"Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens

About the Book:

For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life--until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

Book vs. Movie:

How The Investigation Of Chase Andrews Is Presented

Book readers of Where The Crawdads Sing were likely the most thrown off the most about the fact that the movie begins with Kya being pursued by the police soon after Chase Andrews’ dead body is found. In the book, Kya is not brought in by investigators until the latter half of the story because in between the story of her life, the story turns to the pair of cops investigating the murder and finding clues that lead them to placing her on trial every few chapters. The main reason for this change seems to be a way to provide a framing device for Kya to be the first person narrator and reflect on her life story as the trial goes on, whereas the book was told from a third person omniscient point of view.

Jumpin’ Has A Larger Role In The Book

Sterling Macer Jr’s Jumpin’ plays a key role in the Where The Crawdads Sing movie as a convenience store owner that Kya develops a relationship with, whether he is watching her back, buying mussels from her, or his wife, Mabel, is encouraging her to go to school. As Kya lives a lonely life in the marsh, they become almost family to her. This is overall true to the book, except the movie overlooks the book’s greater discussions of Jumpin’ being a Black man in the south in the 1960s. In the book, there’s a number of scenes that touch on the racism Jumpin’ deals with as a store owner – one time in particular Kya helps Jumpin’ fend off some town bullies.

Kya’s Age Gap With Tate

The Where The Crawdads Sing movie has a lot of ground to cover, from Kya’s childhood to adulthood and while it signifies which year it is throughout, how old Kya is when she meets and starts to become romantically involved with Tate is not clear to audiences. It feels like this might have been ignored on purpose, because in the book, Kya is 14 and Tate is 18 when their first cute feather back-and-forths take place. At the point in the novel when they almost have sex, Kya is 15. Daisy Edgar-Jones most certainly does not look 15 during those scenes.

Tate Inspiring Kya To Publish Her Book

In the movie and the book, Tate empowers Kya to send in her drawings to a publisher and write books about her findings of shells and such in the marsh, which she follows through on later on. However, they happen during different points between the two. In the movie, it happens when Kya and Tate are first together, prior to him leaving for college and disappearing on her. And in the book, it happens after he returns and Kya is with Chase. In turn, the book gives Tate more credit for being someone who truly cares for Kya and her interests no matter who she is with and perhaps its that kindness that contributes to Kya returning to him after the murder trial is over.

The Details Of Kya And Chase’s Romance And Falling Out

In the movie, it makes it look like Chase Andrews completely pursued Kya and she just went for it over time because she didn’t want to be alone, but in the book things happen differently. Years after Tate leaves and Kya remains heartbroken, she notices Chase, someone she is attracted to and sexually curious about. To quote the book: “Her body watched Chase Andrews, not her heart.” However, Chase proves to be a selfish lover in both mediums, but in the movie it’s not clear that Kya pursued Chase in her own way. Additionally, when it comes to their relationship falling out, in the movie she meets Chase’s fiancée in person, whereas in the book, she finds out through a newspaper announcement.

Kya’s Obsession With Animal Mating Dynamics

Where The Crawdads Sing has a shocking ending either way, but it’s perhaps more shocking in the movie because the film does not highlight a central part of what makes Kya, Kya. Throughout the book, Kya is constantly observing how animals mate and interact with one another in the wild and applying it to her real life. So once we learn she is the killer behind Chase Andrews' death, we somewhat understand that she took the rules of nature into consideration when making decisions her whole life. However, in the movie, while it’s clear she spends a lot of time around nature and learns from animals, there’s not any major moments that highlight that before we learn she really did kill Chase.

Amanda Hamilton Is Not In The Movie

The final major difference between the book and movie for Where The Crawdads Sing is in regards to a poet named Amanda Hamilton. Throughout the book, Kya recites poetry from a local poet who is relatively unknown with that name. Poetry is an important part of the pair’s relationship because poetry means so much to Tate and his own family. At the end of the book, when Tate learns of Kya’s crime, he also learns that she has been Amanda Hamilton this whole time. However, in the movie, there is no mention of Amanda Hamilton and when Tate finds out about Chase, we see a series of hidden drawings instead.

(Cinema Blend, 2022)

Discussion Questions:

1. How faithful is the movie to the novel in terms of plot, characters, and overall tone?
2. What changes were made in the adaptation, and do you think they enhanced or detracted from the story?
3. How do the actors in the movies compare to your mental images of the characters from the book?
4. Were there any notable differences in the portrayal of the other characters that stood out to you?
5. How does each adaptation capture the atmosphere and setting?
6. Were there differences in the visual representation of the setting of the movie compared to your imagination from the book?
7. How did the visual and auditory elements of the movies contribute to your understanding and enjoyment of the story?
8. Were there any scenes in the movies that stood out to you as particularly well-done or poorly executed?
9. Books and movies often have different pacing and narrative structures. How did the pacing of the movies compare to the pacing of the book?
10. Were there any scenes or events that were expanded or condensed in the movies compared to the book?
11. How did the movies handle the suspense and mystery elements compared to the book?
12. Were there aspects of the plot or the revelation of the solution that differed in impact between the book and the movies?
13. The dynamics between characters are crucial to the mystery genre. Did the movies capture the relationships and interactions between characters as effectively as the book?
14. Movies often adapt or modify dialogue for visual storytelling. Were there any significant changes in dialogue between the book and the movies, and how did they influence the narrative?
15. How did the movies handle the inclusion of visual details and clues compared to the book?
16. How does the resolution of the mystery in the movies compare to the book? Were there differences in how the endings were presented, and did they affect your overall satisfaction with the story?