Alexander Larman 

Moby-Duck by Donovan Hohn – review

Alexander Larman enjoys a bizarre cautionary tale that tracks thousands of plastic ducks around the world
  
  

plastic duck
Duck overboard: thousands of cargo containers are lost at sea every year. Photograph: Getty creative Photograph: Getty creative

Donovan Hohn's enjoyably picaresque journey through the worlds of ecology and big business is the first release from new imprint Union Books. Union's mission statement is to release "unapologetically upmarket and intellectually ambitious" titles, and Hohn's account of his quixotic mission falls into both categories.

Starting with the almost Lynchian image of 28,000 plastic toys falling off the deck of a container ship in 1992, and their subsequent reappearances all over the world, Hohn tells with brio and wit the story of the indestructability of mass-produced ephemera and the ecological damage it causes. Along the way he uncovers the disquieting trail of the thousands of containers lost at sea each year, and meets characters who would not do discredit to Herman Melville's motley crew.

As his slick writing suggests, Hohn has a background in magazine journalism, and Moby-Duck began life as articles in Harper's Magazine and other titles. Yet there's a warmth here that universalises his quest, as he frets about not seeing his wife and newborn son. If he implicitly compares himself to Ahab, he ends up the cuddliest of martinets.

 

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