There are a number of questions (about the ending, explanations, other spoilers, etc.) that get asked pretty frequently about this book, so I thought I’d just answer them here.
For the full review and a detailed summary of the plot, see the Summary and Review for Where the Crawdads Sing.
Where can I find a full plot summary of Where the Crawdads Sing?
Right here! Summary and Review for Where the Crawdads Sing. There’s a short/quick version and a longer, more detailed version.
What is the meaning of the title of the book “Where the Crawdads Sing”?
The meaning of the title “Where the Crawdads Sing” comes from Delia Owens’s childhood experiences (something her mother used to say). It’s also a phrase that the character of Tate says in the book.
In Chapter 17, when Tate and Kya are looking for a place to hang out, Tate suggests that they go somewhere “where the crawdads sing.” He explains to Kya that it means “far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters.” In other words, he’s suggesting they go off somewhere far from other people, deep into nature.
From the book: “Well, we better hide way out there where the crawdads sing. I pity any foster parents who take you on.” Tate’s whole face smiled.
“What d’ya mean, where the crawdads sing? Ma used to say that.” Kya remembered Ma always encouraging her to explore the marsh: “Go as far as you can—way out yonder where the crawdads sing.”
“Just means far in the bush where critters are wild, still behaving like critters.”
Throughout out the book, Delia Owens’s writing shows a great fondness for the natural world. Her past work (as a wildlife scientist in Africa), as well as the title of this novel, are a reflection of this.
Delia Owen discusses the origins of this phrase and how it relates to her life in an interview with Hello Sunshine. “When I was a young girl growing up in south Georgia, my mother encouraged my girlfriends and me—whether we were exploring on foot or riding our horses—to venture as far into the oak forests as we could go. She wanted me to experience true nature, to find that place where the deer and foxes still behaved as they always had in the wild. She’d say, “Go way out yonder where the crawdads sing.” And we did.”
What happens at the end of Where the Crawdads Sing? Does Kya kill herself in Where the Crawdads Sing?
At the end of Where the Crawdads Sing, Kya is acquitted for the murder, and Kya realizes that she loved Tate all along. They start a life together and turn the shack that Kya lives in into a nice cottage.
As the years pass, Jumpin’ passes away, and Jodie gets married and has kids that he brings by. The village grows into a city, but Tate and Kya never visit either way.
Kya does not kill herself. Instead, she passes away at 64 while she’s out in a boat collecting stuff (“her heart had quietly stopped”). Tate has “The Marsh Girl” inscribed on her headstone.
As Tate goes to look through her possessions he finds a hidden compartment with poems by a local author (these are referenced throughout the book). He realizes the poet was Kya, writing under a nom de plume all these years. There is one poem about murdering Chase, and with it is Chase’s missing shell necklace, tying her to his murder.
Who Killed Chase Andrews? Did Kya (“The Marsh Girl”) Murder Chase in Where the Crawdads Sing? How did Chase Andrews die? And why was he killed?
Yes, Kya was responsible for the death of Chase Andrews. Basically, at the end of the book, we find out that Kya has been writing and publishing poems under a pen name. Tate, her husband, finds one of these poems (that Kya wrote) along with the necklace that ties Kya to the murder.
If you read the poem (see the full text of it below) that’s with the necklace, you’ll see how it clearly describes the situation with Chase and what happened. She lured him to the tower and then she left the grate over the last stair open so he could fall through. (“The last step, a trap. Down, down he falls, His eyes still holding mine / Until they see another world.”)
The necklace ties Kya to the murder because Chase was supposed to have worn it all the time, but it was missing from the scene of the crime. Instead, Tate realizes that Kya has had the necklace all along.
I think the question of “why” Kya chooses to kill Chase (and whether it was justified) is something that’s up for book clubs to debate. Obviously, legally it was definitely not justified. Kya had a lot of reasons to dislike Chase. He dated, tricked and cheated on Kya (he was seeing someone else so he wouldn’t introduce her to people and got engaged while he continued letting her believe he wanted to marry her). Then after all that, he later goes back to see her and attempts to sexually assault her.
Beyond that, after the sexual assault, she worries that he will feel the need to have the “last word” after she left him sprawled on the dirt, and she doesn’t want to live in fear waiting for him to come at her again (“She’d learned over and over from Pa: these men had to have the last punch. Kya had left Chase sprawled on the dirt. The two old fishermen had probably seen her flatten him. As Pa would have it, Kya had to be taught a lesson.” “Chase would not let this go. Being isolated was one thing; living in fear, quite another.”).
The assault happens on August 30th and a month later he’s dead.
How is Kya able to contact Chase to lure him to the fire tower?
It’s not really stated how exactly she lures him to fire tower. We know that she does because it’s referenced in her poem, the Firefly (reproduced below).
As one of the commenters below (thanks Lindsay!) points out below, it may have been via phone because during the trial, the hotel manager, Mr. Lang Furlough, mentions that she was oddly unfamiliar with how to use the telephone. That seems to indicate she may have asked him how to use it in order to contact Chase.
Otherwise, she could have left Chase a note or something.
Was Kya in a disguise as the man on bus #1 or the old lady on bus #2 that’s mentioned in trial? Could Kya have gone back and forth from Greenville to Barkley Cove in that timeframe?
The answer to all of these questions is a (tentative) yes. It’s the most plausible answer to how Kya could have been able to kill Chase, though there’s not a firm confirmation of it.
Kya’s alibi is that she was in Greenville, meeting with her publisher, on the day Chase was killed. This is confirmed by her publisher. She traveled there by bus (Jumpin’ had to explain to her how to buy a bus ticket). However, the detectives determine that it’s possible to travel by bus from Greenville to Barkley and back in one night.
Larry Price (the bus driver for the 11:50 P.M. bus from Greenville to Barkley Cove) says there was no one on the bus that resembles Kya. But Price also says there was “a skinny passenger on that bus who could’ve been a tall woman disguised as a man”. It was a young white man, approximately 5′ 10”, kept his head down.
John King (the bus driver for the 2:30 P.M. bus from Barkley Cove to Greenville) also says there was no one on the bus that resembles Kya. But King also says there was an older lady who was “tall like Miss Clark, who had gray hair, short with curls, like a permanent wave.” King, too, acknowledges it could have been Kya in a disguise.
In terms of whether the timing works, at the trial, it’s mentioned that the 11:50 bus was 25 minutes late. It ended up getting in at 1:40 P.M. at night (meaning, it’s an 1 hour and 35 minute bus ride). The return bus departed at 2:30. So, that means there was a 50 minute window for Kya to get from the bus station to the fire tower, kill Chase and return.
At trial, there’s a discussion of whether this was feasible in 50 minutes. The gist of it is that, depending on factors such as her method of travel or the water conditions, it could have been possible.
What happened to the red hat? How did Kya end up with the red hat?
The infamous red hat. I have gotten so many e-mails and comments about this red hat that (a full year after reading this!) I have finally gone through the book and found all mentions of the red hat and red fibers so everyone can have a definitive answer instead of having to individually e-mail me. I don’t entirely understand why this hat has inspired so much curiosity, but here goes.
So, the red hat mostly serves to provide intriguing but not definitive evidence at the trial and during the investigation. Here’s everything we know about the hat:
In Chapter 43, Tate offers Kya his red hat because it’s cold. Kya initially declines, but Tate tosses it into her boat. They end up passing it back and forth, but it’s not explicitly stated who ends up with it at the end of the exchange. (“Then they stopped laughing and simply looked at each other as they lobbed the cap back and forth until she motored around the bend.”)
Later, there are red fibers found on Chase’s jacket after he is dead. And there is a red hat found in Kya’s place later. It’s confirmed by the detectives who send it to a lab that it’s an exact match (between the fibers on Chase’s jacket and from the hat in Kya’s place).
At trial, expert evidence is given that the fibers could have been transferred at any time and just remained stuck on there for years (even if washed), so they aren’t definitive proof that Kya was with Chase the night he died. So, in the end, the hat doesn’t really prove anything.
So, the answer is, we don’t know how Kya ends up with the red hat. I think you can assume that either a) Kya ended up with it when she and Tate were tossing it around or b) Kya ended up with it at some other point that she was hanging out with Tate.
Why did Kya keep the shell necklace?
The book does not explicitly state Kya’s reasons for keeping the shell necklace. Presumably though, she saw it as some symbol of her relationship with Chase, possibly a representation of her “taking back” something (her dignity, her pride, her sense of safety, her sense of self worth, etc.) from him.
It’s important to remember that it was originally a gift from Kya to Chase, and it only ends up back in Kya’s hands when she murders him. In killing him, she likely wanted revenge, but also to reclaim some sense of power or something like that. So, you could see it as her taking something back from him when she killed him. At that point, it becomes a symbol of Kya taking herself back or taking back the power in their relationship (or her dignity or something else) which could be the reason she would want to keep this symbol of her reclaiming something she feels he took from her.
Another way to look at it is that it’s a memento of an experience that shaped her as a person for better or for worse, so she wanted to keep it.
Of course, another perfectly legitimate explanation is that she keeps it because it was a necessary literary device to provide affirmative evidence of what happened at the end of the story. :)
Is the town of Barkley Cove, North Carolina a real place? What city was it based on?
Where the Crawdads Sing is set in the fictional coastal fishing town of Barkley Cove in eastern North Carolina. (See the map at the end of this post.) From the trial in the book, we know that it is a 1 hour and 35 minute bus ride away (when traveling in the middle of the night with presumably no traffic) from Greenville, NC.
It unknown what city Barkley Cove was based on. (If you google this question, the city of Asheville sometimes comes up as the answer, but that is not accurate. Asheville is not a coastal town; it’s simply a large city that gets mentioned a few times in the book. Incidentally, it’s also the city where Delia Owens lives.)
What is the poem (The Firefly) at the end of Where the Crawdads Sing?
The full text of The Firefly is below.
The Firefly
Luring him was as easyAs flashing valentines.
But like a lady firefly
They hid a secret call to die. A final touch,
Unfinished;
The last step, a trap.
Down, down he falls,
His eyes still holding mine
Until they see another world. I saw them change.
First a question,
Then an answer,
Finally an end. And love itself passing
To whatever it was before it began. A.H.
Is Where The Crawdads Sing based on a true story?
No, Where the Crawdads Sing is a work of fiction.
Delia Owens may have been indirectly involved / associated with a murder in Africa, but it is unrelated to the story in Where the Crawdads Sing. The incident in question is only very tenuously connected to Delia Owens, but if you are curious, feel free to read the discussion of Slate’s Delia Owens expose.
Let’s talk about actual science. Do Crawdads Sing? Like the actual animals?
Yes! Well, sort of. Crawdads don’t exactly sing, but they make noises if you want to count that. According to this aquarium, “Crawdads (also known as Crayfish) make produce sounds through their scaphognathite, which is a thin appendage that draws water through the gill cavity. They move the scaphognathite and produce sound and air bubbles.
They will produce a series of pulse trains that is believed to signal an individual’s presence to other crayfish. It is also believed that they produce sounds to alert other crayfish to predators, or to attract a second predator to prey upon the predator.”
What is the “Marsh Girl” / Kya’s full name in Where the Crawdads Sing? Why is Kya called the “Marsh Girl”?
Kya’s full name is Catherine Danielle Clark. She is nicknamed the “Marsh Girl” because she lives in the nearby swampy marshes on the outskirts of town.
What race is the character of Kya in Where the Crawdads Sing? Is Kya black or Native American?
Kya is not black or Native American. Kya refers to herself as “white trash” at one point, so I think we can safely assume that she and her family are white.
Also, commenter Si Aspen adds: On pg 222, there is a conversation between Kya and Jumpin. It states, “In another time and place, an old black man and a young white woman might have hugged. But not there, not then.” So that confirms that Kya is white.
Is there a Where the Crawdads Sing movie or film adaptation?
A movie adaptation of Where the Crawdads Sings is in active development. For all the details, see Everything We Know about the Where the Crawdads Sing Movie.
Where can I find the map of (the fictional town of) Barkley Cove?
Right here! This map of (the fictional town of) Barkley Cove, North Carolina is from the e-book version of Where the Crawdads Sing.
Still confused over something? Drop a comment below and I’ll try to answer if I can! :)
this was helpful thank you
glad to help!
Why did Kya kill Chase?
I think the question of “why” Kya chooses to kill Chase (and whether it was justified) is something that’s up for book clubs to debate. Obviously, legally it was definitely not justified. Kya had a lot of reasons to dislike Chase. He dated, tricked and cheated on Kya (he was seeing someone else so he wouldn’t introduce her to people and got engaged while he continued letting her believe he wanted to marry her). Then after all that, he later goes back to see her and attempts to sexually assault her. Presumably the sexual assault was the final straw for Kya. That happens on August 30th and a month later he’s dead.
Why wasn’t Kya put on the stand to be questioned by the lawyers? Also, was that her in disquise on the buses?
yeah, I think based on what we know, the bus person is her. I don’t know if the book really got into why Kya wasn’t put on the stand, but generally if a lawyer feels like someone is more likely to incriminate themselves or come off badly, then they won’t testify
I just finished the book myself, the Audio book version (Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, who did a great job, if anyone is interested in Audio books… I do because of my commute, and I enjoy a good narrator.
Overall I truly enjoyed the entire story, even though the author puts a lot of detail into the descriptions of nature, and Kya’s work, but it is also cool because it gives you the story from a scientist’s point of view (which our Author happens to be). So I didn’t mind it… there was enough emotion and intrigue to keep me interested.
I find myself feeling such hatred for all of the townspeople who are prejudiced and mean to her, calling her “marsh trash”… proclaiming loudly in my car (all by myself) Hey you A***ole!! She was abandoned to survive by herself, and she has… who do you think you are?! Growing up in the south, myself, and no stranger to opinionated, ‘holier-than-thou’, judgmental and racist people, I get this, but it never-the-less infuriates me (even in a work of fiction).
So I sympathize with Kya, and I think even though I was not abandoned as a child, I have felt abandoned in my life, and identify with her feelings and fears of living her entire life alone and unloved.
My biggest disappointment from this book was that, even though you know Kya ate natural, and was a very slim woman (who I would imagine being in great health) she died way too early in life. I wished she and Tate would have had more years together, and I also hurt for them that they had no children of their own, as I feel Kya would have made such a loving mother… But hey we can’t have it all in a story…
Great book, left me very emotional.
Jackie
thank you so much for your thoughts! I definitely agree about the townspeople, I think stories like these are so important for helping people to think about whether they themselves are acting as “the townspeople” for someone else in their community who is different or unconventional. I really enjoyed this book too, and appreciate your thoughts on it!
Well said. I loved the Marsh Girl from the beginning! Great book. I listened on audible.
I’m confused about the red ski cap. Kya and Tate were tossing it back and forth while boating. According to the story, it ended up on Tate’s boat. How did it get to Kya’s shack?
Kya, who never rode a bus before, executes a plan wearing 2 disguises and taking the bus back & forth an extra time, in order to murder Chase. Is this realistic?
This does not seem realistic.
Also was the publisher of her books the same one who published her poems.? If not, Tate is the one who made arrangements for her to get published. Where does all this sophistication come from on Kya’s part.
Being an expert on the marsh & it’s plants, critters & tides, does not necessarily make that same person able to excel in other areas, such as a complicated murder plan.
Does Kya ever show remorse? She probably would have not killed a critter, except for food, but killing a human being did not seem a problem.
How did Kya know Chase would be at the tower?
How do you think Kya lured him without leaving a trace? And why would she leave the hat out in the open when she was so careful to cover her tracks in every other way?
Hi this is great! But the link is broken on the Chase question!
ooo thanks for letting me know, I’ll take a look to see what’s up!
No one seems to mention this, but wouldn’t Tate have known that Kya killed Chase, because he knew he had only recently given her the cap before the murder? In the trial, Kya’s lawyer said that the red fibers could have been there during Kya’s relationship with Chase, but the lawyer wasn’t aware how recently she’d received the cap. So the fibers were actually the smoking gun.
Tate had always wore a red hat, throughout the entire story.
I enjoyed the book. Was it just a mistake that late in the book it says Jumpin’ tells Kya the day after she gets back from her trip that Chase is dead and everyone is talking about the shell necklace he always wore being missing. But earlier in the book it’s made clear that Chase’s mother doesn’t go to the police until 8 days after they find his body and tell them about the missing necklace? I didn’t get that.
Yes! That bothered me too. Seems like a mistake to me. Unless, I missed something. I have been looking this up for a couple of days now and yours was the first comment I found in this regard…
I believe Chase’s mother has mentioned that she waited until the autopsy was completed and received the complete report. She was hoping that the sheriffs searched the scene thoroughly to find it. You could sense that the sheriffs were not relying on gossips around the town as it contains more false information and drifts the investigation further away from what has happened.
I identify with the character a great deal. I grew up a foster child and know what it was to be alone. Also, one side of my family lived in the marshes of Louisiana. Kya’s source of sorrow was being abandoned. Why did her family walk out of her life? Because Pa would get drunk and beat on his mother. One by one, they walked out their life. When Chase attempts to rape her, he was drunk and hit her. Before the incident she unleashed her being lied to and left. She concealed the bruises as her Mother did. She was concerned about being called a whore which I find out ironic as she had no reputation to protect. In short, Kya projected her father to Chase. And that behavior was the cause of her hardships. Nature had become her family and moral compass.
After she was acquitted and returns to the cabin, she was relieved she was angry. She was angry about being abandoned by those whom she loved. Meaning she didn’t kill because she was scared, she killed him because she was hurt. The only thing that is mystifying me is the nomme de plume. I can’t figure out if it was an alter ego, expression of guarded vulnerability, or pride/vanity because she didn’t want people to know how she felt about being treated so poorly.
Was surprised the wife’s testimony wasn’t in the book, was my primary suspect but loved the twist. I never saw that coming. But the pen name is the baffling part. She never expressed vanity before. Also, the insects was a rationalization.
kyra did kill chase trueor false
I feel Kya killed because she had seen the abuse that her mother had endured. After having been beaten by Chase and him declaring that she belonged to him, she knew that she would have to endure repeated rapes and beatings or death if she refused. No one from the town was going to believe her or protect her. Like her mother having a psychotic breakdown, Kya snapped when she realized that she was living deep in the swamp and was defenseless.
The book doesn’t explain what happened to Kya’s father. Does he die?
How do Kya And Chase know to meet at the Fire Tower when he was killed?
Great book. I cried at the end.
I am confused about one thing. Obviously, Kya did take the bus back to Barkley Cove, murdered Chase and then returned to Greenville. With so little time to do all that, how did she know that Chase would be at the Tower? He could have been anywhere.
I think that Chase was killed by Tate as he was watching from the bushes for months waiting for chase to attack and when Kya took the bus he did it. She came home and heard about the murder and Realized it was Tate and being an expert in the swamp covered up the footprints in the marsh and wore the fibers to clean it up to protect Tate.
I love your take on the murder. I kind of thought the same thing, but mostly from Tate’s love for Kya, and perhaps some jealousy on his part.
I realize we’re led to believe that Kya killled Chase. There was no sign of remorse.
However, seems to me when Tate discovers the poetry under the floorboards his astonishment isn’t that Kya is the poet but that she knew Tate’s secret, he’s was the murderer.
Kya would have done anything to protect Tate. Even face jail or the death penalty. If she were innocent she could have figured out what happened then writing her poem later. It was a small town. Folks hear n see almost everything. Surely Mr Jumpin warned Tate of Chase possibly hurting Kya.
Tate had motive, opportunity, strength, time and knowledge to create disguises for the bus. He could have left Chase a not from Kya asking him to meet her. Tate also knew how to cover up tracks. Tate had also abandoned Kya for several years, perhaps he could let her take the blame.
Just a different perspective.
I just finished the book and I thought I got the idea that it was Tate who killed Chase and Kya knew this all along… I also based it on that one time Jodie told Kya back when Tate was only 7 or 8 and how he protected Kya against her Pa by screaming at him. I thought that was a foreshadowing. Tate will protect Kya and Chase knew Kya was assaulted after all. Who else would do that but Chase?
Interesting theory. I’m curious How do you explain the significance of the necklace, then? Where would Kya have found it if Tate had actually killed Chase and somehow hidden it. Also, why would we had heard so much about the firefly sending false signals to mates only to eat them when they came close? Wh
How did Kya lure Chase to the tower to kill him? Did she call him?write him?
I believe if Tate had murdered Chase he wouldn’t have allowed Kya to be accused of murder. I think she snuck back to the Marsh because the attendant at the motel made her uncomfortable. Remember she is really good at giving people the slip, so he never saw her leave or come back. I think Chase caught her coming back in the night and followed her to the tower. Then tried to assault her again and she pushed him in self defense and he fell accidentally. That’s why she refused to say she murdered him. She took the necklace back as a way of taking back her power from him. It was the marsh that shielded her from being placed at the scene, almost like it was her real family coming to her rescue. There was nothing premeditated in her at all.
Kya should have left all together if she was being mistreated, etc. But to kill someone…. she should have been locked away. You don’t kill a human being because of your circumstances.
Didn’t enjoy reading the book at all. I’m glad that I didn’t purchase it!
What happened to Kya’s father? Did he die?
How did Kyl get the red hat? I thought she & Tate tossed it back & forth in their boats & it ended up in Tates boat.
Why did the sheriff go out and find Tate and take him away. Think it was the 3rd last chapter in the book. I thought he was the murderer and they were arresting him, but that didn’t happen. Confused by that.
Hi Nancy, the sheriff was letting Tate know that his dad passed away. I think the point is that Kya didn’t know what was going on and seeing him stopped by the sheriff made her realize that she loved him all along.
Where did they find the red cap not just the fibers?
It was hanging on a hook in Kya’s kitchen. The sheriff and deputy found it when they went in with the search warrent.
Just finished the book. Loved it. Reflecting back to the necklace I remember this was a very special shell but couldn’t remember the scenario when Kya gave it it Chase. Looking forward to a beautiful movie.
I don’t think she killed him, I think it was Tate. The only thing tying her to the scene was the fibres from Tate’s red hat, that he gave her only recently. Her lawyer argued that the red fibres could’ve been on Chase for four years (he didn’t know how long she’d had the hat) which is partly why she was acquitted. Tate sat in court every day, and said nothing when the red hat was brought up. If she was found guilty would he have confessed? Or, if not, why didn’t he tell anyone that it was his hat…so I don’t believe that IF it was her who killed Chase, that Tate didn’t suspect it until he found the poem. Also, both of them were experts in minutiae so why did they he she bother taking the necklace and not hiding the hat when they he she cleaned up everything else? Doesn’t make sense.
I think that Kya would have no idea there would be fibers from the hat on Chase’s clothing. She was a person with no experience in that area. They never show the red hat in court, so Tate had no way of knowing it was his own hat. That would explain why he didn’t know it was Kya until the end.
I think Delia is reliving her relationship with her own Mom through the title
I’m hosting a book club about Where the Crawdads sing and needed help remembering sweets she ate in the book.
Petit fours, blackberry jam, Sugar Daddy (candy), caramel cake
I think she was imitating the female preying mantis, she was always talking about.
Did I miss what happened to Kya’s father?
Why does Chase Andrews have a different last name than his parents?
His parents’ last name was also Andrews. In true Southern tradition, his mother was referred to by both her first and second names-Patty Love.
Why did Kya keep the necklace after she killed Chase?
How did Kya lure him to the tower?
Loved the book. Lots of interesting ideas and connections. Reading through the comments I noticed that no one has questioned a mental breakdown as a possibility for Kya and murdering Chase Andrews. I think she had a mental breakdown over the years and developed split personalities. It might explain why she seemed to not have any recollection of chase’s murder and wrote about it in her alter ego and the disguises of the people on the bus during the night. Also, her mother had a mental breakdown so I may run in the family and under stress people change.
🤣🤣🤣 this you describe is another book!
So how did Chase get to the tower?? No mention is made of his fancy ski being seen that night or mussing.
The fire tower is close to town. He probably walked.
Tate must have known she murdered Chase as she had the red hat he had thrown into her boat just a month before. The fibres couldn’t have been on his jacket for 4 years.
How did kya lure chase to the fire tower in the middle of the night to kill him?
What are the titles of all the books Kya (Catherine Danielle Clark) wrote throughout her lifetime?
Where did Kya get the wig she wore as a disguise on the bus?
I thought Kya mentioned in the book how Chase died and how she covered her tracks but I went back to earlier chapters and I could not find it.
Did she mention it earlier?
I’m not sure what you’re referring to but in Chapter 47 (the expert) there’s a discussion of what may have happened to Chase’s footprints (short version: the tide)
there probably wouldn’t be any part in the book where kya admits to killing chase and covering her tracks since that’s supposed to be ambiguous until the very end
Did Kya have children after ?
i don’t believe so
Good summary wonderfully Very help for me🙏😘❤️😘
How did Skupper die?
He had a bad heart, maybe a heart attack. It said in the book Tate was too busy tending to his broken heart he had totally missed his Dad’s bad health/heart.
How did Chase get to the fire tower that night? Did he drive there? Boat there?
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Thanks for the information, i am bookmarking it for future updates.
I’m still curious why Chase wore the necklace. He was married.I didn’t think he truly loved Kya or he would not have abused her.
Yes, this is my question. It makes little sense to me.
Chase was a narcissist. In my opinion, he wore it as a sort trophy. He was, after all, the one who got “the marsh girl’s cherry”.
I was always intrigued by the reasons why Chase chose to wear the shell necklace gifted by Kya all the time. I can’t shake off the feeling that there’s part of him, deeply buried, that genuinely cared for Kya and was touched by the gift. The small moments, when he played harmonica, are glimpses of “when he had a soul” as Kya put it, and these were the parts of him that maybe Kya brought out and that was partially why he was also caught up with her. I don’t know, I think there’s more depth to him… Almost like Kya’s dad, in those moments in the novel where he was decent and not a complete monster. What do you think about Chase and his true feelings for Kya? Don’t get me wrong, he is despicable, and his behavior and actions towards her were unforgivable, but I think buried deep in all that, there was a small potential to be a good person.
I too think that Chase cared for Kya in his own twisted way. He didn’t want their relationship to end, but he couldn’t imagine bringing her into his world in town. His mother never would have accepted her, which even Kya realized the moment she saw his mother, Patti Love Andrews, testify in court all dressed up in black with all-matching accessories. I think Chase wanted to keep Kya as his mistress in the marsh and married Pearl “Alwayswearspearls” because Pearl was the kind of girl his parents expected him to marry. He may even have cared for Kya more in his shallow, selfish way.
I think like the reply on the comment above, it was a “trophy” for him. It represented what he took from her. Which is also why she took the necklace back.
4 1/2 stars
I loved the book, but one part seemed so out of character even considering the poems she wrote. The type of complexity used for the trip back from Greenville to kill Chase was out of character for Kya. I did not see that referenced in her poems. If it is, please direct me.
I was leaning toward Jumpin as the murderer.
Why didn’t Kya have to testify?
in the U.S. legal system, you have the 5th amendment right to remain silent (it’s the right against self-incrimination). in general, defendants in criminal cases don’t testify unless their lawyer feels they absolutely must for some reason
I can’t figure out when Jodie showed up to the trail. Kya didn’t want to call him and tell him. Then next thing I know he’s sitting at the court behind her. When did that happen, when and how did he find out about her getting arrested and her trial?
Jodie shows up because he saw the book that Kya published. A while after that Kya ends up getting arrested, but Jodie is already in her life by then so he supports her through the trial.
He saw the trial in the newspapers.
I read the book last year. But I can’t recall her motive for killing Chase. When i read rhe book, I understood why. But now I can’t recall why and the summary doesn’t explain it.
Hi Phyllis — if you see the section on this page “Who Killed Chase Andrews? Did Kya (“The Marsh Girl”) Murder Chase in Where the Crawdads Sing? How did Chase Andrews die? And why was he killed?” — it should answer your question.
She saw mantises mating and female ate the head off of the Male mantis while she was on the run. She knew chase was coming for her and didn’t want to live her life in fear.
I still have questions about the red hat! (I know, I know) One flaw I see is that we know when the red has is introduced in the story line, and it was after her relationship ended with Chase. (Tate doesn’t comes back into the picture after Chase married Pearl.) My point is, she couldn’t have deposited fibers “more than four years ago”, and wouldn’t Tate know that she couldn’t possibly have deposited fibers from a red hat that he gave her only recently unless she was involved? Seems like he knew (would have known) all along she was guilty.
Another flaw I see is when Jumpin tells Kya that Chase is dead, he reveals to her that “he was missing the shell necklace”. How would he know that information only one day after Chase had passed. Even Chase’s mother didn’t recognize that her son was missing the necklace until well after the fact, weeks later even. How would Jumpin know that unless he was involved somehow?
The comment by Jumpin’ is definitely an error that the author and editor didn’t catch. I don’t believe the red cap is shown in court. Tate never sees it. How would he know it was HIS red hat?
Did Kya take to the stand during her trial and if not why not
OK, I just finished the book for the first time. i get what happened and why with all he hints throughout about Kya’s thought on Nature and lovers etc.
However, what bugs me the most is how do we know for sure that their is still not a plot twist to the story?
1. Where is Chase’s wife in all the drama after Chase is found dead? Why was she not a subject, at the trial, or even say why her husband was gone from her side out in the marsh? What was Chase’s wife’s alibi?
2. How do we not know that Chase went looking for Kya one evening (she was gone visiting her publisher for the first time), and his wife followed Chase out to the Marsh? Chase’s wife then gets upset when she sees with her own eyes he really does not love love her, but Kya ” the marsh girl.”. They somehow end up at the fire tower arguing or trying to make up. His wife ends up pushing her husband Chase off the tower that night. She then removes his shell necklace. Her tracks are then covered by the tide theory. Chase’s wife shocked at the murder she just commuted and furious that Kya a marsh girl had captivated her husband, she sets out to lay the necklace on Kya’s front porch as a means of Chase’s final good buy to Kya and to possibly frame her. Chase’s mother is the one that pushed the necklace theory to the cops after all. The sheriffs just couldn’t find the necklace.
3. Also, I couldn’t help reflect further on the contrast wiht Chase and Tate with the alfha male and “sneaker fuckers data. “Observing this, females mate more often with these alpha males (Chase). Interestingly enough, though, some of the less impressive males (Tate) find ways to trick females into thinking that they’re the alpha males, doing so by strutting about loudly with their bodies puffed up to look larger than they actually are. These males, the article explains, are known as “sneaky fuckers,” and end up alone. Tate ends up alone with no offspring with Kya. Was this a subtle hint of the author, or just a crazy thought of mine.
Oh and the Firefly poem is just her observation on what may have happened to Chase and his wife, not reflection on Kya and Chase’s relationship.
Sequel in the making? Would be nice to hear about Tate’s perspective all the years he was gone and thought of Kya, or even visited from afar. Jodi’s memories growing up of stories untold, the fathers final whereabouts/news articles on possible cause death and date, other siblings whereabouts.
That’s all. =)
Please excuse all the grammar errors, typos, misspelling, and run-on sentences. I had to get it out before I forgot.
You have to wonder if Owens had ever set foot in NC before she wrote this book, or if she did any research, or if her editors were really careless. I found the story compelling, but why would people travel to Asheville on business when Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte are all closer to the coast? Why does she describe the Piedmont as flat, with the mountains visible in the distsnce? The Piedmont is rolling hills.. How is there no mention of Hurricane Hazel which did tremendous damage to the Carolina coast in 1954, two years after the beginning of this novel, and would surely have affected the marshlands where Kya lived.
And where were her editors when her cringeworthy attempts at writing in dialect were included? They are both inaccurate and insulting, not to mention kind of (unintentionally, I’m sure) racist. Then there is the related issue of how Kya, who had heard little standard English, learned to speak it. Most of us learn to pronounce words we have read by connecting them to language we have heard.
I think that it is likely that Jumpin helped Kya, as he does mention how it is good that she will be out of town and how she should let him know when she goes. I can’t imagine how kya could find disguises and lure Chase on her own. It would make sense to have an accomplice.
It’s quite easy to imagine a conversation taking place planning Chase’s murder.
Did Tate know that Kya killed chase?
ohhhhh i love this, thank you!!!
How did Chase get to the fire tower.
His truck wasn’t there. nor his boat, when the sheriff first investigated.
The book was too far fetched for me. Kya raised herself from the age of 5 in a swamp? No vaccines, no dentist but she grows up so beautiful the two most eligible men in town want to date her? Another child teaches her to read? And she becomes a best selling author? And with her money she gets plumbing and electricity out to the marsh? On top of all that, she plots, and gets away with murder? ooooohkaaaaay.
I can get on board with the age of 5 being a little far fetched; however, everything else is not so hard to believe for me, plus her father was around for a few years in the beginning. She had no vaccines, but little enough interactions with other humans that she could have avoided contracting illnesses or diseases. I work in the dental field, it is extremely likely that someone with a natural diet who eats very little sugar wouldn’t have cavities. Tate was 4 years older than her, and she was 15 when he taught her to read, definitely not a child. She spent years reading only biology textbooks and her lifetime surrounded by the organisms of the marsh, meaning she absolutely could be an expert capable of becoming a published author, especially since Tate was backing her. Money used to go a lot further than it does today, and her first check alone was for $5,000.
It seems like you just didn’t like the book so you did your best to poke holes in every aspect of the plot. It wasn’t my favorite book, but I think it is definitely a story of resilience. Kya’s situation was absolutely a do or die scenario and she chose not to lie down and let the marsh erase her existence.
How did Kya get Chase to the fire tower that night? Did she have his phone number? I thought she only had her brother’s number.
Back in the day they used to have these things called phone books where you could find people’s phone numbers.
It never says she called him. Although the hotel clerk testifying she wasn’t sure how to use a phone could indicate that she did.
Just wondering how Kya got all the knowledge about birds. When Tate left the first feather for Kya, she already had a big collection of feathers and she knew the names of the birds. But who taught her? She was always by herself, her father rarely talked and she could not read.
Did ma go back to New Orleans and her family? Did the letter tell pa and he went after her? Was he put in jail or killed?
I do not believe Kya killed Chase. How in the world would she demise shut a plan. She was virtually an innocent. Even if the author were to tell me in person, I don’t believe the character of Kya was capable of planning such an intricate plan.
Yes, when they found Chase and the tracks were gone-I though of how her brother said to cover the tracks…. But, disguises, bus schedules, etc. I just don’t believe it.
Now, I could see Chase’s mother killing him or Jumper or even Tate. Maybe Pearl (Chase’s wife) killed him for all his infidelity.
In my opinion, Chase’s mother could have argued with Chase because he told her he wanted to leave his wife for Kya. She Could have followed Chase out there in a boat similar to Kya’s
to go out and KILL Kya. She would not have know Kya was out of town. She could have climbed the Tower and Chase could have been no upset and accidentally fell down the grate and when his mom reached out to grab him all the grabbed was the necklace.
I am very disappointed in the ending of this book. Kya was not conniving or to be honest smart enough to lure Chase, plan out TWO disguises, study bus schedules to know she could go out and back in enough time to not draw attention. There is no way she would have had enough knowledge of the real world for her to make such an elaborate plan.
I do not recommend this book or this author. Turning a poor abandoned child who was ostracized and scorned by people into a conniving murderess is just too much of a stretch – especially when the author portrays Kya at just how simple she is. Simple minded does not mean stupid. Kya is brilliant but simple-not knowing the ways of the world.
I’m inclined to agree that Kya just does NOT fit as the murderer. Her attorney did an excellent job. All the evidence was circumstantial. The presence of the shell on a rawhide necklace ends up in her subfloor is a question I don’t see answered.
The murderer question bothers me…I just finished the book: Kya did NOT kill Chase. Either Jumpin’ killed him or he knew who did; and the time line is quite clear in book!
I thought Kya went to the ‘black’ school for the limited day that she attended. There was a white and black school is if she wasn’t black, why did they put her in that school?
She went to the white school where she saw the other white girls at lunch
The murderer question bothers me…I just finished the book: Kya did NOT kill Chase. Either Jumpin’ killed him or he knew who did; and the time line is quite clear in book!
I think Kya called Chase to organise a meet up. The motel owner mentions that she didn’t know how to use the phone which to me suggests she asked how to use it. I think she called him and asked him to meet her at the fire tower. That’s how she lured him there.
omg this is such a good point, I didn’t think of it before — I’ve updated the post to reflect your comment
Where does the white canoe fit in the plot
I would really like to understand the meaning of some of the poems in the book. I understood the one about The Firefly, and Broken Gull of Brandon Beach, but failed to get a handle on some of the others. The one in particular that I liked but don’t really understand is the one that starts off “Sunsets are never simple…….” Another is “Child to child, eye to eye…”
I have thoroughly enjoyed the book and will certainly endeavour to read others.
Thank you.
Did Tate know this all along? Or is he surprised? It’s just odd with decades of being together and how much they loved each other that she never told him/he didn’t know? He must have known?
In the book Kia noted several times how insects kill each other, devour their mate etc…..I think perhaps she killed in going with “the law nature” seeing it as justified for nearly being raped.
Discuss the importance of art in Kya’s life. Is drawing and painting simply a hobby, or is it in some way a survival skill? Why is poetry important to her?
“What race is the character of Kya,” on pg 222, there is a conversation between Kya and Jumpin. It stated, “In another time and place, an old black man and a young white woman might have hugged. But not there, not then.”
ahh great find!
What happen to Chase’s wife? There was no mention of her during the investigation nor trial.