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A review by cliobemuzedbookworm
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
3.0
Ducks, Newburyport ... what to say? How to rate?
Did I go into this book with quite some tripdation? Definitely. A 1000 page book written in stream-of-consciousness about the inner thoughts of a Ohio housewife... doesn't really sound super appealing.
However, I cannot say that I was bored with this book.
Did it drag on for too long? Definitely,it could've definitely slimmed down a bit, however, a lot of its length is also needed and merited.
I'll settle on 3.5. I respect it a lot and think it merits a 4, but personally I didn't fully connect with it and it could've definitely taken some 200 pages off its length without compromising anything of the story.
The story is narrated in an interesting way and it kind of takes some time to get into the swing of things. Our narrator's thought are presented to us in a single stream, though throughout it also becomes clear that we are not following a continuous flow, there are seemless timejumps here and there. Her thoughts seem to spiral out of control at times, resulting in long lists and associative thoughts. But as the book progresses you also see her thoughts spiral bakc and start to uncover things at the very core of her psyche.
And while in the swing of things, it was actually quite a relaxing read, and very relatable at times. Our narrator is mainly thinking about the state of the world, about such issues as climate change, gun control, Trump. All while baking pies, watching movies and fretting about her relationship with her children.
This narration is interwoven at times with short passages from the perspective of a mountain lion, a story that interweaves in a lovely way throughout as the lion becomes part of the main narrative more and more.
I didn't have a bad time with this book, but without the audiobook I don't know whether I would've gotten through because the text lacks structuring and so you need to really animate the text yourself in order to not get caught in a repetitive pattern that'll send you to sleep. I really had problems with that and while reading physically would often feel my mind slip away. this still happened in the audio, but I also feel like it is ok for the mind to wander a bit in this book.
Another positive about this book is that it got me interested in watching movies again. This book is definitely responsible for watching 4 mvies mentioned in these pages over the past weekend.
Conclusion: an enjoyable experience, but probably not something worth the 1000 page read and the level of concentration needed. At least not for me. But I can also understand why so many people did absolutely vibe with this book.
Did I go into this book with quite some tripdation? Definitely. A 1000 page book written in stream-of-consciousness about the inner thoughts of a Ohio housewife... doesn't really sound super appealing.
However, I cannot say that I was bored with this book.
Did it drag on for too long? Definitely,it could've definitely slimmed down a bit, however, a lot of its length is also needed and merited.
I'll settle on 3.5. I respect it a lot and think it merits a 4, but personally I didn't fully connect with it and it could've definitely taken some 200 pages off its length without compromising anything of the story.
The story is narrated in an interesting way and it kind of takes some time to get into the swing of things. Our narrator's thought are presented to us in a single stream, though throughout it also becomes clear that we are not following a continuous flow, there are seemless timejumps here and there. Her thoughts seem to spiral out of control at times, resulting in long lists and associative thoughts. But as the book progresses you also see her thoughts spiral bakc and start to uncover things at the very core of her psyche.
And while in the swing of things, it was actually quite a relaxing read, and very relatable at times. Our narrator is mainly thinking about the state of the world, about such issues as climate change, gun control, Trump. All while baking pies, watching movies and fretting about her relationship with her children.
This narration is interwoven at times with short passages from the perspective of a mountain lion, a story that interweaves in a lovely way throughout as the lion becomes part of the main narrative more and more.
I didn't have a bad time with this book, but without the audiobook I don't know whether I would've gotten through because the text lacks structuring and so you need to really animate the text yourself in order to not get caught in a repetitive pattern that'll send you to sleep. I really had problems with that and while reading physically would often feel my mind slip away. this still happened in the audio, but I also feel like it is ok for the mind to wander a bit in this book.
Another positive about this book is that it got me interested in watching movies again. This book is definitely responsible for watching 4 mvies mentioned in these pages over the past weekend.
Conclusion: an enjoyable experience, but probably not something worth the 1000 page read and the level of concentration needed. At least not for me. But I can also understand why so many people did absolutely vibe with this book.