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paulavan_'s review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
jillysnz's review against another edition
4.0
I want to read something else by Lucy to compare her writing with this.
I think it is unnecessarily long, I read it as an ebook from the library so I could pick it up and put it down for quite short bouts, not a book you could easily carry around.
Once I got used to the style I quite liked it, the narrator oppressively returns to certain subjects and compulsively lists words; made me think of Tourettes. The lists often add to the snippets she is processing. Odd words flash in, sugar, and as a thought process it probably wouldn't be the word sugar, just the image.
I felt her anxiety, regret, guilt, love, sadness and loneliness.
The news headlines are mostly about guns, men with guns, schools and families and random shootings.
Helpless in a stupid world.
Newcomerstown is a real place!
I think it is unnecessarily long, I read it as an ebook from the library so I could pick it up and put it down for quite short bouts, not a book you could easily carry around.
Once I got used to the style I quite liked it, the narrator oppressively returns to certain subjects and compulsively lists words; made me think of Tourettes. The lists often add to the snippets she is processing. Odd words flash in, sugar, and as a thought process it probably wouldn't be the word sugar, just the image.
I felt her anxiety, regret, guilt, love, sadness and loneliness.
The news headlines are mostly about guns, men with guns, schools and families and random shootings.
Helpless in a stupid world.
Newcomerstown is a real place!
kokudum's review against another edition
4.0
Never have I felt more relieved to hit "read" on a book.
circelink's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"the fact that hoop skirts are dangerous in a blizzard,"
"the fact that pulchritudinous sounds like completely the opposite of what it is, the fact that it sounds like barf really,"
"the fact that elephants would probably be amazed if they knew how much we think about them,"
"the fact that you only need to see sunlight coming through green leaves to feel okay about everything,"
One thousand+ pages of pie baking stream of consciousness? Count me in!
While this little tome was not a transportive or transcendent extrusion ala (mode!) Virginia Wolfe, it was a fascinating ride. Despite the kind of anti-plot and intense stream of consciousness this was an enjoyable read. However, the content was much darker, neurotic and downright horrific in parts then I had anticipated or normally care to read. I was hoping to find way more Shirley Jackson here and less Morbid Woody Allen from a fellow baker.
Likely it is my own joy of baking from where I project my double crust dutch apple pie assumptions from, but my own sweet tooth craved way more happiness than Ellmann's recipe called for.
"the fact that pulchritudinous sounds like completely the opposite of what it is, the fact that it sounds like barf really,"
"the fact that elephants would probably be amazed if they knew how much we think about them,"
"the fact that you only need to see sunlight coming through green leaves to feel okay about everything,"
One thousand+ pages of pie baking stream of consciousness? Count me in!
While this little tome was not a transportive or transcendent extrusion ala (mode!) Virginia Wolfe, it was a fascinating ride. Despite the kind of anti-plot and intense stream of consciousness this was an enjoyable read. However, the content was much darker, neurotic and downright horrific in parts then I had anticipated or normally care to read. I was hoping to find way more Shirley Jackson here and less Morbid Woody Allen from a fellow baker.
Likely it is my own joy of baking from where I project my double crust dutch apple pie assumptions from, but my own sweet tooth craved way more happiness than Ellmann's recipe called for.
bianca89279's review against another edition
5.0
WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2019
When I read about this novel in the Guardian, I was intrigued but also put off by its size. Nevertheless, I went to Edelweiss and requested the ARC, thinking if I’m meant to read it I’ll get approved. Many thanks to the publishers for approving my request.
As you’ve probably heard, this is a very long novel, written from the point of view of an unnamed forty-something stay-at-home mother of four, who lives in Newcomerstown, Ohio. She ruminates, wonders, jumps from one thing to another; she’s perplexed, vexed, stuck, scared, and filled with guilt; she’s nervous, neurotic, forgetful, distracted, intense and constantly tired. She’s a good representation for many mothers in today’s developed world. Three years prior, she had had cancer, “the embarrassing kind”, which put a strain on the family’s finances, which is why she’s taken to baking pies and other desserts to sell to cafes and diners. Her second husband, Leo, and the biological father to the youngest three kids, is an Engineering professor at an Ohio University. He sounds like a great guy, which is a nice counterbalance to all the male vileness mentioned in the book.
Have you ever wished you had less knowledge about current affairs, politics, the environment, hoping that ignorance might bring you some semblance of bliss? Is it possible to be happy and serene when one knows about the crazy world we live in? Is it surprising that so many people suffer from anxiety? This novel is basically riddled with one woman’s anxieties. I related to some and understood others.
There are several themes that keep popping up in this novel:
- how much her mother’s stroke just “broke her”
- male violence
- deadbeat dads
- parenthood and its many tribulations
- gun violence and the constant fear that someone will shoot your kids while at school
- the environment and the damage caused by humans
- history and the many cruelties and injustices perpetrated against the native people
- police violence.
Several movies and books are discussed in detail - some I knew, others I had to look up. Google will be your friend on many occasions.
Ducks, Newburyport is extremely contemporary, a time capsule of Trump’s America. It’s mesmerising, original, realistic, intelligent, observant, and occasionally amusing. Oh, and anxiety-inducing.
Ultimately, this was satisfying and worthwhile the time spent in its company.
It’s not for everybody, no book is.
Bravo, Ms Ellmann.
When I read about this novel in the Guardian, I was intrigued but also put off by its size. Nevertheless, I went to Edelweiss and requested the ARC, thinking if I’m meant to read it I’ll get approved. Many thanks to the publishers for approving my request.
As you’ve probably heard, this is a very long novel, written from the point of view of an unnamed forty-something stay-at-home mother of four, who lives in Newcomerstown, Ohio. She ruminates, wonders, jumps from one thing to another; she’s perplexed, vexed, stuck, scared, and filled with guilt; she’s nervous, neurotic, forgetful, distracted, intense and constantly tired. She’s a good representation for many mothers in today’s developed world. Three years prior, she had had cancer, “the embarrassing kind”, which put a strain on the family’s finances, which is why she’s taken to baking pies and other desserts to sell to cafes and diners. Her second husband, Leo, and the biological father to the youngest three kids, is an Engineering professor at an Ohio University. He sounds like a great guy, which is a nice counterbalance to all the male vileness mentioned in the book.
Have you ever wished you had less knowledge about current affairs, politics, the environment, hoping that ignorance might bring you some semblance of bliss? Is it possible to be happy and serene when one knows about the crazy world we live in? Is it surprising that so many people suffer from anxiety? This novel is basically riddled with one woman’s anxieties. I related to some and understood others.
There are several themes that keep popping up in this novel:
- how much her mother’s stroke just “broke her”
- male violence
- deadbeat dads
- parenthood and its many tribulations
- gun violence and the constant fear that someone will shoot your kids while at school
- the environment and the damage caused by humans
- history and the many cruelties and injustices perpetrated against the native people
- police violence.
Several movies and books are discussed in detail - some I knew, others I had to look up. Google will be your friend on many occasions.
Ducks, Newburyport is extremely contemporary, a time capsule of Trump’s America. It’s mesmerising, original, realistic, intelligent, observant, and occasionally amusing. Oh, and anxiety-inducing.
Ultimately, this was satisfying and worthwhile the time spent in its company.
It’s not for everybody, no book is.
Bravo, Ms Ellmann.
catdad77a45's review against another edition
5.0
Really at a loss as to how to review this behemoth door-stopper of a book. Although very early on I harbored thoughts of DNF'ing it, I'm so glad I labored on, since at some point, the book becomes downright addictive and it's difficult to put down. I still have a few quibbles, mainly that although much of the 'stream-of-consciousness' format makes sense and is often clever and humorous, there are also times that there are non-sequiturs or words/lists that come totally out of left field... it's not necessarily the length that disturbed me as the fact so much of it is stellar, that those times when I felt the author was a bit indulgent... bugged me.
Minor complaint though, since this is such a sui generis piece of work, and it ultimately rewards the time invested. I'd suggest anyone contemplating the climb up the mountain to read the Kindle edition, as this is a book that requires so much backtracking to search for previous names/situations and definition assistance that it really helps to have those features readily available. It doesn't QUITE top my Booker rankings for this year (that honor goes to Ms. Levy), but it comes in at a close second.
Fun fact: the LAST book that took me ten days to read was last year's Booker winner - which was 1/3 the length!
PS.... one of the best things about the political underpinnings of the book is that Ellmann dares bring up a topic that NO major media outlet has had the cojones to report: namely the all too credible allegations that the faux president, in tandem with recently deceased convicted pedophile J. Epstein, raped a 13 year old girl. Should you care to learn the facts about that case, go to Justiceforkatie.com.
Minor complaint though, since this is such a sui generis piece of work, and it ultimately rewards the time invested. I'd suggest anyone contemplating the climb up the mountain to read the Kindle edition, as this is a book that requires so much backtracking to search for previous names/situations and definition assistance that it really helps to have those features readily available. It doesn't QUITE top my Booker rankings for this year (that honor goes to Ms. Levy), but it comes in at a close second.
Fun fact: the LAST book that took me ten days to read was last year's Booker winner - which was 1/3 the length!
PS.... one of the best things about the political underpinnings of the book is that Ellmann dares bring up a topic that NO major media outlet has had the cojones to report: namely the all too credible allegations that the faux president, in tandem with recently deceased convicted pedophile J. Epstein, raped a 13 year old girl. Should you care to learn the facts about that case, go to Justiceforkatie.com.
jeremymorrison's review against another edition
4.0
Lucy Ellman answers the question, “What in the world?” With a thousand plus pages of stream of consciousness issuing from the mind of a stay-at-home baker, mother, wife in Newcomerstown, Ohio. The lists of free associations make up what is in America today.
timshel's review against another edition
3.0
249 days! It took me 249 days to finish this tome. There were many stops and starts along the way. Sometimes, I'd put this book aside just to read something else. I may have had a rotational checkout of this book with three different public libraries within 60 miles. At seven months in, I was at page 452 and I didn't see the point of going on. I put the book in the "to-go" box and didn't look back.
Within a couple of days, I changed my mind. I didn't know if the reward would be worth it, but I wouldn't know if I didn't try. I committed to fifteen pages a day. I could finish Duck, Newburyport in thirty days. And that's what I did.
I really don't know what to say about this book. I will say it's an experience. Was the reward worth it? No, I didn't think so. It's like being promised a grand vacation as a child and arriving to find out that the descriptions of your destination were vastly exaggerated. It only took seven months of "Are we there yet?" One thousand pages of "Are we there yet?" 19,396 "the fact that"'s of "Are we there yet?"
And yet... there was something mesmerizing about this work. It's as if the long car ride were the point of the journey. And what was the car ride? Well, it was the scenery. It was the rhythm of the tires on the road. But it was long.
There was one thing that personally annoyed me at no end that I haven't heard others mention. Ellmann's narrator is constantly bringing up movies, talking about them as though the reader has any idea what she's talking about. I was familiar with very few of them. She doesn't explain the references, just jumps right into talking about them, which is expected from a stream-of-conscious narrative, but is terribly taxing on a reader who has no idea what she's talking about. And they go on for pages: It's Complicated, Jane Fonda, Air Force One, Paul Henreid... It was the part of the journey where your parents turn on the kind of music you most hate and sing along. Combining all the movie references with The Little House on the Prairie references, and you've probably got more than 10% of the book. That might not normally be an issue, but we're talking about a thousand page book here. You know, some of us still read books.
Ducks, Newburyport is unforgettable and certainly an accomplishment for readers who make it through. It's not a book I'd recommend to very many readers (or maybe any). Honestly, I don't think I will ever again hear that one phrase and not think of this book.
Within a couple of days, I changed my mind. I didn't know if the reward would be worth it, but I wouldn't know if I didn't try. I committed to fifteen pages a day. I could finish Duck, Newburyport in thirty days. And that's what I did.
I really don't know what to say about this book. I will say it's an experience. Was the reward worth it? No, I didn't think so. It's like being promised a grand vacation as a child and arriving to find out that the descriptions of your destination were vastly exaggerated. It only took seven months of "Are we there yet?" One thousand pages of "Are we there yet?" 19,396 "the fact that"'s of "Are we there yet?"
And yet... there was something mesmerizing about this work. It's as if the long car ride were the point of the journey. And what was the car ride? Well, it was the scenery. It was the rhythm of the tires on the road. But it was long.
There was one thing that personally annoyed me at no end that I haven't heard others mention. Ellmann's narrator is constantly bringing up movies, talking about them as though the reader has any idea what she's talking about. I was familiar with very few of them. She doesn't explain the references, just jumps right into talking about them, which is expected from a stream-of-conscious narrative, but is terribly taxing on a reader who has no idea what she's talking about. And they go on for pages: It's Complicated, Jane Fonda, Air Force One, Paul Henreid... It was the part of the journey where your parents turn on the kind of music you most hate and sing along. Combining all the movie references with The Little House on the Prairie references, and you've probably got more than 10% of the book. That might not normally be an issue, but we're talking about a thousand page book here. You know, some of us still read books.
Ducks, Newburyport is unforgettable and certainly an accomplishment for readers who make it through. It's not a book I'd recommend to very many readers (or maybe any). Honestly, I don't think I will ever again hear that one phrase and not think of this book.
matthewmansell's review against another edition
4.0
'my cinnamon rolls will generally be a hit[...]
sarcasm will sometimes fall flat
satire won't change anything
I will drink whiskey sours' p.659.
sarcasm will sometimes fall flat
satire won't change anything
I will drink whiskey sours' p.659.
vg2's review against another edition
2.0
I was so looking forward to reading this novel - it sounded fascinating and very different to anything else on the market recently. Unfortunately, I had a number of issues with the book.
The first was how distracting reading ‘the fact that...’ thousands of times to denote a change in thought became. Would anyone use this exact phrase over and over again in their own head? It became so irritating and laboured that at times, I then missed the thought that it had preceded. In some cases, there were twenty, thirty repetitions of those same words in a page.
Secondly, this did not come across as a ‘stream of consciousness’. Surely no-one flits between thousands of unrelated thoughts so often, without any bridging. This unrealistic approach was exasperated by the choice to omit sentence demarcations - the structure of the book forces the reader to speed their reading up to an almost frantic pace, dismissing each thought as soon as it is expressed, rather than considering its meaning and what it tells us of our narrator. It made the reading experience almost stressful, as you move from unconnected thought to unconnected thought at a speed that no-one in real life would have. There were recurring themes - certain books, Laura Ingells Wilder, modern politics etc that cropped up again and again, but much of what came between blurred into an indistinct mass. I understand that this is a book oftentimes rooted in anxiety and fear, and that in itself can be a frantic experience, but this took it to an extreme, sustaining it for over a thousand pages.
The shame is that much of the content was interesting, or would have been had the threads been picked up and expanded at a more leisurely pace (when a thought was followed for more than a few words, it was engaging and far more relatable). I had hoped for a intimate experience - spending a thousand pages in the mind of a single narrator would seem to lend itself to that - by instead, it felt more like thousands of people had been put in a room, all calling out the first thought that came into their head simultaneously. Our narrator has many legitimate fears, complex relationships with others, a past marred by various life-defining issues and a present that isn’t quite the picture painted on the surface, but is let down by a structure and unnecessary length that never allows her voice to be truly explored. I felt more connected to the mountain lioness whose secondary narrative surfaces every hundred pages or so; those sections were beautifully crafted.
Needless to say, a bold novel which definitely had its moments, but overall more of a disappointment that felt a little pretentious.
The first was how distracting reading ‘the fact that...’ thousands of times to denote a change in thought became. Would anyone use this exact phrase over and over again in their own head? It became so irritating and laboured that at times, I then missed the thought that it had preceded. In some cases, there were twenty, thirty repetitions of those same words in a page.
Secondly, this did not come across as a ‘stream of consciousness’. Surely no-one flits between thousands of unrelated thoughts so often, without any bridging. This unrealistic approach was exasperated by the choice to omit sentence demarcations - the structure of the book forces the reader to speed their reading up to an almost frantic pace, dismissing each thought as soon as it is expressed, rather than considering its meaning and what it tells us of our narrator. It made the reading experience almost stressful, as you move from unconnected thought to unconnected thought at a speed that no-one in real life would have. There were recurring themes - certain books, Laura Ingells Wilder, modern politics etc that cropped up again and again, but much of what came between blurred into an indistinct mass. I understand that this is a book oftentimes rooted in anxiety and fear, and that in itself can be a frantic experience, but this took it to an extreme, sustaining it for over a thousand pages.
The shame is that much of the content was interesting, or would have been had the threads been picked up and expanded at a more leisurely pace (when a thought was followed for more than a few words, it was engaging and far more relatable). I had hoped for a intimate experience - spending a thousand pages in the mind of a single narrator would seem to lend itself to that - by instead, it felt more like thousands of people had been put in a room, all calling out the first thought that came into their head simultaneously. Our narrator has many legitimate fears, complex relationships with others, a past marred by various life-defining issues and a present that isn’t quite the picture painted on the surface, but is let down by a structure and unnecessary length that never allows her voice to be truly explored. I felt more connected to the mountain lioness whose secondary narrative surfaces every hundred pages or so; those sections were beautifully crafted.
Needless to say, a bold novel which definitely had its moments, but overall more of a disappointment that felt a little pretentious.