Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

112 reviews

bealmg's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0


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suzanneke's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Masterful storytelling, complex, rich and layered, unflinching yet nuanced. I found this book deeply immersive, it’s one of those stories that will stay with me for a fair while I think. 

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uranaishi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.0


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hazfindley's review against another edition

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5.0


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devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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thewordsdevourer's review

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challenging reflective medium-paced

3.25

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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thekipling's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0


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kfergy's review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced

5.0

I'm from Alberta and have visited the oil sands/tar sands/bitumenous sands as part of a student delegation. This visit and keeping up with news scrapped the surface of the life and challenges covered by Beaton, so while I wasn't surprised by the stories, I was deeply interested and not disappointed. I hope others are able to access this wonderful work. 

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squid_inked's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This memoir is heavy, but poignant. 

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te_ss_i's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

4.0


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