A review by mkat303
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

5.0

The fact that this is a 46 hour book, so I chose to listen to the audio version, because I hate reading on a Kindle and there was no way I was carrying a book that large. The fact that I like to listen to most long books as audiobooks, anyway, particularly if they're somewhat "experimental", such as this one. The fact that most sentence in the book start with "The fact that" and maybe it is lacking in punctuation? Or periods? The fact that I'm not sure about the punctuation, as I never saw the print version. The fact that, while I found hearing "the fact that" all the time initially annoying, it stopped bothering me as I got further along in the book. The fact that there's also a lot of word play by the author. The fact that I think a lot of reviewers didn't actually make it through the book. The fact that it's about a middle-aged mother of four in Ohio who bakes pies for a living, while she takes care of her home and worries about the state of the world, particularly since Trump has just been elected. The fact that we learn a lot about the narrator's past and present throughout the book. The fact that it's about motherhood, but you don't need to be a mother or even like children (I don't) to appreciate the book. The fact that this book is also about a brave lioness. The fact that I'm still really moved by Chapter 50 (and much, much more) and the structure of the book. The fact that I don't really like books written in odd ways, but I loved this one. The fact that, yes, it's long, and yes, a few times (but not many) I thought, "this is too long," but then I really, really didn't want it to end. The fact that I know it's silly, but I want to buy a copy to have on my shelf because I loved it so much.