Book ~ "Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands" (2022) Kate Beaton

From Goodreads ~ After university, Kate 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.

After she graduated from university, the author left her home and family in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and headed to northern Alberta to work in the oil fields. She had racked up university debt and saw it as a way to make good money quickly as Alberta was booming at the time and many east coasters headed that way for work. What she discovered was there were 50 men to one woman in an isolated setting and there was a lack of respect towards women. The men made crude remarks and advances to her and the higher ups did nothing about it.

I'm not into graphic novels but this one had attracted so much attention so I was interested in reading it. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of reading a graphic novel. To be honest, I'm not sure why it received so much praise as I thought it was just okay.  I think she had an interesting story to tell of her two years of experiences and it would have worked better for me as a "normal" memoir (she's a cartoonist so I guess it was comfortable for her to present it this way). I'm originally from Nova Scotia so at times I could hear the voices with their east coast lingo.

I found it was disjointed and confusing as "scenes" would end and another would begin without any flow or context. I found there were so many characters in the different locations and I couldn't remember who was "good" and who was "bad" towards her and the other women. I'm glad I finally read it but I don't know what the fuss was about it. As a head's up, there is swearing, sexual content and abuse against women.