Book · 2018
Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens
A girl abandoned in a North Carolina marsh raises herself alone, and years later becomes the prime suspect when the town's golden boy turns up dead.
What does Reddit think of Where the Crawdads Sing?
The ↑681 comment names the actual split before it even gets to complaining: this one is recommended more in real life, at book clubs and by relatives, than it is on Reddit. Then it spends the rest of the comment on the plot's central believability problem, a child surviving alone in a swamp. r/suggestmeabook's scored sentiment for it lands critical, and the top comments back that up specifically, not vaguely: dull, so dull (↑392), a load of tosh (↑346), lumped in with Colleen Hoover's Ugly Love as so bad the commenter still wouldn't recommend either one (↑367). The one thing that survives the pile-on is the setting itself; the ↑466 comment concedes the nature writing works even while dismissing everything else as ugh. Nobody in these threads argues this isn't popular. The argument is entirely over whether popular and good ever meant the same thing here.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · A believability complaint centered on the swamp-survival premise
- · A gap between real-world book club popularity and Reddit's reception
- · Nature writing as the one element that survives most critiques
- · Grouped with Colleen Hoover as evidence of bad-but-bestselling company
Common praise
- + The ↑466 comment concedes the descriptions of the marsh and its wildlife work, even while writing off the rest of the book.
- + The ↑681 commenter acknowledges it's genuinely recommended in real life, at book clubs and among relatives, more than it is here.
Common criticism
- − The ↑392 verdict is blunt: should have been interesting, ended up just dull, twice.
- − The ↑681 comment calls the central premise, a child surviving alone in a swamp, a stretch past believability.
- − The ↑346 comment dismisses the whole thing as a load of tosh.
- − The ↑367 commenter lumps it in with Colleen Hoover's Ugly Love as so bad they'd never recommend either.
Who it's for
Go in for the swamp itself; the ↑466 comment says the nature writing is the part that actually lands, whatever else falls apart around it. If a book club already loved this one, you're in the majority the ↑681 comment describes, the real-world audience Reddit keeps insisting doesn't overlap with its own. Read the ↑681 complaint about the swamp premise first if you need a survival plot to hold up under scrutiny. Treat the Colleen Hoover comparison (↑367) as a warning label, not an insult; that commenter still finished the book.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Where the Crawdads Sing?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“It's more recommended in real life than on Reddit, but Where The Crawdads Sing. I thought it was absurd and just stretched the level of believability wayy too far to be enjoyable. It's about a girl who was abandoned in a literal swamp as a child and then just...lived there? And somehow >!not only …
“I couldn't get in to Where the Crawdads Sing, but I realize I am in the minority.
“Where the Crawdads Sing. I enjoyed the descriptions of the nature around her but the rest, ugh.
“Where the Crawdads Sing. By all rights it should’ve been an interesting, compelling novel and insightful character study but it was just…… dull. So dull.
“Any Collen Hoover books, actually read the Ugly Love one and it was so SO bad I can’t even explain it. Where the Crawdads Sing was another one. It was fine but i would never recommend it
“Where the crawdads sing... what a load of tosh that turned out to be
“Where the Crawdads Sing. Absolutely do not understand the hype for this garbage paean to a swamp manic pixie dream girl.
“Where the Crawdads Sing. I was kind of meh on the whole book, but the end made me so mad that I did actually throw it across the room because I was so annoyed at myself for reading the whole thing.
“Where the Crawdads Sing. No. Just no.
“Where the Crawdads Sing. Time I'll never get back smh.
“Where the Crawdads sing. Awful. Characters are terribly written, plot is ridiculous. Nature descriptions are nice but otherwise this book needs to get in the bin.
“A couple of people already mentioned this one but I'm going to put in another vote for "Where The Crawdads Sing". The ending...just irritated me to no end. Took away from the whole message of the book. Was a passive waste of time preaching a moral lesson only to do a 180 at the end. Hated it.
“You could try reading some popular fiction. I got out of the habit of reading and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens reeled me back in. It’s not short, but it’s a pretty simple read and very entertaining; I couldn’t put it down. You can take a look at the NYT best sellers list to see what’s popu…
“I hated where the crawdads sing and also house in the cerulean sea I think they had fine ideas. The execution was not great. The character seemed wooden to me and it gave me the cringe. I could not finish either. Though I know it’s a very unpopular opinion lol
“Where The Crawdads Sing. I didn’t like the story, and I thought the writing style wasn’t good. After finding out about the author’s personal life, I somehow liked it even less.
Convinced? Pick up Where the Crawdads Sing
What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Where the Crawdads Sing — frequently asked
Is Where the Crawdads Sing believable?+
Not according to r/suggestmeabook's top comment, which calls the premise, a child surviving alone in a swamp, stretched well past believability (↑681). That same comment adds this book is recommended more in real life than on Reddit, offered as an explanation, not a defense.
Why does Reddit dislike Where the Crawdads Sing?+
The scored sentiment in r/suggestmeabook lands critical, and the specifics back it up: dull, twice over, in the ↑392 comment, and a load of tosh in the ↑346 comment. The complaints are about execution and plausibility, not about the book's popularity.
Is Where the Crawdads Sing worth reading for the nature writing alone?+
Possibly, per the ↑466 comment, which singles out the marsh descriptions as the one part that worked, right before dismissing everything else with a flat ugh. That's the strongest specific endorsement in the data, and it's a narrow one.
Is Where the Crawdads Sing as bad as a Colleen Hoover book?+
One commenter thinks so. The ↑367 comment names Ugly Love and Where the Crawdads Sing in the same breath as books so bad they wouldn't recommend either, while calling this one merely fine rather than actively terrible. That's a harsher comparison than it sounds.