#scupper walker

“For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life--until the unthinkable happens,” (Delia Owens).

What on earth was this nonsense? This book was awful. It felt like nothing was happening even with a murder investigation going on in the background and then a trial looming large toward the end of the novel. I don’t understand how an author can make a murder feel so darn dry either. Perhaps the most painful thing for me, however, was how the vast majority of the characters spoke—their deep, southern drawls, their heavily accented speech. It is hard to understand in real life if you are not accustomed to it; it is even more difficult on paper, and I found myself reading the same sentences over and over again in frustration. It was AWFUL! Not to mention, there wasn’t anyone who really drew me in to the story or was particularly interesting. Some characters were better than others, but as a collective, they didn’t appeal to me much. Jumpin’ was probably my favorite though simply because he seemed like both a kind and genuine soul and one of the few who could find it within himself to be kind to the “Marsh Girl.”

With that being said, this novel reminded me of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in part because of the prejudice Kya faced from her town while on trial and in part because it was a coming of age story in which she fully matured following the events that took place during the trial. I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing, but the book didn’t seem as original as it could have because it reminded me so much of Lee’s work.

Now, let’s talk about the cover. Why? Just why? I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to be Kya and it looks like she’s paddling in a canoe. I don’t recall there being mention of her using a canoe, and the boat she was known for using had a motor. I don’t like how the cover not only fails to tell me anything about the novel’s contents, but how its art is incongruous with what was written within its pages. I honestly wonder who signed off on it. The only thing that redeemed this dumpster fire of a novel at all were the final two pages. That was an interesting ending. But everything else about this novel sucked. Period. End of story.