Ducks, Newburyport

De: Lucy Ellmann

Narrado por: Stephanie Ellyne

Duración: 45 h y 34 m

Resumen del Editor

Baking a multitude of tartes tatins for local restaurants, an Ohio housewife contemplates her four kids, husband, cats and chickens. Also, America's ignoble past, and her own regrets. She is surrounded by dead lakes, fake facts, open carry maniacs, and oodles of online advice about survivalism, veil toss duties, and how to be more like Jane Fonda.

But what do you do when you keep stepping on your son's toy tractors, your life depends on stolen land and broken treaties, and nobody helps you when you get a flat tire on the interstate, not even the Abominable Snowman? When are you allowed to start swearing?

With a torrent of consciousness and an intoxicating coziness, Ducks, Newburyport lays out a whole world for you to tramp around in, by turns frightening and funny. A heart-rending indictment of America's barbarity, and a lament for the way we are blundering into environmental disaster, this book is both heresy - and a revolution in the novel.

©2019 Lucy Ellmann (P)2020 Recorded Books

Amazing book

Tour de force of author and reader (performer). Excellent insights into life and the various characters. Plot was such a twist, I wouldn’t dream of giving any clues. Having parallel plot line with bobcat was stroke of genius. I can’t say enough praise. I’m still amazed at the whole thing.

Indescribable....

Must be listened to at 1.40x speed for the full effect of the main character's incessant stream-of-consciousness narration raging at the incredulity of current society. This isn't going to be everyone's cup of pepper pot soup, but for those it speaks to, I'll see you all in Newburyport.

Why not live in this woman’s mind?

If one doesn’t expect an elaborate plot and just listens to her inner monologue, it’s not often that one can get into someone else’s head so fully. There is _some_ plot development there. And the reading is terrific. I would never be able to read this book, only to listen, with long pauses.

I have consumed many other books in the interim, coming back to this one for a few chapters at a time. But the image of the woman, her kids, husband and other characters remained with me, so it wasn’t hard to resume listening. Not to mention all the pies and other recipes. Sugar gets onion smell out of your hands and other useful stuff ;-)

Unlike Any Other Book I've Ever Read

I went in to Ducks, Newburyport totally blind. It was the choice for the Reading Envy read-along so I decided to drop an Audible credit and jump in. I had no idea what it was about, I just new that the audio book was 45 hours loooooooong and there was a duck on the cover.

Upon commencing, I wondered what I got myself in to. It is a stream of consciousness style narrative, with the thoughts we listening in on being than of a middle-aged Ohio woman with four kids, a nice husband, and a pie-making business. In one long sentence! I wondered how this could possibly go on for 45 hours?!

It didn't take me long to become fully immersed - thoughts and ideas flew by at a blink of an eye, and if you didn't find the thought of the moment particularly interesting, just wait a few seconds for something else. Is there a subject she doesn't touch on in the 45 hours? Eventually, a plot (actually two parallel plots) *sort of* form and the novel becomes a bit more linear as it gets closer to the end.

The main themes in the woman's inner monologue are how screwed up and dysfunctional humanity is and how we've damaged the natural world. Similar ideas are are expressed through the thoughts of a non-speaking secondary character (no spoilers here). It's not all gloom and doom though, I found myself laughing quite often.

The audio book was narrated perfectly by Stephanie Ellyne. She was just spot on and brought the woman to life. I can't imagine narrating a book that jumps around such as this with barely time to catch a breath.

I wasn't keen on the ending, which I thought was a bit too dramatic. There was also a stretch in the middle of the book where the author switches things up and recites a list for I don't know how long. I could't wait for that to be over with.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I've never read anything like it before. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you give it a try and can make it past the first 30 minutes I think you'll get in to a nice groove.

The fact that

I don’t know if there are awards for audiobook narration, but the reader of this book surely deserves best performance. The book itself is pretty much beyond description. Totally alluring and satisfying and brilliant and the reader, my God! Unsurpassable! (I’m only about 5 hours in, but looking forward to listening to this for a LONG time:)

works as audiobook

If you are are a fan of both David Markson and the talking tree on the campus of UCSD, this is the audiobook for you.

The fact is

The fact is this book goes on for 45 hours with the fact is, the fact is, and it doesn’t end. The audiobook sample is representative for 45 hours of the fact is. The narrator adds a screechy emphasis to points I don’t think the author would have used. I found the narrator annoying. The book would have been better if the editor did a global search and delete of “the fact is” which would have shorten the book and would have been more enjoyable.

edited 15 June 2020
I don't like that I judged this book based on the narrator. I did not like the narration. I tried slowing the book speed down and that helped a little but not much. I kind of wish the book would have been narrated by a Scot.

Perhaps I find this book troubling and I really hate dinging books. I went to look at professional book reviews. They too addressed a certain unease with the book and their reasons why. I discovered what my problem was and it was nothing other than laziness. I kind of wish I would have gotten the Kindle version of the book so that I could read it in my own voice at my own speed. I apologize for saying the mean things I did above.

Decent story, okay reader

Firstly, the reader: The way this story was read was really distracting to me for a few reasons. The reader pronounces a few words just blatantly incorrectly. Tarte, for instance, is always pronounced "tar-tay" instead of "tart," which might be okay once or twice - except it appears many times throughout the book and is acutely distracting. Other words are pronounced in ways that aren't necessarily wrong, but weird (milk as "melk"). Her voice, however, seems like a really good fit for the character whose consciousness she narrates - she sounds just like a midwestern housewife in her 50s and I think that part was done really well.

Second, the story: I guess the style would fall under experimental fiction. It's like a stream of consciousness of a housewife/home baker, including her thoughts on everything from her familial relationships to her baking style and home business to the national political climate and global environmental crisis. As a character, she is both exasperating and sympathetic. I found myself equally being irritated by her self-absorption and charmed by her little brand of naïveté. For example, she cares so much about things being right in the world and people being kind and conscientious, but seems to have done very little work in actually understanding things like the environmental issues she brings up so much. The secondary plot with the mountain lioness is weird. I get what it's trying to do, but I didn't like it as much as the main plot line.

The author must be British, though. Even though the character is supposed to be an all-American housewife, the author was not very careful with changing British English-isms to Americanisms (e.g. she says "bring to the boil" instead of "bring to a boil" and a few others).

An incredible journey

Ms. Ellman’s novel is brilliant in both its conception and its execution; and Ms. Ellyne’s performance captures every last minute perfectly. (Also, as a comparative literature major myself, I am absolutely blown away by how the Federal Highway Administration’s “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete” bridge ratings and the inimitable Shirley Jackson could fit so seamlessly into the ramblings of a pie-baking homemaker.)

fantastic performance of a difficult novel

THIS is how "Ducks" should be experienced to truly get the full effect of the stream-of-consciousness, intrusive thought style.