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Book: “Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands” by Kate Beaton
Publishing Info: Drawn and Quarterly, September 2022
Where Did I Get This Book: The library!
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark A Vagrant fame, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beatons, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. After university, Beaton heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush, part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, what the journey will actually cost Beaton will be far more than she anticipates.
Arriving in Fort McMurray, Beaton finds work in the lucrative camps owned and operated by the world’s largest oil companies. Being one of the few women among thousands of men, the culture shock is palpable. It does not hit home until she moves to a spartan, isolated worksite for higher pay. She encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet never discussed. Her wounds may never heal.
Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, Northern Lights, and Rocky Mountains. Her first full-length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.
Review: In February I ended up going to see “Les Miserables” with my husband and some friends, and as I always do when seeing “Les Mis” I mentioned to the group my favorite “Hark, a Vagrant!” comic set that has Javert at the forefront. There’s just something about him burning down the Life Café in “Rent” that just tickles me. One of my friends mentioned Beaton’s graphic memoir “Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands”, saying that he really enjoyed it and that I should check it out. I had intended to do so back when it first came out a few years ago, but for whatever reason I didn’t get around to it, but made a note to head to the library and get it as soon as I could. And shortly thereafter I had it in hand and was ready to dive in, not totally sure what to expect but certain it would be something different from the whimsical cartoons I’ve known Beaton for over the years. And I have to say, my friend was right, it was very good.
“Ducks” is the story of Kate Beaton’s time after college where, worried about a lack of financial opportunities in her home of Cape Breton Island and the looming student loans post college, she took a job in the oil sands in Fort McMurray, Alberta, knowing the pay would be higher and the time to getting out of debt would be faster. While she isn’t prepared at all for what the oil sands will be like, she has to adjust to a huge change in her life, with jarring experiences, harsh conditions, and an experience unlike anything she’s had until this point. I found her story to be incredibly poignant and sobering, as while she finds connection and does seem to find her groove, she has to deal with cold management, misogynistic male co-workers (made all the worse due to a huge lack of other women, making her even more of a target), and grueling yet monotonous work. Throw in the bleakness of the way the beauty of the natural world around her is being stripped down and exploited for oil profits and we have an unflinching account of climate destruction that also brings financial opportunities to so many who are in desperate need of it. I don’t know that much about Canada and its history with oil and natural resources, but I felt like I learned a fair amount from this book in a way that was very accessible.
What I really loved the most about this memoir is that Beaton is very measured and thoughtful when telling her story, and is able to acknowledge the nuances of the oil sands and her time there while also examining and holding multiple truths. It’s true that the oil sands provided financial opportunities that she was having a hard time achieving elsewhere after her education was through and her student loans were looming, but it’s also true that she had some horrific experiences with misogyny, gross comments, and even sexual assault that went unacknowledged and without justice. She does a good job of showing the terrible men that she worked with there who objectified and wounded her, but also shows the good people there who did their best and supported her. She acknowledges the horrible climate and environmental harms that these oil sands bring to Alberta, with chemical spills, higher cancer rates, and nasty day to day symptoms, while showing the great beauty of being out in that part of the world and in the nature surrounding it. She shows the gross men and doesn’t excuse their vile behaviors and the sometimes all too unfortunate ways they would turn to drugs to get through their shifts, but also acknowledges how hard it can be for the workers who are so isolated from greater society that regression is almost unpreventable. She also takes great care to address the way that these oil sands affect Indigenous communities, be it how it can infect their water and affect their environment, or the way that Indigenous women can be so vulnerable to violence from the people who work there. It’s all very heavy and the themes are difficult, but the conversations surrounding it are necessary and I appreciate how she was able to parse out all of the nuance that comes with it.
And the art is what I would expect from Beaton, while also capturing some really well done emotional beats and some lovely depictions of the place that was such a pivotal moment in her life.
“Ducks” is a fantastic and personal graphic memoir that I highly recommend. I learned so much about a very specific aspect of Canada that leaks into greater realities, and I thought it was simply sublime.
Rating 9: A deeply personal and nuanced graphic memoir that tells a story of financial opportunity that comes with a cost, climate destruction, and Canada itself, “Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands” was informative, interesting, and emotional.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Ducks” is included on the Goodreads lists “Graphic Memoirs”, and “Oh, Canada!”.
The Library Ladies 