 In this video, I will be sharing the top reviews of the book called, Where the Kradads Sing, authored by Delia Owens, who is the co-author of three internationally best-selling non-fiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist in Africa. Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savannah. She has won the John Burroughs Award for nature writing and has been published in Nature, the African Journal of Ecology, and International Wildlife, among many others. She currently lives in Idaho, where she continues her support for the people and wildlife of Zambia. But before I get to the review part let's see a little bit of what this book is about. For years, rumors of the, Marsh Girl, Haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kyaa Clark is barefoot and wild, unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her. But Kyaa is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kyaa opens herself to a new and startling world, until the unthinkable happens. When where the crawdads sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens's debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps. The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures. Now let's get to the reviews. Deborah from the States says where the crawdads sing as a story of resiliency, survival, hope, love, loss, loneliness, desperation, prejudice, determination and strength. This book goes back and forth in time to tell the story of Kyaa Clark aka the Marsh Girl. She lives on the outskirts of town, in the marsh, and the locals look down their noses at her, she is judged, ridiculed and bullied. But there are those who show her kindness, friendship and show her love. Oh, how I loved this book. Kyaa was a young girl when her mother walked away without looking back. Soon, all her siblings followed suit, leaving Kyaa alone with her often the absent, drunk, and abusive father. She is left to care for their home, cook, clean and take care of both of their needs. How her situation pulled on my heartstrings. She had to learn to shop, cook and provide food for herself in her father's absence. All while dealing with loneliness, feelings of abandonment and loss. Always wondering when and if her mother will ever return. She was a smart and clever girl who knew the marsh and found ways to make money and provide for her basic needs. Soon, Jumpin and his wife, Mabel, show her kindness, generosity and love. I dare you not to adore this couple. As Kyaa grows and learns more about life through her interactions with the creatures of the marsh, two young men enter her life. One is her brother's older friend, Tate, who teaches her to read and shows her acceptance and happiness. Another brings her hope of a future but won't introduce her to his friends and family. Would one be her chance at happiness? A chance at belonging? A chance at being accepted? A chance at being loved? A chance for growth? Or will history repeat itself? Kristen from New York says where the crawdads sing as a gentle yet symbolic depiction of the valiant survival of Kyaa Clark. A reclusive young girl who has been abandoned by her parents, siblings, school system, the entire town surrounding her, and what ultimately feels like life itself. Mother nature has literally become Kyaa's caretaker, and deep in a lonely marsh along the North Carolina coast is where Kyaa will not only hide but blossom into a primal independent being. Coaxed inside the loyal embrace of an indiscriminate wilderness as she embodies its uninhibited spirit. Until a young boy from, yonder, befriends Kyaa, and her lonely existence is shaken straight to its solemn core. Look to that the curious unsolved murder of the town's local, golden boy, and all that's left to say is game. On. Although this story delivers one hell of a powerful punch, it is sculpted with quite a humble hand. A delicate wind that keeps building and building until it ends up emphatically blowing your mind. Nilufer from West Hollywood says this is a real controversial book to be hated or to be wholeheartedly loved. I was in the team of deeply in-lovers. And I know most of the good readers couldn't finish it. But if they also give it a shot to try the audiobook read by Cassandra Campbell, I'm positively sure that they will love the story and all the nature parts because this is not only Marsh Girl's heart-wrenching, sad, poignant, poetic story, but this is also about nature. When you listen to this book, you feel like the story is narrated by nature. The swamp, the trees, all those rare kinds of birds, breezing wind, wild animals roaring. That's all out there and you can hear them, smell them, imagine them in your mind. It's so alive, realistic, rejuvenating. So this book is about hate, abandonment, neglect, reject to accept the differences of other people. A little girl tries to stay alive in this wild nature but old those wild, unpredictable, dangerous creatures of nature never scared her. The ruthless people who are adamant to hurt, humiliate, insult her were the real threat she needed to protect from. She feels alive by communicating with the birds because they cannot hurt them with their words, they cannot humiliate her with insulting words. They just fly freely and travel around the world as she is stuck in the swamp and gets jealous of their freedom to escape whenever they want. Jessica from the United States says all of you talked me into reading this book. The Goodreads reviews were virtually unanimously good, not just good, great. It had to be good, I thought. And because I needed an extra audiobook I bought it and locked myself into reading it. Bad Decision. This book is just a pile of tropes and cliches dressed up in some nice nature writing. The plot is not much of a plot and the mystery makes up only a small section of the book, and much of it ends up being courtroom scenes and not much mystery. This book is basically manic pixie dream girl in the marsh. We spend a long time with young Kya, abandoned, fending for herself, almost entirely isolated. I was willing to be patient through all that, to see what kind of person she would grow into because that had the potential to be very interesting. Except it was not. It became less interesting the longer I read. Because Kya doesn't act like a person who has been almost entirely isolated. She just acts like a regular loner. Sure, she may have some habits that fit with her strange upbringing, but she seems to understand people in language just like a regular person. I was nearly out of my head with frustration that the book had spent so long telling me how different she was only to have her be just the same as most people. Chelsea says I'm typically skeptical of books that are hyped to high heavens and end up on every book club list for months straight. Not because they aren't worthy, but because I can let my expectations get the best of me and keep me from fully enjoying a wonderful book. This book exceeded my already high expectations. It emanates a quiet power, a slow drawing in and a connection of the reader to the book, one that I found myself able to get lost in due to the lush atmosphere and the depth of emotion. I can see now why this book is getting so much attention, and I'm thrilled to see that for once the hype train was right on track. Thank you for watching this video, if you liked this video then please subscribe to the channel and share this video.