CROW TALK by Eileen Garvin started out strong for me but had some pacing issues that ended up lowering its rating for me. Frankie has moved back home on a lake near Mount Adams to complete her thesis on spotted owls. 

There she meets Aiden, who is the young son of Anne, an Irish woman, and local heartthrob Tom. Aiden has been displaying signs of a disability, and Frankie is one of the few who can relate to him, as she has a knack for understanding more subtle communication, particularly in animals like crows and spotted owls. 

I liked how communication and understanding were themes in this book. Not just the communication between the animals, but the communication among humans (like Frankie and her mother, Anne and Tom) and between humans and animals. 

I felt at about 25% I needed some forward momentum. There seemed to be some pacing problems, particularly the middle, where it felt bogged down, and then things, even things that I didn’t think were “big” things, got giant bows at the end. I would have liked certain things sped up, like Frankie and Anne’s friendship, and then it would have felt more “earned.”  

I really enjoyed learning more about crows, and the 1990s Pacific Northwest was an incredible setting. Garvin definitely has some Mary Oliver influence in her writing, which I appreciated, but I'm glad this novel wasn't exclusively nature writing.