A review by lizmart88
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

4.5

Unexpectedly picked this up and really loved it! It was such a thoughtfully written graphic novel memoir. It's two years of her life (out of three) that she spent working in the Alberta oil sands. She explores the real things that happened to her and tries to also put them in perspective as best she can. She deals with sexual assault and daily sexual harassment as she works in a nearly all-male field, and tries to figure out how to survive it. She is a stand-in for so many women grappling with sexual harassment and trying to figure out how to move through it in a way that is dignified and healthy, but also realizing it is traumatic and it's not something she'll ever get over fully. She also just does an excellent job showing what her life was like, in all its loneliness and moments of joy. The graphic novel format really brings those little moments to life in a way that a prose memoir doesn't always do as well. 
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