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

beautiful BEAUTIFUL story. its poignant with its arresting vistas juxtaposed against the mundane horror of being a woman in the places that beaton worked. its stark. it doesn't pull its punches from the assault to the boredom to the anxiety that pervades the comic. its gorgeous and a story that's important to tell- i just wish it didn't happen.

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theabee's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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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larcadip's review against another edition

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5.0

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summerc_reads's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

“Everything's ruined, our lives around our lands are ruined, our water, the air, everything.”

Twenty-two years old and drowning in student loans, Kate Beaton leaves Cape Breton and heads west to work in the Alberta oil sands. Over the next two years, Kate moves through various positions and is constantly confronted with the oppressive, and often dangerous, old-boys mentality at camp.

Prior to reading Ducks, I knew very little about the oil sands. While I was aware there were oil sands in Alberta, I naively did not understand what they were or the devastating impact they had on the land, people and wildlife, especially on the Indigenous population who were the rightful owners of the now polluted lands.

To say this book was educational would be an understatement! This should be required reading for every Canadian!

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