Reviews

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

kevin_barney's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

smallest_effigy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

suvata's review against another edition

3.0

• Reading Envy Podcast Readalong for June 2020

Reading this book was like being the head of a neurotic for 1,000 pages. This never-ceasing stream of consciousness actually made me anxious at times (bring on the Xanax). Yet, there was something compelling about the writing that made me want to keep reading. I do a lot of practice to control my “monkey mind“. This book was 30+ hours“ of pure, unadulterated “monkey mind”. A veritable encyclopedia of the first part of the 21st Century in America — Very unique and hard to rate.

jessie_lewis's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

timothypeacock's review against another edition

hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

Ducks, Newbury port is an interesting read that is chaotic at times, but overall gives an overall charm to the reader.  It is written in an unorthodox way, in that there is a lack of pronunciation, with a stream of consciousness thought announced by the protagonist.  As a reader, it can be challenging to read at first given the way it is written, but once the reader is able to free themself from the constraints of prose written form, you get a real sense of the modern chaotic world that we live in.  

printemps_is's review against another edition

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branca's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

akshay_bonala's review against another edition

3.0

This book is about 1050 pages long. Language is intriguing and easy to understand. You will need a lot of patience to complete this book.

This review is spoiler-free...

This book is Adult contemporary fiction and for sure has one of its kind writing style. In the book, our protagonist is an adult woman who is in her 40's. She stays with her husband and children and runs a small home-based baking business. And her family is as same as any other family in America.

Now the story's point of view is not from our Protagonist's/ any other person's perspective as many of the books. But, rather from the Protagonist's mind perspective. Yes, in this book you read what our protagonist is thinking in her mind.

So basically our Protagonist is living her normal life as every other person, so that's not the story. The story is about how her mind reacts/ deviate /simulate emotions based on her experience and the things happening around her.

Being a mother of 4 kids, losing her parents at a young age (considering the things happening around in America like rapes, shootings, environmental issues, and many more issues) how her mind reacts is very well written by Lucy Ellmann.

Now this book took me 20 days to complete. Even though I was very intrigued while picking up this book, in the end, I felt that I was not the correct audience to enjoy this book. Because along with the issues there are many other thing too discussed it in like regular things, politics, baking and many more and all of these are related to things happening in America. So me being from India, I felt disconnect at many places throughout the book. So I think for many Indians, this book will be boring at some places. But many things are highlighted in this book.

jayden_mccomiskie's review against another edition

5.0

Amazing.

quinetta's review against another edition

4.0

46 hour audiobook. Whew!
I'm not really sure if my review can do this book justice. It was simply a stream of consciousness in book form yet it was interesting. Some parts could have been edited out for length, but overall the way the book was presented was engaging and I enjoyed listening to it.