The debates will be hosted by Ali Hassan and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Listen and on CBC Books. It was something that gave me joy and made me feel like myself, when sometimes you did not feel like yourself at work, because people would reduce you to whatever thing they saw in front of them. Beaton creates a world apart from ours in which the loneliness drives many men to behaviours they wouldn't even consider in their "real lives". The stories in this book are often upsetting and deal with trauma head on, but Beaton's humor and art strike a necessary balance. The author touches a bit upon the environmental impact of the oil sands, but her focus is predominantly on the human impact of living in isolation and being expendable.

Kate Beaton - Wikipedia Kate Beaton - Wikipedia

However good and even important this long detailed memoir of working in the oil industry in Alberta, Canada between 2005 and 2008 may be, it ain’t an easy one to recommend. Beaton is a thoughtful guide through a complex landscape of class and gender, and these pages ache with grief and grace. S. president’s endorsement, and what happens to an author when they’re promoted by one of the world’s most famous literary tastemakers. The character Ryan, for example, is going through a difficult period of mental health and suicide ideation but doesn’t feel he can talk about it (it’ll just make him the butt of jokes if he does), and that gets into how toxic masculinity can become a sort of shame chamber where men feel they can’t express any emotion that isn’t anger. As she draws it, life in the oil sands is no picnic for the male workers, what with the long shifts, bleak surroundings, constant risk of injury and possibility of long-term illness.But even with all those accomplishments, Roach says she’s constantly being asked what she’s going to do next. Despite being often gawked at and facing sexist comments and escalating unwanted sexual attention, Beaton maintains sympathy for many of the men who work with her who suffer from the loneliness, physical exhaustion and illness, and homesickness that come with their itinerant work. The author and illustrator, Kate Beaton, who hails from Nova Scotia, worked for two years in the Northern Alberta oil sands to pay off her student loans from college. Honest, compassionate, and clear-eyed, Ducks is a stunning achievement in storytelling that I will be thinking about for a long time. Beaton's self-published Never Learn Anything from History won the 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent.

Ducks by Kate Beaton | CBC Books Read an excerpt from Ducks by Kate Beaton | CBC Books

super-champion Mattea Roach is championing the graphic memoir Ducks by Kate Beaton on Canada Reads 2023!Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. She brought her husband with her, and they bought a small farm near where she grew up, where her parents still live.