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nocturna_of_space 's review for:
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
by Kate Beaton
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This book was so much more than I was expecting. I knew it would be harsh, but I didn't know how harsh. I also didn't know how mundane everything would feel. Which is a crazy thing to say about something that is, very much, not a mundane experience. I think the danger of a place like that is that things that happen there are considered to be normal. The culture is considered normal. At least at the camps and worksites. It's shown when she gets back home and runs into that guy in Halifax, how not normal things were there. Or even when she talks to her boss in her final days at the camp. I understand that everyone's experience is different, and as Kate said at the end, this is just hers. My heart goes out to everyone who works there. My heart goes out to all the people and animals whose lives have been affected by the oil sands.
Also, to be completely clear here, the oil sands are horrible for the environment and exist on stolen land.
Also, to be completely clear here, the oil sands are horrible for the environment and exist on stolen land.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness
Minor: Genocide, Suicidal thoughts