Ducks, Newburyport

The novel's main character is an unnamed middle-aged woman who lives in Newcomerstown, Ohio. She is married, has four children, and was an adjunct college professor of history at the fictitious Peolia College. She narrates the novel from a first-person perspective and largely in present tense. She has been treated for at least two major health problems, including a heart defect as a child and cancer (possibly rectal) as an adult. She quit her college teaching job to recover from the cancer treatment. The narrator spends most of her time caring for her children and making pies and other baked goods, which she sells to local restaurants and shops to shore up her family's finances. She complains of constant exhaustion and is given to bouts of weeping.

The narrator's stream-of-consciousness takes the form of an internal dialog in which she ponders a variety of topics, ideas, recollections, and individual words in an almost-continuous list that spans the entire novel. These include the following: what she happens to be doing at the present moment; baking and cooking; descriptions of her present-day family situation; recollections about her past; musings about individuals, family members, celebrities, and acquaintances; observations about classic American films (often The Sound of Music or Now, Voyager); observations about her favorite books (often those of Jane Austen, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Lucy Maud Montgomery); expressions of anxiety about national and global problems (often widespread pollution and climate change); and admissions of her own personal problems and shortcomings. She also simply free associates in long strings of similar-sounding words, names, and acronyms. She mentions so many abbreviations and acronyms, a glossary of them is provided in the print edition of the novel.

The narrator explains that this unremitting inner dialog keeps her mind occupied so that she does not dwell on unpleasant realities (such as the doomed environment and the death of her mother), but this tactic evidently does not always succeed.

The narrator repeatedly professes deep affection for her mother, whom she refers to as "Mommy." In one recollection, the narrator reveals that when her mother was a child, she (Mommy) was saved by a sister from drowning in a lake in Newburyport, Massachusetts, after she went chasing after ducks. The word combinations "ducks, Newburyport" and "Newburyport, ducks" appear several times in the narrator's free-association. The narrator dwells on her mother's cancer and death at a relatively young age, which the narrator claims "broke" her. She considers the way that her life since her mother's death has been marked by grief and ennui, although she also celebrates the things that bring her joy in life, such as her second husband (Leo) and her children.

In the course of the narrator's stream-of-consciousness various narrative incidents are revealed. In one, the narrator is delivering pies in the middle of winter when her car gets a flat tire. Having forgotten her cell phone, she waits in her car in the cold for help for an extended period before a tow-truck driver named Jesus saves her. In another incident of stranding, the narrator takes her children to the local shopping mall, where they are prevented from leaving by a severe rainstorm and flash flooding.

The narrator often frets about global problems and how these might negatively affect her and her family.{{cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/can-one-sentence-capture-all-of-life |first=Katy |last=Waldman |newspaper=The New Yorker |date=6 September 2019 |title=Can One Sentence Capture All of Life? The Soaring Ambition of Ducks, Newburyport| access-date=13 September 2019}} These problems include the following: climate change; the mistreatment of industrial livestock (especially chickens); viral pandemics; mass shootings and other forms of violence; economic uncertainty; and the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump. A frequently mentioned problem is the widespread pollution of the world's streams, lakes, and oceans by plastic, industrial chemicals, and pharmacological substances.

The continuous stream-of-consciousness is interrupted only by short episodes of a story involving a mountain lioness. These interludes are revealed by a separate, omniscient narrator. They are inserted into the single-sentence narrative at intervals. Unlike the rest of the novel, the lioness episodes exhibit a more customary narrative structure, with discrete sentences, paragraphs, and a focused, cohesive story. In this sub-plot, the lioness (probably an eastern cougar) mates and then gives birth to a litter of cubs in the wilderness of Appalachia. Later, while the lioness is away from her den, the cubs are found and taken by humans. The lioness then roams West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio in search of them. The novel includes a map of the lioness's circuitous quest, which describes a colossal spiral, terminating at Alligator Mound in Granville, Ohio. After each lioness episode, the single-sentence stream-of-consciousness narrative resumes.

Most of the novel comprises a long sentence, broken in clauses and separated by commas and semi-colons. It uses "the fact that" as the phrase beginning many of these clauses.

The novel was published by Galley Beggar Press in Norwich, England after it was rejected by Ellmann's regular publisher, Bloomsbury.{{cite news| url=https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/ducks-newburyport-how-a-small-publishing-house-is-taking-big-risks-on-smart-literary-fiction-1.901409 | title=Ducks, Newburyport: how a small publishing house is taking big risks on smart literary fiction | newspaper=The National | date=22 August 2019 | access-date=9 September 2019 | last=Hawksley |first=Rupert}} The North American publishing rights were bought by the Windsor, Canada-based publisher Biblioasis.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/81365-biblioasis-s-ducks-is-an-unexpected-hit.html|title=Biblioasis's 'Ducks' is an Unexpected Hit|website=Publishers Weekly|access-date=2019-10-12}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/books/review-ducks-newburyport-lucy-ellmann.html|title=A Thousand-Page Novel — Made Up of Mostly One Sentence — Captures How We Think Now|last=Sehgal|first=Parul|date=2019-09-03|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-12|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/windsor-publishing-house-biblioasis-celebrates-15-years-of-books-and-chancing-the-ducks|title=Windsor publishing house Biblioasis celebrates 15-year anniversary|last=Chen|first=Dalson|work=Windsor Star|date=2019-09-26|language=en|access-date=2019-10-12}}

The novel has been widely critically acclaimed with some criticism, particularly of the length and difficulty of its prose style. According to Book Marks, the book received a "positive" consensus, based on twenty-one critics: twelve "rave", six "positive", and three "mixed".{{Cite web |title=Ducks, Newburyport|url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/ducks-newburyport/|access-date=2023-01-25 |website=Book Marks |language=en-US}} On Books in the Media, the book was rated 4.27 out of 5, based on eleven critic reviews.{{Cite web |title=Ducks, Newburyport Reviews|url=https://booksinthemedia.thebookseller.com/reviews/ducks-newburyport|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927105128/https://booksinthemedia.thebookseller.com/reviews/ducks-newburyport|archive-date=27 Sep 2021|access-date=11 July 2024 |website=Books in the Media}} In the November/December 2019 issue of Bookmarks, the book was scored 3.5 out of 5. The magazine's critical summary reads: "The Booker Prize nomination will bring Ellmann scores of new readers, but how many of them will stay the course with Ducks? As the Times (UK) put it: "This book is stuck between insanity and genius, arousing conflicting responses in the reader".{{Cite web |title=Ducks, Newburyport|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ducks%2c+Newburyport.-a0614147824|access-date=14 January 2023 |website=Bookmarks}}

A critic writing for Kirkus Reviews said the book was an example of "literary experimentation that, while surely innovative, could have made its point in a quarter the space", and compared it with Ulysses for its size and word association games.{{cite web | url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lucy-ellmann/ducks-newburyport/ | title=Review of Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann | website=Kirkus Reviews | date=17 June 2019 | access-date=9 September 2019}} Katy Waldman, writing for The New Yorker, called it an encyclopedic novel, a concept popularized by Edward Mendelson, as it renders "full range of knowledge and beliefs of a national culture". Nick Major, for The Herald, said that he enjoyed the novel but could not tell what it was about, or decide whether "it's a masterpiece or a terrible splurge of fearful polemic and word association".{{cite news| url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/17756116.review-ducks-newburyport-lucy-ellmann/ | title=Review: Ducks, Newburyport, by Lucy Ellmann | newspaper=The Herald | date=13 July 2019 | access-date=9 September 2019 | last=Major |first=Nick}} A review in Publishers Weekly called the novel a monologue that "confronts the currents of contemporary America" and summed it up as "undoubtedly brilliant".{{cite news | url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-77196-307-7 | title=Fiction book Review: Ducks, Newburyport | newspaper=Publishers Weekly | date=10 July 2019 | access-date=9 September 2019}}

• Longlist, 2020 Prix Médicis étranger{{Cite web |date=14 September 2020 |title=Première sélection du Prix Médicis 2020 : 15 romans français dont "Yoga" d'Emmanuel Carrère et 13 ouvrages étrangers en lice |url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/culture/livres/roman/premiere-selection-du-prix-medicis-2020-15-romans-francais-dont-yoga-d-emmanuel-carrere-et-13-ouvrages-etrangers-en-lice_4105713.html |access-date=24 November 2020 |website=France Info |language=fr}}
• Winner, 2019 Goldsmiths Prize{{Cite web|url=https://www.gold.ac.uk/news/goldsmiths-prize-2019/|title = Lucy Ellmann wins the 2019 Goldsmiths Prize for Ducks, Newburyport| date=13 November 2019 }}
• Shortlist, 2019 Booker Prize{{Cite web|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/news/2019-shortlist-has-been-announced|title=The 2019 shortlist has been announced | the Booker Prizes}}
• Winner, 2023 Kulturhuset Stadsteatern's International Literature Prize{{Cite web|url=https://kulturhusetstadsteatern.se/kulturhuset-stadsteaterns-internationella-litteraturpris |title=Kulturhuset Stadsteaterns internationella litteraturpris |language=sv |website=kulturhusetstadsteatern.se |access-date=2023-12-23}}

• {{Cite book |title=Ducks, Newburyport |year=2019 |publisher=Galley Beggar Press |isbn=978-1910296974 |volume=Limited Edition |location=United Kingdom |publication-date=4 July 2019}} 1,022 pages{{Cite web|url=https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/shop-1/ducks-newburyport|title=DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT|website=Galley Beggar Press|access-date=4 September 2019|archive-date=4 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904192154/https://www.galleybeggar.co.uk/shop-1/ducks-newburyport|url-status=dead}}
• {{Cite book |title=Ducks, Newburyport |year=2019 |publisher=Galley Beggar Press |isbn=978-1910296967 |volume=First Trade Edition |location=United Kingdom |publication-date=4 July 2019}} 1,030 pages
• {{Cite book |title=Ducks, Newburyport |year=2019 |publisher=Biblioasis |isbn=9781771963077 |location=United States |publication-date=10 September 2019}} 1,040 pages{{Cite web|url=http://biblioasis.com/shop/new-release/ducks-newburyport/|title=Ducks, Newburyport|website=Biblioasis}}

• {{Langx|fr|Les lionnes|lit=The Lionesses}}. Translated by Christophe Claro. Paris: Seuil. 2020. {{ISBN|9782021434835}}.
• {{Langx|es|Patos, Newburyport}}. Translated by Enrique Maldonado. Madrid: Automática Editorial. 2022. {{ISBN|9788415509776}}.
• {{Langx|sv|Ankor, Newburyport}}. Translated by Eva Åsefeldt. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. 2022. {{ISBN|9789100184056}}.
• {{Langx|tr|Ördekler, Newburyport}}. Translated by Mahir Koçak. Ankara: Yedi Yayınları. 2023. {{ISBN|9786259926100}}.

{{Reflist|2}}

Category:2019 British novels

Category:Novels set in Ohio

Category:Postmodern novels

Category:Galley Beggar Press books

Category:Fiction set in 2017

Category:Goldsmiths Prize–winning works