Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands

ducks was a darker-than-expected read, w/ beaton's graphic memoir focusing on her 2 yrs working in canada's oil sands, which proved to be a complex, nuanced experience w/ negative repercussions nevertheless.

the book dealt w/ human behavior when situated in an unusual microcosm thats focused on the wrong things, demonstrating the oil companies' flaws and policies that enabled a culture of silence and harassment. im disturbed to learn that beaton's experience was a daily struggle of living in a man's world, encountering sexist and misogynistic behavior both glaringly alarming and casually subtle.

tho i cant fully say the reading experience as a whole was enjoyable due to my detached distance from the stable, wearying tone of the story, the art was great - never an awkward panel to be found - w/ both fluid characters and more realistic illustrations of the setting, many of which were notable. i also appreciated beaton touching on the oil industry's culpability in wreaking destruction to the local communities, and the awareness of her own positionality.

id recommend this book to ppl who wouldnt be disturbed by the book's triggering content, and those interested in learning abt sth rarely explored esp in visual form.

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eventual_ghost's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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elliya's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

5.0

I thought I had already read this, but I had only read the shorter PDF version.

Wow. Beaton is a gifted storyteller and her precise way of dipping in and out of narrative moments gives just enough insight into poignant and unsettling moments at the oil camps. She is somehow able to build complex characters through only a handful of frames, and to navigate incredibly heavy topics (environmental destruction! Generational unemployment! The destitution of poverty in rural Canada!) in a way that does not overwhelm the narrative. I am in awe of this powerful memoir.

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firfearfur's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Rating for now, will keep on thinking about it because it's hard to rate graphic novels and memoirs specifically. i'm glad i read it, i was moved by it and found other parts funny. sometimes it was unclear what was happening in the scene, especially when scenes had changed but the setting hadn't or a new person was being spoken about. but, i was moved by the sections and reactions to rape survived by the author (out of body, returning to a memory instead of being present), and to the realisations of the effect the oil sands have on the environment and indigenous people. i would've liked more focus on those things but its a memoir so it also makes sense that there isn't. nicely drawn comic, quiet moments (auroras, ducks, displacement). worth a read for sure.

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