Ducks, Newburyport
Ratings7
Average rating4
So this unbroken, stream of consciousness, chonker of a book that suffers from an extreme case of literary Tourettes (Kleenex, tardigrades, fatbergs, Abominable Snowman) can seem a massive bit of writerly trolling. Lucy Ellmann going Emperor's New Clothes as she continues to collect accolades and prizes. But I loved it nonetheless.
Clickbait tiles, brandnames, song snippets and the contents of the freezer are the manifestation of the monkey chatter, interior monologue that all of us are barely conscious of. Like skimming through the radio dial and picking up pieces of information, it firmly establishes the set and setting of a specific moment. It's no less than what T.S. Eliot is throwing out there in The Wasteland.
And we are completely in the world of an Ohio housewife in the year immediately after the 2016 US election. And yes, reading it in the current dumpster fire, murder hornets, pandemic, race riot moment seems almost quaint. But amidst the word salad there are thoughts on being a woman in this environment, a mother, wife and daughter. Feeling both completely invisible and an object of desire. To have beaten cancer but still contending with the medical bills. To harken to an idealized American ideal as seen in Little House on the Prairie, musicals, movies and the dog whistling of the president. How problematic that era was and how white racial structures have always been a part of the water white Americans have been swimming in. I mean you can fit a lot of ideas in 1000 pages.
And kudos to whoever was saddled with performing the audiobook version of this monster. I hope you got hazard pay.
This book is essentially all one sentence, which is a cool parameter and generally well executed. I ended up enjoying it but not as much as I hoped and the opportunity cost associated with the time of reading a 1,000 page book with no paragraph breaks wasn't really worth it for the novelty.
If you only ever read one thousand-page, experimental, existential-crisis-inducing book, make it this one. Belongs in the same company as “Mrs. Dalloway” and “Ulysses.” I absolutely mean that. Maybe I'll come back and write a longer, more comprehensive review, but I've just finished this book and I am reeling and I just need to make sure it's clear that when I say this book is five stars, I mean every bit of it.
Okay, I'm going to go collapse in bed and feel the universe spinning around me for the rest of the night.