That beautiful bit of writing stuck out at me bigtime -- but hand me a mystery and I never, ever guess who did it.

Spoiler

ETA: I can't stand praying mantis either. So gross! These were fireflies Owens used to show let us know Kya killed Chase...Love fireflies.