This book has been on the bestseller list for so long, and I know I am very very late to it. The reviews have always been tempting for the most part, though there are some mixed ones, and I can fully understand why. A book where the character, theme & vivid writing overshadows the overall story & plot. If anything, this book is a tribute to nature. The story is told in two timelines – late 1950s and 1969-70. In the first timeline (in a fictitious town in North Carolina), Kya Clark is only 7 years old, one of five siblings, with an abusive and alcoholic father, living in a run-down house in marshy land. Gradually, her mother and all her brothers & sisters leave home. She was closest in age to Jodie and he is the last to leave. After a few months, her father does not return as well. Kya is determined not to end up in foster care, having heard bad stories about it, and dodges the authorities, and learns to live in the wild (mostly by selling shells & fishing). She learns a lot about the marsh ecosystem and how life thrives there. People in town refer to her as the ‘Marsh Girl’, and mostly avoid her, except for Jumpin’ and his wife Mable who support her. In a few years, she grows fond of Tate who teaches her to read. However, Tate has his ambitions and goes off to college, with promises to return. Disillusioned waiting for Tate, Kyra is next involved with Chase Andrews, trusting him as he proposes a long-term relationship. In the second timeline (1969-70), Chase Andrews is found dead and it looks like he fell from a fire tower into the swamp. There is not much at the crime scene but a series of other observations cause the police to take in Kya as a suspect accusing her of pushing Chase to his death. The descriptions of nature – the marsh, the gulls, the waters, the throbbing life are all vivid and haunting, and certainly among the best I have read in a work of fiction. Kya’s character is absolutely lovely as she learns to live with loneliness - befriending the birds, the waves and the greenery. Her pain, her longing and hopes as she struggles to cope are very well written. At the same time, I have to say that the crime segment is very ordinary – the plot, timing.. Some of the experiences Kya goes through at 7 years of age also do not come across as very realistic, but work well to build her into a loveable character! I liked the court sequences – especially the closing argument of Kya’s lawyer. A book to be read for some brilliant writing, and less for the crime segment of the story. My rating: 3.75 / 5.
I will be the first to admit this was a very difficult book to read. Not because it was stirring or moving or covered a lot of hard content, but because it was difficult. . The prose, the writing style, the dialect was *so* hard to read that I considered quitting it for the first 120 pages. The fact that the entire book was only 350 odd pages and that it has over 30000 reviews at 4.5 stars the only reason I wanted to even complete. . Maybe it grows on you or maybe you get used to it. But the last 200 odd pages are quite easy to get across. The story is about Kya, an abandoned young girl left to fend for herself in the unlikeliest of places a marsh and a swamp in North Carolina. Her parents and her siblings abandoned her. She grows up and comes to be known as “The Marsh Girl”. . Her father has abused her and she has never known love, just abandonment. So what she makes of herself is a completely isolated, self-reliant, untrusting young individuals with a lot of social challenges. She not just survives this but manages to become an expert of her terrain learning to read from her boyfriend fails in love and learns to live all by herself all over again. Her coming of age story runs in parallel to current news of the town‘s most eligible and well-known young man found dead. Is Kya connected to this? . That’s exactly what you will discover in the latter half of the book. But spoiler alert-you will be right about your guesses. For the life of me, I cannot understand why this book has such rave reviews. While the author is an expert in this terrain and it is obvious in her description of this beautiful geographical phenomenon, the story itself leaves much to be wanted. Proceed to read only if you can make it past the difficult first half of the book. . Once again, thanks @bookelphia for sourcing this book at my request. . Rating - 3/5
