Name: Ducks, Newburyport
Rating: 4.24 (25 reviews)
ISBN: 9781910296974

Lucy Ellmann

Ducks, Newburyport

Natalie

While its form was a bit too disjointed for my tastes (I'm partial to contemplative, elegant sentences), I recognize the brilliance in Ellmann using a stream-of-consciousness narrative to illustrate the barrage of words, phrases, bits of knowledge, anxieties, and everything in between that the contemporary American is exposed to. Its length is not for the faint of heart, and the book probably could've used some culling, but its ending rewards those that make it through. An ambitious book that deserves its numerous accolades, but also a difficult read that demands your full attention

By turns a cozy domestic novel, a feminist rant, and--courtesy of a subplot involving a mountain lion--an adventure story, narrated by an Ohio mother besieged by MAGA hats and mountain lions.ain lions.

Fraser Simons

This is so stylistically and structurally unique that I’d have probably gotten enough satisfaction just from those elements. But in the extreme stream-of-consciousness of our quintessential Ohioan housewife there is a whole lot to unpack. 

It is somewhat difficult to read. Not because it’s like 8 run on sentences separated with commas. But because within the stream there are so many references to media and memories and other associations. It’s emergent thinking. Not wholly unedited, of course. It’s self evident there is a lot of writer craft at work to make this consumable. The sentence construction, the timing of the references, and the length of the sentences themselves, all signal to the reader when the natural breathing points are. And the references will send your own mind out on spirals that mimic the digressions of the protagonist, so you’ll naturally be pausing.

I did sometimes get a bit too day dreamy and in my own head after some time though. I would take short breaks every 50 pages or so and then come back to it. And I think that’s sort of meant to be. The longer the text you’ve consumed percolates the more connections you’ll draw between things.

And things do coalesce quite a bit; more than I’d expected, actually. There begins to be some reoccurring themes. Mostly, they centre on modern anxieties such as gun violence, climate change, media consumption, political ramifications of Trump in office, pollution, the generational gap between herself and her kids, and death, in general. 

These all become the centrifugal force with which our housewife orbits continually, which then draws them in sharper definition. They end up encapsulating the 2017-2018 “moment” of life in western culture and the US incredibly vividly. And, later, the sort-of plot situates those subjects directly into the housewife’s life. There is masterful foreshadowing at work. 

It’s also just mesmeric and beautiful. Thoughts you’ve had, or ones like them, will appear from time to time, and those create a bond between the text and reader that rivals the empathy felt for other characters in other books, in my experience. Within the granularity there is a universal human experience that resonates. 

Absolutely fantastic read and I think one id re read in the future. Recommend it as an off and on side book with other goings on. Take your time with it and be patient with yourself. It’s in no hurry (though the last 100+ pages will be gripping—I won’t say why).

Latticing one cherry pie after another, an Ohio housewife tries to bridge the gaps between reality and the torrent of meaningless info that is the United States of America. She worries about her children, her dead parents, African elephants, the bedroom rituals of 'happy couples', Weapons of Mass Destruction, and how to hatch an abandoned wood pigeon egg. Is there some trick to surviving survivalists? School shootings? Medical debts? Franks 'n' beans? A scorching indictment of America's barbarity, past and present, and a lament for the way we are sleepwalking into environmental disaster, Ducks, Newburyport is a heresy, a wonder - and a revolution in the novel.

Maytal

That was an epic 1000 page bundle of anxiety.

Katherine

Did I feel a little bit insane trying to read this? Yes. But was it one of the most memorable books I've ever read? Also yes. A stream of consciousness epic that perfectly captures the fear, paranoia, and overall psyche of modern suburban America. 

Daryl Houston

What a book! An apparent free-association, the book'll likely be annoying to folks who prefer more straightforward narratives, but Ellmann here writes in a remarkable brain voice that remained compelling to me for the full 1000ish pages. It's the compulsive, relentless, self-edited voice much more than the fairly thin plot that makes this book a marvel.

Gary Homewood

The rambling looping often hilarious thoughts of a mother with a pie-baking home business, about her four children and husband, motherhood, modern day America, gun crime, etc. With word play and alliteration, and a love of movies. The closest thing I've ever read to being inside someone's mind. Completely brilliant.

Ducks, Newburyport

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