A review by henrymarlene
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

4.0

An absolute mammoth read. Almost 1,000 pages, with limited punctuation - I kid you not. I stopped and started 'Ducks, Newburyport' about six times over the last two months in between all of my other books. I couldn't keep track of the thoughts going through the main character's head. I could not find how to hang onto them; they were so fast, haphazard, fleeting and strangely interconnected. But then! ... I found a sort-of groove and pushed onto the finish line. I love that lists, and list of statements suddenly appeared, and some of these things deeply resonated with me and made me smirk in agreement ("we will all die, on and off we'll get indigestion ..."), and that the character was a baker, and baked in a similar way that I do. The fact that the story of the lioness and her cubs was hauntingly beautiful and sad at the same time, and the fact that when you think about thoughts, there is no logic to them, no sequence. Even I am channeling how the novel was written as I describe it! And that randomness that Lucy Ellmann created in these thoughts, however scary in reading this book, were meant to be. I am still not yet certain on the role and story of the lioness and her cubs. Are they a fable running parallel to her life events or a metaphor for the woman's subconscious? Are they the movie to her never-ending sentences?I have no idea yet the prose in these vignettes was poetic, comforting and sweet. I think I liked this. I felt like I had travelled as far as the woman and the lioness when I finished reading.