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  • Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann book cover
  • Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann book cover
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Ducks, Newburyport

by Lucy Ellmann

A domestic life threaded through a wider American landscape

Critically Recognized
$21.19 USD
$35.32 USD $21.19 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Winner of the 2019 Goldsmiths Prize

    The metadata identifies the book as the winner of the 2019 Goldsmiths Prize.

  • Editorial selection

    A New York Times Notable Book of 2019

    Named a notable book of 2019 by The New York Times.

  • Critical praise

    Critical praise from Parul Sehgal of The New York Times

    Parul Sehgal offers positive critical commentary on the book's form and its portrayal of contemporary concerns.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A domestic life threaded through a wider American landscape

An Ohio housewife’s days of baking tartes tatins for local restaurants sit alongside thoughts of her four children, husband, cats, and chickens. Her attention also ranges across America’s history, environmental damage, public violence, online advice, and the practical irritations of daily life. That juxtaposition gives the novel a broad field of concern: household routines and personal regrets are set against questions about land, social conditions, and ecological decline. The description identifies a torrent-of-consciousness form, making the movement among these subjects part of the book’s design.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in fiction centered on domestic and family life.
  • Readers drawn to novels that connect personal concerns with American history and contemporary social issues.
  • Readers interested in environmental themes and a consciousness-driven narrative form.

Themes

Domestic life and caregivingAmerican history and landEnvironmental declinePublic violence and social conditionsEveryday thought and distraction

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

WINNER OF THE 2019 GOLDSMITHS PRIZE - SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 BOOKER PRIZE - A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2019 - A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2019 - A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2019

"This book has its face pressed up against the pane of the present; its form mimics the way our minds move now toggling between tabs, between the needs of small children and aging parents, between news of ecological collapse and school shootings while somehow remembering to pay taxes and fold the laundry."--Parul Sehgal, New York Times

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.

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Customer reviews

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AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

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Ella

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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Olivia

Smooth.