Reviews

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

ianlumsden's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

bleary's review against another edition

I had to admit defeat after 250 pages of this behemoth. It's not that I didn't like it - quite the opposite, I think it's brilliant and artful. But the format demands that you devour its 1000 pages in as short a time as possible, ideally in a single sitting but probably no longer than a week. I might tackle it again the next time I have the flu or something.

rileaf's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

northerly_heart_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

irena_smith's review against another edition

5.0

This book. The anxious, funny, fretting, erudite, preoccupied narrator. The fact that there are no sentences, just clauses that start with "the fact that." The fact that I couldn't read it and couldn't not read it. The fact that toward the end I couldn't stop reading it. The fact that I never read anything like it, and I'm pretty sure I'll never read anything like it again, ever. The fact that how the hell did she do that—tell the story of a family, a marriage, a second marriage, a surly teenager, climate change, polluted water, phthalates, Native American genocide, a toddler, tartes tatin, cinnamon rolls, open carry guys, ducks, a mountain lion, chickens, health insurance. The fact that the story spirals like the cinnamon rolls spiral, loosely at first and then tighter and tighter. The fact that I think it's going to take me a while to get over the feeling of loss at finishing this book. The fact that "good" doesn't even begin to describe it. The fact that I wish there were a way to override the five-star maximum and give it all the stars.

xystophi's review against another edition

This is not my type of novel. Although I get the anger and angst of the US, the relentless neurosis gets tedious. No way I'm reading 1000 pages of the US dystopia. I have seen enough.

mimosaeyes's review against another edition

5.0

I've gone completely mental, but this 1000-page, stream-of-consciousness, largely-single-sentence whopper... gets 5 stars from me. I'm reeling. I'm angry. I'm ecstatic. I really didn't think I'd genuinely enjoy this book.

The narrator is a housewife living in Ohio, making pies and looking after her four children and endlessly fretting, fretting, fretting over the state of America and the world. Of particular concern to her: gun violence, the animal world (as opposed to human "civilisation"), rape culture, and the callousness/irresponsibility of the capitalist complex. There are interludes of regular prose, following the story of a lioness and her cubs. Which sounds incongruous. But the whole thing comes together magnificently, and between that macro-structure and the talent and effort it must take to write in such an accretionary style... ahhh. A most satisfying read.

samxxtha's review

4.0

I've been chipping away at this bad boy forever- essentially all one sentence, train of thought style, and a fun time

rahmaelle_'s review against another edition

5.0

My brain after finishing this book

sadi9954's review against another edition

5.0

Is the author a genius or have we been trolled?

Either way, I enjoyed this 1000 page book with zero punctuation.

I am very happy to put this book away and never look at it again.