Reviews

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

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

The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that The fact that oh i give up

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.

anyanatasha's review against another edition

i didn't finish because it did not hold my attention for long enough at a time. this seems like the type of book you need to read a little at a time and i like to binge-read and be done. i do appreciate the concept though but it's more of a concept than a real enjoyable book

ichirofakename's review against another edition

5.0

This is it: the best book. Don't be put off by scary references to Joyce and/or stream-of-consciousness, this is much better than Ulysses and perfectly readable. Only be put off by its length and repetitive interminability. We hear the inner thoughts of a housewife baking pies for sale to restaurants, in the exact idiom you try to turn off via meditation. Besides the interminable blathering, there are three events in a thousand pages: a parking lot gets cut off by flood waters, someone tries to run away, and a shooting. But that's just the exciting stuff, the important stuff is the blathering, about modern society, politics, life, with lots of funny cracks. In a separate interwoven story, a lion makes friends with a dog. Don't read it, it's way too long. Hint: not every single word is true.

kysofly's review against another edition

Reading this was just not for my brain lol