“Where the Crawdads Sing” is a unique coming of age story about a girl named Kya who raises herself in North Carolina in the fifties. As she grows up in a small brown house deep in the marsh, she experiences abandonment and is forced into isolation.

The movie starts off when Kya is a little girl, playing in the yard along the water and riding in the motorboat with her siblings. But her life slowly starts to change as her father becomes more abusive towards her mother and older siblings. Kya stays in the background and learns to tolerate her father’s violent behavior. The others don’t.

She stays afloat on her own by digging up mussels and selling them at a general store. The owners of the store show her kindness, and their parental instincts push them to protect her.

Kya tries to go to school in the town with the other kids, but they bully her because she is different and gave her the nickname ‘marsh girl.’ The entire town views her as an outsider and dangerous because of her abnormal upbringing. She manages by avoiding the town altogether and creating her own world out in the marsh.

As Kya grows up, she comes across a boy from the town in the Marsh, Tate Walker. Tate shows her how to read and write, something she never learned. He shows her the compassion that the townspeople never did. Tate is the first person that Kya ever opens up to. She shows him her drawings of nature and even invites him to her house. Kya and Tate bond over their interest in the marsh and they fall in love. Then Tate leaves for college, promising he won’t forget her—a promise he doesn’t keep.

Heartbroken, Kya moves on when she meets Chase Andrews, a popular football player in town. Kya feels less alone with Chase, he showers her with love and fills the hole that Tate left. Chase even promises that he will marry Kya some day and show her the real world, away from the Marsh.

The story takes a turn when Kya starts seeing her father in Chase. He begins to act differently and take advantage of her vulnerability. When she finds out Chase isn’t who she thought he was, she’s alone once again.

This movie pleasantly surprised me and it’s definitely one of the better movies I’ve seen in a while. I would recommend Where The Crawdads Sing to anyone who is looking for a thriller or a captivating story. I don’t think you can go wrong with this film.