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evetoi's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
karinlib's review
3.0
I have some mixed emotions about this book. I liked it. I see why it has been picked for awards, because it was anti-America. I understand; however, it was so negative that it was exhausting. Reading this book was like living with someone who constantly complains about everything, never really seeing that there are good things in life.
The main character was constantly complaining about the police and I am going to get on my soap box here, if I may. I see it from both sides. Police have to be vigilant when they are confronted with criminals and have to make split second decisions, and sometimes those decisions are wrong. They are dealing with difficult people, people who want to kill them, people who are in bad mood, all day long, everyday. I have seen state troopers with a chip on their shoulder, and I have seen troopers that stopped by my house, saw me shoveling, asked me if I wanted help. Bottom line is: you don't want a society that doesn't have police.
The book is well written, and I liked the word play and the style, and she pulled it off.
The main character was constantly complaining about the police and I am going to get on my soap box here, if I may. I see it from both sides. Police have to be vigilant when they are confronted with criminals and have to make split second decisions, and sometimes those decisions are wrong. They are dealing with difficult people, people who want to kill them, people who are in bad mood, all day long, everyday. I have seen state troopers with a chip on their shoulder, and I have seen troopers that stopped by my house, saw me shoveling, asked me if I wanted help. Bottom line is: you don't want a society that doesn't have police.
The book is well written, and I liked the word play and the style, and she pulled it off.
turtleofbabel's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of those books where it's hard to find reviews and discussions that aren't focused on its form or style. The size and style of the book are going to be very off-putting for many, but I found the string of thoughts just interesting enough to keep me moving forward. It was fun to piece together her life and suss out who each person was, but I have unanswered questions, including WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE BEE AT BREAD LOAF??? Also, at one point, her oldest child says she's not white. It's unclear whether she's saying it as a strange response to an old movie or whether she really isn't white. Maybe the ambiguity is intentional and designed to make you think (if so, it's working).
Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I haven't found the scathing political statement or satirical take on American culture that I was promised. (Though I'm still chewing on the story, so maybe I will.) There's plenty mention of politics, politicians, and current events, but there was no clever *statement* on them, per se, rather just mentions of certain tragedies and worries that are unfortunately all too common these days.
Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I haven't found the scathing political statement or satirical take on American culture that I was promised. (Though I'm still chewing on the story, so maybe I will.) There's plenty mention of politics, politicians, and current events, but there was no clever *statement* on them, per se, rather just mentions of certain tragedies and worries that are unfortunately all too common these days.
nbynw's review
the fact that I didn't really read it, that fact that I won't rate it, the fact that I mostly skipped to the bits about the lion, the fact that I tried,
djr100's review against another edition
4.0
Don't let the length of this book or it's style keep you from reading it. As I started the book, I questioned whether I wanted to give this the effort and was tempted to throw this into the DNF category. I kept at it and 100 pages in started to get into the rhythm of the stream of conscious delivery used to tell the story. There are no periods used in for about 95% of this book (only in the imbedded sub-story about a lioness and her cubs that gets told throughout). Once I got into Ellman's "cadence" I found myself really enjoying this.
evilbjork's review against another edition
3.0
There’s one central problem with this 1000 page, “single sentence,” novel. The problem is that it is an inherently experimental approach to writing, and yet the novel seems fully interested in being entertaining. It’s paradoxical and it’s a problem that troubles every part of the book.
The novel is the never ending internal monologue of an average American mom over the course of several days. We hear all her thoughts from the moment she wakes until she falls asleep. To read 1000 pages of mindless rambling seems like an impossible task, especially when compared to what this novel was most likely inspired by, the last chapter of Joyce’s Ulysses in which we read the thoughts of the main character’s wife as she falls asleep. In that chapter, there’s no punctuation and very little to grapple onto and it lasts an arduous 40 pages, but this is more than 20 times that.
The difference is this book is very different in its execution. It’s actually quite easy to follow the events of the days and the main character’s thoughts are extremely coherent. It’s a very readable book, and that’s where it started to lose me. The main character thinks in a way that doesn’t feel realistic. Her thoughts makes too much sense, don’t repeat topics enough, and move too cleanly and steadily between topics. Maybe this is just a problem with me not personally being able to identify with the character, but feels more like the duct tape around the structure of the book coming apart. In order to write something like this, and especially in order to get it published, there has to be a ton of compromises.
Unlike a lot of people that have reviewed this, I don’t think the length is an issue at all. Being 1000 pages was obviously a gimmick in order to get the novel more talked about, but the length actually helps greatly in getting the emotional effect it needs to work. I might have thought that it felt meandering when I was in the first 300 pages, but then I started understanding what was going on better and got into the flow. I think criticizing this for its length above all else is lazy and feels like something someone would say who checked out of the experience really early on.
Although on the topic of gimmicks, I really disliked the attempt to make this one sentence. The idea that this is one sentence is silly. It’s obviously not. Just because Lucy Ellmann doesn’t use a period don’t mean anything. The character is clearly speaking in sentences and clean sentence structure. The novel started as a list of grievances with each bullet point starting with "the fact that," and once I learned that it started making much more sense why Ellmann decided to use it everywhere, but that doesn't make it any better. People don’t use mannerisms to such a high degree or in such laughably unnatural and awkward ways as she uses that phrase here. The main character says it as a replacement of a period and by the end of the book it seems totally goofy.
The last big problem I have this in that while juggling these goofy gimmicks, Ellmann tries to make this a kind of representation of the average american’s anxieties, struggles, and motherhood as a whole. I liked how it handled motherhood, but the commentary on american life feels surface level and genuinly too lofty of a goal for a novel with this structure. It was simply too focused on being entertaining, relatable, and understandable, while juggling being stream of consciousness. By the end it felt like the experimentation wasn’t experimental enough and the entertainment wasn’t entertaining enough. Then trying to tackle this huge social anxiety theme doesn’t get enough room to flourish and feels kind of rushed. Or maybe I would have liked it better if the ending climax didn't make the book feel like an action movie.
There’s a lot to nippick, but I did actually like the experience quite a bit. I just didn’t think it worked as a great piece of art. It’s more like a fun weird book to read that also prepares you to start reading more challenging novels. I could even see myself reading this again in the future, because if nothing else at least this is unique. It’s nice to read that you can pick up and put down at literally any moment and not have to worry about getting to the end of the chapter. I also really like how this explores motherhood, even if at times it seems a little surface level, it’s still emotional and the length helps that. While reading I couldn’t help but compare it Chantal Akerman’s film Jeanne Dielman, a slow three hour long film of a mom doing chores. That also deals with motherhood in a similarly grand level, and I vastly prefer it. My favorite part of Ducks, Newburyport is the main character’s tirades about Julie and Julia. I’ve had all the same thoughts about that movie before.
The novel is the never ending internal monologue of an average American mom over the course of several days. We hear all her thoughts from the moment she wakes until she falls asleep. To read 1000 pages of mindless rambling seems like an impossible task, especially when compared to what this novel was most likely inspired by, the last chapter of Joyce’s Ulysses in which we read the thoughts of the main character’s wife as she falls asleep. In that chapter, there’s no punctuation and very little to grapple onto and it lasts an arduous 40 pages, but this is more than 20 times that.
The difference is this book is very different in its execution. It’s actually quite easy to follow the events of the days and the main character’s thoughts are extremely coherent. It’s a very readable book, and that’s where it started to lose me. The main character thinks in a way that doesn’t feel realistic. Her thoughts makes too much sense, don’t repeat topics enough, and move too cleanly and steadily between topics. Maybe this is just a problem with me not personally being able to identify with the character, but feels more like the duct tape around the structure of the book coming apart. In order to write something like this, and especially in order to get it published, there has to be a ton of compromises.
Unlike a lot of people that have reviewed this, I don’t think the length is an issue at all. Being 1000 pages was obviously a gimmick in order to get the novel more talked about, but the length actually helps greatly in getting the emotional effect it needs to work. I might have thought that it felt meandering when I was in the first 300 pages, but then I started understanding what was going on better and got into the flow. I think criticizing this for its length above all else is lazy and feels like something someone would say who checked out of the experience really early on.
Although on the topic of gimmicks, I really disliked the attempt to make this one sentence. The idea that this is one sentence is silly. It’s obviously not. Just because Lucy Ellmann doesn’t use a period don’t mean anything. The character is clearly speaking in sentences and clean sentence structure. The novel started as a list of grievances with each bullet point starting with "the fact that," and once I learned that it started making much more sense why Ellmann decided to use it everywhere, but that doesn't make it any better. People don’t use mannerisms to such a high degree or in such laughably unnatural and awkward ways as she uses that phrase here. The main character says it as a replacement of a period and by the end of the book it seems totally goofy.
The last big problem I have this in that while juggling these goofy gimmicks, Ellmann tries to make this a kind of representation of the average american’s anxieties, struggles, and motherhood as a whole. I liked how it handled motherhood, but the commentary on american life feels surface level and genuinly too lofty of a goal for a novel with this structure. It was simply too focused on being entertaining, relatable, and understandable, while juggling being stream of consciousness. By the end it felt like the experimentation wasn’t experimental enough and the entertainment wasn’t entertaining enough. Then trying to tackle this huge social anxiety theme doesn’t get enough room to flourish and feels kind of rushed. Or maybe I would have liked it better if the ending climax didn't make the book feel like an action movie.
There’s a lot to nippick, but I did actually like the experience quite a bit. I just didn’t think it worked as a great piece of art. It’s more like a fun weird book to read that also prepares you to start reading more challenging novels. I could even see myself reading this again in the future, because if nothing else at least this is unique. It’s nice to read that you can pick up and put down at literally any moment and not have to worry about getting to the end of the chapter. I also really like how this explores motherhood, even if at times it seems a little surface level, it’s still emotional and the length helps that. While reading I couldn’t help but compare it Chantal Akerman’s film Jeanne Dielman, a slow three hour long film of a mom doing chores. That also deals with motherhood in a similarly grand level, and I vastly prefer it. My favorite part of Ducks, Newburyport is the main character’s tirades about Julie and Julia. I’ve had all the same thoughts about that movie before.
imperfectcj's review against another edition
Just can't do it for another 23 hours.
pujadev's review against another edition
1.0
I could not finish the book. I must be a 'low-brow' reader indeed.
shadowsmoon's review against another edition
5.0
Edit: I mean, you simply have to read this book. The stream of consciousness is unsettling yet insightful. It illuminated for me how my own stream of consciousness works and at times there seemed to be something missing - I guess the visual aspect of my own thoughts, but I believe Ellman did include these aspects (but I might be mistaken) the occasional noun appears and I wonder about that. In totality I am just absolutely in awe of this book and hope to return to it someday. Characterisation is beautiful.
I am going to have to write this in the morning as I’m a little bit post-book-finish at the moment. What a journey. For now, all I can say is that this was an absolute feat of literary genius
I am going to have to write this in the morning as I’m a little bit post-book-finish at the moment. What a journey. For now, all I can say is that this was an absolute feat of literary genius
eriynali's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent.
truly a magnificent work. it took me a year just to read it once, (although about 200 pages of that i reread by accident because twice i lost my place and went farther back than i needed - i didn't regret the rereading at all though because it's quite meditative). it was worth it but i shudder to think how difficult it was to write or to EDIT! i was impressed.
no matter what was going on, the book always had enough relevant and varied references that SOMETHING on the page matched my current brain cycle. i was in the hospital, she talked about being in the hospital. i was feeling a bit down, there's a thing on the page that sais "stupid irma" my kids try out for the opera la boheme, the character mentions not being able to remember the name of the hero in boheme.
"the fact that" got annoying for a bit at the beginning and then that annoyance slowly faded. i found myself peppering my own speech with it.
truly a magnificent work. it took me a year just to read it once, (although about 200 pages of that i reread by accident because twice i lost my place and went farther back than i needed - i didn't regret the rereading at all though because it's quite meditative). it was worth it but i shudder to think how difficult it was to write or to EDIT! i was impressed.
no matter what was going on, the book always had enough relevant and varied references that SOMETHING on the page matched my current brain cycle. i was in the hospital, she talked about being in the hospital. i was feeling a bit down, there's a thing on the page that sais "stupid irma" my kids try out for the opera la boheme, the character mentions not being able to remember the name of the hero in boheme.
"the fact that" got annoying for a bit at the beginning and then that annoyance slowly faded. i found myself peppering my own speech with it.