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rosebudglow's review against another edition
4.0
Unfortunately, my main takeaway is that I'm glad I read the whole thing because of the sense of completion. The writing is lyrical, almost hypnotizing—if you like the first five pages, you'll like the whole thing, because it never changes. Unfortunately I think if I had to actually live in the mind of that woman I think I'd kill myself. Also, the lioness didn't work for me. Was it supposed to be straightforward/uncomplicated (finally someone to root for) as a foil? Was it just paralleling for the purpose of providing a parallel? I'm still not really sure.
gabbyquail's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I often think that almost everything that happens in the modern era happens online, which means that one day almost everything we do and think and feel will be swept away, leaving no trace. I now feel that if we retain one paper copy of Ducks, Newburyport, that’ll be a pretty good approximation of a significant chunk of it.
rorywilson's review against another edition
4.0
A review seems somewhat pointless. You'll know after a page if you're interested in the style. A novel not so much read as divined where the story reveals itself amidst a cloud of word association, film references and repetitive underlying themes. Also a lion.
I found 'the fact that' substituted for punctuation in my brain early on in quite a comforting way, and the rhythmic nature of it meant I often found myself falling asleep reading it.
I was expecting something more profound than maybe what is here. It's not trying to be epic, or to macrocosmically understand something - it's more subtle than that. The style is the thing, and I loved the narrator for it for a while.
I found 'the fact that' substituted for punctuation in my brain early on in quite a comforting way, and the rhythmic nature of it meant I often found myself falling asleep reading it.
I was expecting something more profound than maybe what is here. It's not trying to be epic, or to macrocosmically understand something - it's more subtle than that. The style is the thing, and I loved the narrator for it for a while.
emily_mad's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
fseely's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
tomleetang's review
3.0
The fact that this a bloody intimidating book
The fact that just flicking through it, the sheer wall of text was more terrifying than my first encounter with Proust
The fact that what convinced me to give it a go was that you can actually just land on a page at random and immediately get swept away by a current of thoughts
The fact that that's exhilarating
The fact that the stream-of-conscious ramblings are also educational, like how daydreaming about Mount Rushmore leads to a random mention of its designer, Gutzon Borglum
The fact that you can't trust everything the narrator says, because she makes factual errors
The fact that the narrator is a bit frazzled, a bit of a mess and sometimes a bit irritating
The fact that she mostly makes motherhood seem like a nightmare, except when it occasionally isn't
The fact that if reading this review annoyed you, you probably won't like this book, because it is hard work
The fact that if you have the time and enjoy a little mental exercise with your recreational reading, then this book is perfect
The fact that it's the antithesis of a self-help book, 'How to Make Yourself Panic About Everything'
The fact that this book (though I always hate saying this about books) really is too long
The fact that given the world we live in, it's hardly surprising that the narrator is so worked up about everything, but particularly the environment and gun control
The fact that maybe if this book was shorter, more people would read it and be equally angry about pollution and violence against women and how easily people seem to find it to shoot one another
The fact that just flicking through it, the sheer wall of text was more terrifying than my first encounter with Proust
The fact that what convinced me to give it a go was that you can actually just land on a page at random and immediately get swept away by a current of thoughts
The fact that that's exhilarating
The fact that the stream-of-conscious ramblings are also educational, like how daydreaming about Mount Rushmore leads to a random mention of its designer, Gutzon Borglum
The fact that you can't trust everything the narrator says, because she makes factual errors
The fact that the narrator is a bit frazzled, a bit of a mess and sometimes a bit irritating
The fact that she mostly makes motherhood seem like a nightmare, except when it occasionally isn't
The fact that if reading this review annoyed you, you probably won't like this book, because it is hard work
The fact that if you have the time and enjoy a little mental exercise with your recreational reading, then this book is perfect
The fact that it's the antithesis of a self-help book, 'How to Make Yourself Panic About Everything'
The fact that this book (though I always hate saying this about books) really is too long
The fact that given the world we live in, it's hardly surprising that the narrator is so worked up about everything, but particularly the environment and gun control
The fact that maybe if this book was shorter, more people would read it and be equally angry about pollution and violence against women and how easily people seem to find it to shoot one another
tinypenguin's review against another edition
4.0
Stephanie Ellyne does an amazing job narrating this, I definitely wouldn’t have made it through if I read the physical book rather than audio. It’s different to anything I’ve ever read before but I think I liked it, my brain hasn’t quite comprehended it all yet..
raelovestoread's review against another edition
2.0
Some books I read for enjoyment, some I read to learn something or to help me become a more empathic person, and some I read for the "experience".
Ducks falls into the latter category.
I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally put this book down and never have to read it again. Almost everyone doing the buddy read with me dropped out. Sheer stubborness got me through. There were clever ideas here - moments of insight, humour, emotional resonance - but unfortunately they are buried in layer upon layer of superfluous guff.
This is a 1000-page stream-of-consciousness "novel" set in the mind of an American homemaker and piemaker. She spends all her free time thinking about all the terrible things that are happening in America, past and present. There's no deeper commentary. She just mentions bad things to herself and then goes "oh dear, isn't it terrible." Yes, yes it is.
I would forgive the waffle if it lent authenticity to the voice, but the interminable lists and bouncing back and forth didn't feel organic to me. The book did improve as it went on, I would say, and I liked where things ended up. The trouble is, most readers won't make it through to the end.
Ducks could have been a solid 400-page exploration of the absurdities of living in Trump-era America if it had been trimmed by a decent editor. Take out all the mind numbingly boring descriptions of the MCs dreams, the word association tennis, the lists of cakes and creeks... rationalise the family background details to just the relevant bits...
In the words of Mark Twain: "writing is easy, all you have to do is cross out the wrong words."
Ducks falls into the latter category.
I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally put this book down and never have to read it again. Almost everyone doing the buddy read with me dropped out. Sheer stubborness got me through. There were clever ideas here - moments of insight, humour, emotional resonance - but unfortunately they are buried in layer upon layer of superfluous guff.
This is a 1000-page stream-of-consciousness "novel" set in the mind of an American homemaker and piemaker. She spends all her free time thinking about all the terrible things that are happening in America, past and present. There's no deeper commentary. She just mentions bad things to herself and then goes "oh dear, isn't it terrible." Yes, yes it is.
I would forgive the waffle if it lent authenticity to the voice, but the interminable lists and bouncing back and forth didn't feel organic to me. The book did improve as it went on, I would say, and I liked where things ended up. The trouble is, most readers won't make it through to the end.
Ducks could have been a solid 400-page exploration of the absurdities of living in Trump-era America if it had been trimmed by a decent editor. Take out all the mind numbingly boring descriptions of the MCs dreams, the word association tennis, the lists of cakes and creeks... rationalise the family background details to just the relevant bits...
In the words of Mark Twain: "writing is easy, all you have to do is cross out the wrong words."