I finished Where the Crawdads Sing today and I must admit it was a bit of a disappointment for me. While I enjoyed listening to much of the story, I got hung up on some details and couldn’t get past it. Mostly the constant reference to Asheville as the place people went to reach the big town. Asheville is a good seven to eight hours away and there are so many cities that would be better suited instead. I just kept thinking why they had to go so far away…and how could they afford it? I also found the ending just didn’t work for me on a couple of fronts. I kind of see where the writer was coming from but it just didn’t fit the story (for me) even though I kind of saw it coming.

I was reading a review of the book from someone who lives in the coastal area of NC and the Asheville thing was also mentioned. I honestly thought more people would speak up about that but perhaps not many know much about NC geography. I once drove from Winston-Salem to Elizabeth City (which is still probably an hour from the coast) and it took me five to six hours going and longer coming back (due to terrible fog) and it’s a long drive.

That review also mentioned the fact they don’t call them fireflies there but lightning bugs. I didn’t notice that when reading but that is the term used in the area. It’s details like this that seem to precipitate sayings about writing what you know. It just doesn’t seem the writer knows the territory very well. That said, I read she now lives in Asheville so perhaps she does have a clue now.