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Ducks, Newburyport

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Ducks, Newburyport

By: Lucy Ellmann
Narrated by: Stephanie Ellyne
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About this listen

Winner of the Goldsmiths Prize 2019.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2019.

Latticing one cherry pie after another, an Ohio housewife tries to bridge the gaps between reality and the torrent of meaningless info that is the United States of America. She worries about her children, her dead parents, African elephants, the bedroom rituals of happy couples, Weapons of Mass Destruction and how to hatch an abandoned wood pigeon egg. Is there some trick to surviving survivalists? School shootings? Medical debts? Franks 'n' beans?

A scorching indictment of America's barbarity, past and present, and a lament for the way we are sleepwalking into environmental disaster, Ducks, Newburyport is a heresy, a wonder - and a revolution in the novel.

©2019 Lucy Ellmann (P)2020 Recorded Books Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Fiction Survival

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Critic reviews

"A masterpiece like no other." (Vogue)

"Full of wit and intelligence...and one of the most intriguing, charming and genuinely funny characters I have come across in recent years." (The Herald)

"In her latest novel, Lucy Ellmann doesn't just carry on as before: she doubles up, doubles down, and absolutely goes for broke. (...) Success? Failure? A triumph." (Guardian)

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This book, for me is one that perfectly lends itself to audio format, How you feel about it may well depend on whether or not you have your own internal monologue. If you do the structure makes perfect sense but I can imagine it's inscrutable to someone who doesn't have their own random inside voice. The fact the author captures what this is like so perfectly is really quite incredible.

You really are immersed in the narrator's personality, I went through so many different phases of being sympathetic or annoyed with her. There were times her particular idiosyncrasies in expression ("x I mean, not y") made me want to SCREAM and other times when I just wanted to hug her. There were days I couldn't keep listening because I found it a bit overwhelming, like you were literally inside someone else's head hearing their thoughts.

I'm very glad I read this but I'm not sure I'd want to do so again!

The narration is absolutely perfect,

Not for Everyone

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Despite the initial shock at the repetitive structure the story unfolds well and is worth persevering with.
Annoying parts in the performance where the narrator mispronounces some words. These do distract.

Worth persevering!

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Like most,was drawn to this book because of curiosity around its clever structure. It surpringly works and if you like your slow and one paced books,that quietly absorb you, you will love this. However, because nothing much happens and these are thoughts of a 'normal' suburban housewife after all, there is a limit to how interesting they can be. I feel 25hrs would have been just enough to hit the sweet spot. Still stuck with it to the end though and no regrets..!!

Innovative, enjoyable but about 20hrs too long!

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Utterly gorgeous, rampant, melancholy, joyous stream of consciousness. Will inevitably be compared to Joyce, but this is entirely its own beast. Becomes a living, breathing human being in your mind.

Experience this.

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Not sure how many times the phrase “the fact that” was used, but it must be into thousands. It’s beautifully read, shockingly written and a trout de force. Very original. It is a great indictment on Trump’s America.

Epic the fact that

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Truly unique Lucy Ellmann book is a brilliant work of fiction and pushes narrative to the limits. The narration by Stephanie Ellyne is suburb.

Ducks,Nuwburyport

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This book has kept me company for the last two months. The story line slowly appears in-between the unconscious stream of thoughts of this mother, woman, freelancer - a clever book that takes time but worth the wait. And I learnt some new foods & recipes.

The fact that...

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The fact that you could write the plot of this novel on a single sheet of paper. The fact that there are a lot of lists and I'll admit I skipped a lot of them. The fact that this novel does sum up (although sum up is the wrong phrase in this case) the anxiety and craziness of modern America. The fact that, although compelled to get to the next plot point, I am really not sure the word count is justified. The fact that I'm not sure I could really recommend my friends to spend such a large chunk of their lives reading this. The fact that I'm glad I listened to the free audio book while I was working. The fact that what's wrong with a decent editor now and then?

very very long

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What a tour de force- a stream of consciousness, some great recipes, a fascinating interweaving of stories and a comment on the state of humanity, all in one book. Amazing, Lucy Ellmann you are to be congratulated and brilliantly read by Stephanie Ellyne.

WOW!

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I was so sorry when this ended. It’s an almost mesmerising listen and, as it’s so long, I really began to feel part of the world of this book. It was brought thoroughly to light by the tremendous, thoughtful narration. I really felt that Stephanie Ellyne inhabited the persona of the narrator and gave a really great performance. I would highly recommend this recording.

Brilliant narration

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