Where the Crawdads Sing
question
The abandonment

In the very beginning we see Kiya's family, mother, brothers, sisters, one by one, walk out and leave the little girl they all love in the care (?) of her violent, abusive father. That just seemed off to me. And it's the basis of the story. Was it a problem for anybody else?
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Do you mean that it didn't seem believable?
I don't know... From what I got from the book anyways, it seemed like they were in a low income area, and the town wasn't very involved in child welfare, especially for that time period. We see the truant officer sent a few times, but they don't follow through much more than that. Even when people in town realize she seems to be getting by on bare bones and not eating well, no one reaches out to help.
Her mom gets to the point where she can't take it anymore and leaves, and from then on I think the individual siblings must have better living opportunities pop up. They feel bad leaving her behind, but when the situation is bad enough and there's only a spot for them available, I don't know if you can fault a child in a bad situation for taking it. I do struggle to grapple how a mother can leave her young children behind, but this is a feeling that Kya also struggles with in the book. Overall, it doesn't seem all that far-fetched to me. Part of her sad story I do think is due to a failure of "the system."
I don't know... From what I got from the book anyways, it seemed like they were in a low income area, and the town wasn't very involved in child welfare, especially for that time period. We see the truant officer sent a few times, but they don't follow through much more than that. Even when people in town realize she seems to be getting by on bare bones and not eating well, no one reaches out to help.
Her mom gets to the point where she can't take it anymore and leaves, and from then on I think the individual siblings must have better living opportunities pop up. They feel bad leaving her behind, but when the situation is bad enough and there's only a spot for them available, I don't know if you can fault a child in a bad situation for taking it. I do struggle to grapple how a mother can leave her young children behind, but this is a feeling that Kya also struggles with in the book. Overall, it doesn't seem all that far-fetched to me. Part of her sad story I do think is due to a failure of "the system."
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