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A review by llynn66
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Right out of the gate as I begin this experiment with StoryGraph, I am flinging a five-star rating onto the table. I am generally hesitant to dole out the stars in such a generous manner. However, this book was special for me and I feel like it was one of those bravura books that only come along occasionally. I read this book during what was arguably one of the worst periods in my life and definitely one of the most monotonous. This was a quarantine book for me during the endless summer of 2020 when every day felt like the next and I spent the days in my backyard reading long books. During the time I spent with Ducks, Newburyport, I was able to live inside the life of the nameless protagonist. This was easy to do as the the story was, specifically, the thoughts that randomly flowed through this protagonist's mind.
Many reviewers will have already noted that the structure of this book is 'one long and uninterrupted sentence.' This is both true and untrue. Although the story lacks terminal punctuation of any sort, the story the protagonist tells about her life in contemporary Tuscarawas County, Ohio is interpolated with the story of a mountain lion and her cubs. There is a cadence to the narrative that the reader becomes fluent in riding as one goes deeper into the story. A book constructed in this manner should be monotonous but Ducks, Newburyport is not.
The 'narrator' tells the story of her life as it is in roughly 2016. Donald Trump is president and her mind will occasionally turn to him, as so many of us were pulled into that maelstrom for the past four or five years. This woman experiences the litany of worry about children, money, marriage, employment, societal problems, and health concerns that most mid-lifers live. Yet, the prose is so well constructed that the randomness of thought is realistically replicated. "The mind is like a monkey...flitting from tree to tree", is an axiom I once heard in a yoga class. This woman's mind, in the human fashion, also jumps to random phrases, snippets of song (earworms), movie and book plots, the struggle to remember details, and other ephemera. Meanwhile, there is also the backdrop of memory. The protagonist looks back on her life and recalls those she has loved and lost, relationships which have ended or become strained, and joyful moments she longs to relive.
Through her random memories and internal narrative, a story evolves which includes a cast of characters (her family, friends and associates), a build up of tension (as she processes events which are happening to these people), a climactic crisis, (when a situation builds to a breaking point) and a denouement. The amazing skill demonstrated by Lucy Ellmann in structuring a compelling story of a family who you become invested in despite the lack of conventional style merits an excellent rating. Thus, the five stars.
Also, I must add that I am an Ohio resident and I found it extraordinary that Lucy Ellmann, an American-born author who has not lived in this country since 1970, drew such a finely honed bead on contemporary Midwestern American life. As a middle aged woman, roughly in the same cohort group as the unnamed 'thinker' who tells this story, I was also impressed by the contrast Ellmann drew between the life she lived with her parents as a child and the life she currently leads. So often through the reading, I would lay the book down and tell myself: "I'm not so neurotic. Everyone has these thoughts." -- In a time where it is more challenging to connect with other people and to feel psychologically tethered, that was a small but welcome consolation.
Many reviewers will have already noted that the structure of this book is 'one long and uninterrupted sentence.' This is both true and untrue. Although the story lacks terminal punctuation of any sort, the story the protagonist tells about her life in contemporary Tuscarawas County, Ohio is interpolated with the story of a mountain lion and her cubs. There is a cadence to the narrative that the reader becomes fluent in riding as one goes deeper into the story. A book constructed in this manner should be monotonous but Ducks, Newburyport is not.
The 'narrator' tells the story of her life as it is in roughly 2016. Donald Trump is president and her mind will occasionally turn to him, as so many of us were pulled into that maelstrom for the past four or five years. This woman experiences the litany of worry about children, money, marriage, employment, societal problems, and health concerns that most mid-lifers live. Yet, the prose is so well constructed that the randomness of thought is realistically replicated. "The mind is like a monkey...flitting from tree to tree", is an axiom I once heard in a yoga class. This woman's mind, in the human fashion, also jumps to random phrases, snippets of song (earworms), movie and book plots, the struggle to remember details, and other ephemera. Meanwhile, there is also the backdrop of memory. The protagonist looks back on her life and recalls those she has loved and lost, relationships which have ended or become strained, and joyful moments she longs to relive.
Through her random memories and internal narrative, a story evolves which includes a cast of characters (her family, friends and associates), a build up of tension (as she processes events which are happening to these people), a climactic crisis, (when a situation builds to a breaking point) and a denouement. The amazing skill demonstrated by Lucy Ellmann in structuring a compelling story of a family who you become invested in despite the lack of conventional style merits an excellent rating. Thus, the five stars.
Also, I must add that I am an Ohio resident and I found it extraordinary that Lucy Ellmann, an American-born author who has not lived in this country since 1970, drew such a finely honed bead on contemporary Midwestern American life. As a middle aged woman, roughly in the same cohort group as the unnamed 'thinker' who tells this story, I was also impressed by the contrast Ellmann drew between the life she lived with her parents as a child and the life she currently leads. So often through the reading, I would lay the book down and tell myself: "I'm not so neurotic. Everyone has these thoughts." -- In a time where it is more challenging to connect with other people and to feel psychologically tethered, that was a small but welcome consolation.