Book vs. Movie Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
I’m just gonna start with this: I’m super upset. Why, you ask? Because I don’t think any book I read for the rest of the year will top this book. I did this same type of review with Love & Gelato, but this one is much better. In my book vs. movie review for Where the Crawdads Sing, I’m going to tell you everything that broke my heart, made me smile, and absolutely melted me. Bonus: the movie was one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I’ve ever seen.
Book Information
Kya has been alone her whole life. Dubbed “The Marsh Girl” by the people in town, Kya has never found anyone who has truly loved her. As she navigates growing up in the marsh and finding love and relationships, Kya grows into more than just “The Marsh Girl.” She becomes a person, a woman.
After being accused of the murder of one of her former partners, the people living in town must finally see her for who she is once she is: a girl; a living, breathing human being with the same emotions, feelings, and needs as everyone else.
Book Review | Heidi Dischler
This book. I mean, this book. Here is one of those rare novels that when you finish it, you just want to bottle up all your feelings and keep them forever. It is the kind of book that makes you feel so spectacularly that you just know it was amazing by the way your heart is beating.
Okay, enough with the sappiness. You obviously already know that the writing and the plot was amazing because I wouldn’t be gushing about this novel otherwise. I usually don’t like dual timelines but it worked so freaking well in this novel. Delia Owens did so amazing in her writing and her plotting and her, well, everything. The characters were all so 4D and everything about them was developed into a personality, a background, a set of emotions only that specific character would feel. It was completely exhilarating as a reader.
What did I love the most about this book? The small town prejudices and how they were at the center of the wrongdoings. I live in a small town. I know how people talk. I know how hard it is to outgrow what they’ve labeled as (or even what they’ve labeled your parents as), and this rang so true to me throughout the whole entire novel. I love when books bring people’s attention to the way we judge people without even knowing them. This is especially true in small towns. While you can find an amazing community in smaller places, you can also find unforgiving ideals for who you’re supposed to be to fit in.
Yes, this novel is sad. Yes, it is romantic. And, yes, it is a mystery. It’s all of the best genres wrapped into one novel. The only thing I was slightly disappointed in was the ending and I’ll talk about that a little more below.
Spoilers Ahead.
So, that ending, huh? I am completely against the death penalty. Completely. Why? Because people make mistakes. No, I’m not talking about mistakes in accidentally (or purposefully) killing someone. I’m talking about mistakes in judgement. Mistakes in prejudices. Mistakes in kindness never given. That is why I don’t believe in the death penalty because as humans, we make mistakes, and is the death penalty even worth it if you mistakenly execute even one innocent person? In my opinion, no, it is not. Even in two of the quotes from this novel, it clearly draws the similarities between premeditated murder and the death penalty. “‘First-degree murder is defined as a premeditated act….” This is from the judge’s mouth in the novel. Then, as Kya sits in her cell, she thinks this: “Being dead didn’t bother her; they couldn’t scare her with threats of ending this shadow life. But the process of being killed by another’s hand, planned out and set to schedule, was so unthinkable it stopped her breath.” How can we define first-degree murder as a crime, and then decide someone’s guilt as well as the date of their own death? It doesn’t seem right to me to be able to decide if someone lives or dies.
Enough about that. The ending is where I’m really conflicted because—I’m sure you’re gonna guess this—but considering that I don’t agree with the death penalty, I seriously don’t know what to think about Kya killing Chase. Was it a good thing? Absolutely not. It was wrong in every way. Could I see any other way for the novel to end? Nope. Which is why I’m so conflicted. Did anyone else feel this way about the ending?
Overall, this book exceeded my every expectation. I’m not gonna lie, at first I had avoided it for a very petty reason: we call crawdads “crawfish” in Louisiana and it felt weird reading crawdads (like I said, SO PETTY). But I’m so glad I read this book. It was a beautiful display of the prejudices that small towns have and how we all should overcome these judgements and just see each other as human beings.
Source: Personal Copy
“Kya knew judgement had no place here. Evil was not in play, just life pulsing on, even at the expense of some of the players."
– Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing
Movie Review | Heidi Dischler
Someone pass me the tissues because holy cow I loved this movie so much I wanted to cry for several different scenes. The themes were followed. The movie stayed true to its source material (that in itself is a huge win). Everything about this adaptation made my heart soar.
So, to preface this, I literally finished the book an hour before I went to watch the movie. Everything was still fresh in my mind and I tried to watch this movie from both the perspective of someone who hasn’t read the book and of someone who has. I didn’t have to try too hard, though, because I sat around several people who had very obviously not read the book. They gasped at the revelations, they cheered for Kya, some of them even clapped at the end (I wish there had been a standing ovation because this movie deserved it). Needless to say, even those who hadn’t read the book were thoroughly engrossed in the story.
Now, from the perspective of someone who has read the book, this movie was near perfect. I think I would’ve changed a few things, but there was nothing drastic that ruined the whole entire book for me because of something that happened in the movie.
I absolutely loved Tate as a character and as an actor. My heart thumped in my chest as soon as I saw him on screen because, well, he was so damn cute. Did anyone else have that reaction? He was absolutely perfect as Tate. I loved Tate even more by the end of this movie than I had when I finished the book. My heart grew so fond of he and Kya’s relationship.
One thing I just wanted to mention that made me smile was the scene of Tate and his dad as his dad confronted him about Kya and the relationship the two had. I LOVED the opera music playing in the background because, while it wasn’t explicitly stated, it gave Scupper the personality that he had in the book just by having the music playing in the background. Seriously good movie-making. Not to mention, it just brought me back to one of my favorite quotes in the book: “Tate remembered his dad’s definition of a man: one who can cry freely, feel poetry and opera in his heart, and do whatever it takes to defend a woman.” This isn’t my favorite quote because of the chivalry. Simply because men should be able to cry, to read poetry, to feel, and we all should do whatever it takes to defend each other.
How would I rate this movie? 10/10. Read the book, watch the movie, and then let your heart feel everything that needs to be felt.
Book vs. Movie (The Differences)
Here comes major spoilers so don’t go any further if you still need to read the book or watch the movie!!!
Minor Differences:
- So, in the beginning of the movie, I thought this was going to be a major difference, but I think the writers planned it well. The first scene is, of course, of Chase’s body just like the book, but it’s immediately followed by Kya’s arrest. The reason I thought this would be major was because you had no time to grow attached to her as a character, but like I mentioned earlier, the writers made it work instead of jumping straight into her backstory before she got arrested.
- She spoke to Tom Milton about her story while in jail. I don’t feel that, as a character, Kya would’ve opened up to him after he simply gave her a book (she definitely didn’t in the book), but I get that they had to get the story moving.
- Jodie doesn’t have a scar on his face (made him not easily recognizable and less emotional at his return).
- No truant officer convincing Kya to go to school. It was Mabel, which also seemed out of place.
- Tate gave her a list of publishers to submit to before he left for college. I wholeheartedly loved this change. It gave Kya more self-sufficiency and it made it so much more rewarding when she got them published rather than having Tate ask his connections after attending college.
- The defense questioned Chase’s mother when, in the book, Mr. Milton had no questions for her.
- Tate and Chase fight (I legit laughed out loud at this scene because it looked a little ridiculous).
- Chase trashed Kya’s house after he couldn’t find her when she beat him up and left him. Honestly, I don’t remember this happening in the book, but I could be wrong. I don’t think he trashed her house, which is why I added it here.
- They completely removed the poetry. While I loved those tiny stanzas of poetry throughout the novel, I understand why they had to cut it out because it was honestly one of the weakest threads in the novel as far as reveals go.
MAJOR DIFFERENCES:
- Believe it or not, to me, there were NO MAJOR DIFFERENCES!!!! **Cue happy dance**
I was so thoroughly—and happily—surprised by how well this movie was made. For once, I don’t have to complain about how they changed everything to make the story “better.” The writers here recognized how amazing the story already was and stayed so true to the book—fitting as much as humanly possible in to two hours—that this has become my absolute favorite book-to-movie adaptation. I highly recommend this movie and this book. 10/10 for both mediums. I doubt I’ll find another book or movie this year that’ll top this experience.
