Some books stay in your mind for decades after you read them. Where The Crawdads Sing will be one of those treasures for me. It is written beautifully.
It is so sad it makes your whole body ache for happiness for the lead character, who is a little girl and then a young woman.
It is a love story and a story of survival. It is a murder-mystery story where nature shines.
Most of all, author Delia Owens has page after page of escapism at its absolute best. I was given the book as a gift from my dear friend Mel, and it started me reading again after too many years with towers of unread books stacked next to my head at night.
Those unread books taunted me as to how many things I am not achieving in life. But still I let them gather dust and sit there stubbornly because I knew one day the tide would turn and I would return to my true love of reading.
And so, I did. I was nervous to see the movie adaptation of one of my favourite books. The big screen never lives up to pages, in my opinion.
I know just about everyone has that same arrogant opinion. There is only ever one exception to my rule and that is Harry Potter. The movies do each character justice.
So, off I tiptoed with trepidation to see Crawdads. I splurged on Gold Class because I needed wine and Angus beef sliders to get me through this anxious test of stacking the flick against the novel. I also had a side of caramel churros for dessert, just to fuel my courage and fill my greedy stomach.
Gold Class is surely a great night out in anyone’s books. It blows my mind that you can sit in a big ol’ comfy leather chair and someone will serve you food.
It must be how my kids think life is every night at home. Gold Class is the greatest form of therapy a girl could invest in for herself.
Anyway, there I sat in total bliss for two hours watching my beloved characters come to life and they were how I had always imagined them in my mind. The movie is a little more cheesy than the book, but I can highly recommend escaping reality and watching it.
And make sure you order the dessert, too. You deserve it.
