Full disclosure: I am not done with this. If I wait until I’m done this review won’t go up until next February. But I really want to share it all the same!
In this stream of consciousness novel, we’re inside the head of an Ohio woman as she bakes in her kitchen and goes about her day. We’re privy to every thought as she gets through all the generally mundane events of any given day–her baking, her deliveries, the dentist, dropping her kids off, a flat tire on a snowy road (which is where I am right now).
It’s the kind of book where nothing happens but everything happens. I’m finding it completely absorbing, full of insightful observation, fun turns of phrase, nice wordplay, and keen detail. We really come to understand this woman through her thoughts–she’s anxious, a worrier, a hard worker, concerned for her family. She’s also funny and observant and generally doing her best.
It’s a snapshot of one life in America in 2019, and yet speaks to our cultural moment and our country as a whole. Our preoccupations and our fears. It’s also deeply, deeply personal, as our narrator thinks about her late mom, her childhood, her cancer, her loved ones, her past.
Ducks, Newburyport defies the usual sort of review. It’s the kind of book you really have to try to know if it’s for you. It’s different but accessible, and a commitment at its size (this is taking me a while!), but I’m thoroughly enjoying the narrator, the style, and the experience. And the Kirkus review I read promises that *something* will explain the one portion of the book where we’re not in the narrator’s head, so I’ll report back!
–Marie
CPL Readers Corner 