Where the Crawdads Sing is a 2018 murder mystery romance novel written by Delia Owens that quickly rose to a bestseller position in 2019.
Earning a spot on Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, Witherspoon quickly began producing the film rendition that made $140 million in theaters against a $20 million budget before releasing to Netflix in November of 2022.
Once you have read the book, it is easy to determine that the film stayed pretty true to the storyline. But, as was to be expected, there are key differences between the two.
In the book, which follows two timelines that eventually interweave, the story opens with an opportunity for us to understand the depths of young Kya Clark, whose full name is Catherine Danielle Clark. We are introduced to the hardships Kya has faced. She is living in a shack in the marshes of the Deep South, has an abusive home and a mother who has abandoned her family. We soon watch Kya’s siblings leave her behind with her father, who soon leaves too. At 10 years old, she was left entirely alone.
We follow Kya’s story as she is left to fend for herself, becoming one with the marsh as she gains a deep-rooted knowledge of this natural world and its animal inhabitants. Her seclusion (as she cannot find her place with the locals, even avoiding school) and isolation gives her the nickname “the Marsh Girl.”
The murder mystery of this book involves the murder of Chase Andrews, a very big name in a very small town. The movie opens with his murder, a suspect immediately taken into custody and the trial begins. The movie utilizes the trial for us to understand the background of this town, its residents, and the secrets it holds. However, in the book, the trial is held much later. The book serves as the platform to take us through what we need to know with a much deeper understanding.
The romance first involved Kya meeting Tate Walker. While the book portrays a larger age gap, the film does not. The two fall in love, only to face hurdles when Tate goes off to college. Immediately after, Kya falls swooned by Chase Andrews. We come to learn that the love between Tate and Kya was much purer than the romance between Kya and Chase.
There are other minor differences in the movie. For example, Jumpin, the convenience store owner that
becomes a father-like figure to Kya, seems to have had a more expansive story in the book than in its movie counterpart. The latter has Kya publishing her book before Tate’s return, when in the book its release came afterward, as he was the one who aided her in doing so.
Talk of a poet named Amanda Hamilton also exists in the book, but is absent from the film.
While there are some noteworthy differences between each, it does not take away from the fact that
the film was one of the truer adaptations to a literary work. In fact, it had a way of making things significantly clearer than when you read them in print.
Still, delve into the deepness the book offers to experience the story to its fullest extent. It’s a toss-up, but the book will show you where the crawdads really sing.
