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

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

406 reviews

creolelitbelle's review

dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

3.25

I admire Kate Beaton for taking jobs in tough working environments to pay off her student loans quickly. Personally, I could not see moving away from my immediate life to do that, but I see the allure in it. Student loan debt is no laughing matter, and it's not something only Americans deal with.

At the back of the book, Beaton explains that the memoir details HER experience, and, of course, not everyone's experience working in the oil sands of Alberta are the same. Even different women may have different experiences. The events recounted in this graphic novel must be read in the mind-frame of the time period 2005-2008, because the treatment she dealt with from men would likely not be looked over so quickly today. My heart went out to her at the way she took the blame, excused behavior, or just beared with it to pass the time and earn the money. She saw no truly conceivable outcome that wouldn't make the environment worse for herself, which has been a real predicament for women in many uncomfortable work situations throughout history. While Ducks is marketed to adults, I feel like the themes could be great for older teens to learn from such as: how to crawl from under student debt; what student debt feels like mentally; what workplace harassment can look like; how to deal with workplace harassment; having allies in the workplace; and the dilemma of choosing the job you want over the job that will support your life. The art is done very well with great depictions of characters and setting. I could easily differentiate everyone. Illustrating the Northern Lights with multiple colors would have been wonderful, but most of the book is fairly monochromatic, perfect for the isolation of the oil sands job sites.

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firfearfur's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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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amarige's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

Wonderfully illustrated, engaging, and heart wrenching, this graphic novel exposes hard truths regarding working as a woman in a male dominated field. Workers are isolated, leading many men to sit in their unacknowledged toxic masculinity. Even the “best men” in this book demonstrate how sexism is both ingrained and reinforced socially amongst men, leading to sexual violence and harassment.

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rovingsoul's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny sad fast-paced

4.25

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lizmart88's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced

4.5

Unexpectedly picked this up and really loved it! It was such a thoughtfully written graphic novel memoir. It's two years of her life (out of three) that she spent working in the Alberta oil sands. She explores the real things that happened to her and tries to also put them in perspective as best she can. She deals with sexual assault and daily sexual harassment as she works in a nearly all-male field, and tries to figure out how to survive it. She is a stand-in for so many women grappling with sexual harassment and trying to figure out how to move through it in a way that is dignified and healthy, but also realizing it is traumatic and it's not something she'll ever get over fully. She also just does an excellent job showing what her life was like, in all its loneliness and moments of joy. The graphic novel format really brings those little moments to life in a way that a prose memoir doesn't always do as well.

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