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A review by thebobsphere
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
5.0
One thing I notice about experimental novels is that I become fully immersed and start obsessing about them. This happened with Ducks, Newburyport.
From July 9th to July 28th I could not stop thinking about this book; every day I just wanted to know more about the narrator’s thoughts, how the plot would develop, the use of language and I would search the web every time I would come across some sort of term or acronym ( then I found out there’s a glossary of said acronyms in the back of the book! d’oh!) The fact is that when I finished Ducks.. I felt kind of sad, mainly because I had grown to like the narrator and I enjoyed reading about her worldview.
So what is huge 1030. page tome about? Does it really consist of one sentence? is it a purely stream of conscious novel?
The answers to these questions are both yes and no.
Ducks, Newburyport main protagonist is an Ohio housewife. While she’s baking she ruminates on many topics, ranging from the validity of Pluto as a planet to gun culture in the US. These thoughts do form on sentence punctuated by commas and the words ‘the fact that’
This is not one long info dump though. As the novel progresses we readers then see the narrator’s talk about her life, how she came across her second husband, each of her four kids and other experiences that happened in the past. By the end of the book, the reader has complete knowledge about her. Just as a not this is not in chronological order and it’s up to the reader to piece everything together.
Also there’s a subplot in the book, which involves a mountain lion and it is written in a more conventional format. By time the lioness’ plot with overlap with the main one. Also it’s worth noting that the book also contains a longish poem, a map, an inventory and an advert.
Despite the myriad of themes two main ones occur. One is motherhood. Our narrator questions whether she is a good mother and this is accentuated by certain events which occur at the end of the novel and the lioness subplot.
The other major theme is the environment, rather the destruction of (which is a common theme of all the longlisted Booker novels I’ve read so far). The narrator worries about chemicals going into rivers, the mass killing of animals and air pollution. More importantly she worries about how this will effect future generations.
Despite the one sentence, stream of conscious yadda yadda yadda, Ducks, Newburyport is quite readable. Once one gets used to the first few pages, which is a scene set up, then things go smoothly. In my case, I was so engrossed by the narrator’s plights and backstory, I completely forgot I was reading a sentence without full stops.
Without any doubt, and I will declare this. Ducks, Newburyport is one of the greatest novels I have read. Not only is it a commentary about US culture in the 21st century but it also serves as a warning sign that the problems that are happening worldwide may become worse if we are not careful. I have stated before that nowadays US novelists are focusing on the shattering of the American Dream, well now that has it’s magnum opus and that is Ducks, Newburyport.
From July 9th to July 28th I could not stop thinking about this book; every day I just wanted to know more about the narrator’s thoughts, how the plot would develop, the use of language and I would search the web every time I would come across some sort of term or acronym ( then I found out there’s a glossary of said acronyms in the back of the book! d’oh!) The fact is that when I finished Ducks.. I felt kind of sad, mainly because I had grown to like the narrator and I enjoyed reading about her worldview.
So what is huge 1030. page tome about? Does it really consist of one sentence? is it a purely stream of conscious novel?
The answers to these questions are both yes and no.
Ducks, Newburyport main protagonist is an Ohio housewife. While she’s baking she ruminates on many topics, ranging from the validity of Pluto as a planet to gun culture in the US. These thoughts do form on sentence punctuated by commas and the words ‘the fact that’
This is not one long info dump though. As the novel progresses we readers then see the narrator’s talk about her life, how she came across her second husband, each of her four kids and other experiences that happened in the past. By the end of the book, the reader has complete knowledge about her. Just as a not this is not in chronological order and it’s up to the reader to piece everything together.
Also there’s a subplot in the book, which involves a mountain lion and it is written in a more conventional format. By time the lioness’ plot with overlap with the main one. Also it’s worth noting that the book also contains a longish poem, a map, an inventory and an advert.
Despite the myriad of themes two main ones occur. One is motherhood. Our narrator questions whether she is a good mother and this is accentuated by certain events which occur at the end of the novel and the lioness subplot.
The other major theme is the environment, rather the destruction of (which is a common theme of all the longlisted Booker novels I’ve read so far). The narrator worries about chemicals going into rivers, the mass killing of animals and air pollution. More importantly she worries about how this will effect future generations.
Despite the one sentence, stream of conscious yadda yadda yadda, Ducks, Newburyport is quite readable. Once one gets used to the first few pages, which is a scene set up, then things go smoothly. In my case, I was so engrossed by the narrator’s plights and backstory, I completely forgot I was reading a sentence without full stops.
Without any doubt, and I will declare this. Ducks, Newburyport is one of the greatest novels I have read. Not only is it a commentary about US culture in the 21st century but it also serves as a warning sign that the problems that are happening worldwide may become worse if we are not careful. I have stated before that nowadays US novelists are focusing on the shattering of the American Dream, well now that has it’s magnum opus and that is Ducks, Newburyport.