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Ducks, Newburyport
- Narrated by: Stephanie Ellyne
- Length: 45 hrs and 34 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
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Summary
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.
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)
More from the same
What listeners say about Ducks, Newburyport
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- AWK
- 11-04-20
Tremendous _ the fact that it is so excellentl
I can't write highly enoght about this book and what a brilliant reading! It takes a while (short) to get involved. I could feel empathy with the narrator though I am a man - and all those pies! Yes it is long but so worth while! It is so worth the chance of a purchase to get into a person's head and that is my belief of what fiction is about.
5 people found this helpful
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- steven eccles
- 22-03-20
Ducks,Nuwburyport
Truly unique Lucy Ellmann book is a brilliant work of fiction and pushes narrative to the limits. The narration by Stephanie Ellyne is suburb.
4 people found this helpful
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- Claire Forsyth- Brown
- 27-08-20
WOW!
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.
3 people found this helpful
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- Ellen
- 22-07-20
Powerful
Ellmann’s highly original concept makes a powerful document of our time. A near perfect listen. Stephanie Ellyne is just brilliant. Because it is so well read, the few slips become the more noticeable and annoying. Mainly some Italian words; Trastevere, Piazzale, ....I often wonder why narrator or publisher doesn’t check intonations with native language speakers.
3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 16-07-20
The Karen Book
A pointless, repetitive, superficial book written by a glitching AI. There are a lot of actually good books you could listen to instead of spending 45 mindnumbing hours on this one.
2 people found this helpful
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- christine coper
- 22-12-20
Brilliant narration
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.
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- Robert Garton
- 06-05-20
Ideal lockdown listen.
Absolutely brilliant,enjoyed every minute did not want it to end. What a brilliant idea wonderfully created. The narration was perfect,really enjoyed it.
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- HannahCalabaza
- 17-04-20
Worth persevering!
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.