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A review by corey
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
Thought I would celebrate completing graduate school by diving into this gratuitously long novel, about which I'd heard good things and had been looking forward to reading for a while, but yeah--not so much. I'm giving up about 250 pages in.
There are some interesting things this book does. Its examination of living comfortable lives in America, at the expense of so much violence, and often times amidst that violence, has never been done in quite this way before. And Ellmann is incredibly funny--there's a laugh about every five or so pages.
Ultimately, though, I just don't think I can bear to read another 700 pages stuck in the wandering mind of a neurotic Ohio housewife. I'm not somebody who needs a sweeping plot--especially not when the book is doing inventive, interesting things--but I do need SOME plot.
There are some interesting things this book does. Its examination of living comfortable lives in America, at the expense of so much violence, and often times amidst that violence, has never been done in quite this way before. And Ellmann is incredibly funny--there's a laugh about every five or so pages.
Ultimately, though, I just don't think I can bear to read another 700 pages stuck in the wandering mind of a neurotic Ohio housewife. I'm not somebody who needs a sweeping plot--especially not when the book is doing inventive, interesting things--but I do need SOME plot.