Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands

Cried, wasn’t what I thought it was gonna be about but it’s real and it’s heavy. Loved the art and was interested in learning about this work culture I would have in no other way looked into myself.

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lmy612's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Honestly, a very upsetting recount of one woman’s experiences while working in the oil sands of Alberta. Having lived in Alberta myself, the sexism and objectification of women is prevalent everywhere. Even in town, where most of the women live with their young children, it’s there. It’s everywhere. Men get lonely and that is supposed to excuse disgusting and illegal behaviour.

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gailcooksandreads's review

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5.0

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pam_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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savvylit's review

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Ducks is an incredibly compelling memoir that catalogs the reality of the working experience in several corporate cities. Beaton unflinchingly portrays the humanity of the laborers in contrast to the inhumanity of the oil mega corps. The impetus behind Beaton's decision to move to the oil sands was financial: she had a significant amount of student loan debt from undergrad and wanted to pay it off as soon as possible. Ultimately, paying off her loans became a sort of figurative prison sentence for Beaton. From day one of her two-year work experience, she faced rampant and harmful misogyny. As she was forced to grow accustomed to her own personal danger, she also began to see the other dangers that were all too common at the camps: environmental devastation, mental health crises, and anti-indigenous decision-making.

Overall, I would highly recommend this memoir to anyone interested in immersing themselves in a unique labor story. Throughout Ducks, Beaton sticks to simply recounting her personal experiences, never explicitly making political statements. However, after experiencing secondhand the dehumanizing lifestyles required by Canada's oil companies, one can't help but come away from Ducks with at least some anti-capitalist sentiment.

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