A review by caralog
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

5.0

This novel took me over eight months to complete, but was worth every bit of time I spent on it, given that this is one of the best books I have ever read. The plot unwinds very, very slowly, and doesn't even become apparent until page 700 or so. The prose is unusual to say the least, bombarding you with lists and references to things that seem to appear out of the blue. Most of its thousand pages take the form of a single sentence, broken up into small clauses beginning with the phrase "the fact that." Although this novel takes a while to get used to, don't give up and your patience will pay off. I listened to the second half on the audiobook version, which I highly recommend due to the skill of the narrator.