Carl Safina's Reviews > Where the Crawdads Sing

Little to be added about this remarkable book. The author's earlier life, and especially her co-authored "Cry of the Kalahari" are truly astonishing non-fiction. But back to "Crawdads," it's a very remarkably imagined story of the life of a girl from childhood to old age, woven around a murder mystery. The shifting timelines of the childhood and murder investigation (she is accused of the murder when she is a young woman) are wonderfully braided, greatly heightening the tension. The naturalistic coastal settings add color, texture, and flavor (with a high degree of accuracy but with some trivial imperfections not worth quibbling over). She triumphs, finds love, overcomes near-impossible odds and accomplishes her own life in her own way. Happy, poignant ending.