Community Reviews
This book didn't just miss the point for me—it backed over it, put it in reverse, and ran over it again for good measure.
I went in expecting a sharp feminist satire about gender roles, social media culture, and the fantasy of the trad-wife lifestyle. Instead, I got what felt like a 400-page public execution of one very specific kind of woman.
Natalie isn't written as a person. She's written as a caricature. Actually, scratch that. Every character in this book is a caricature. The difference is that Natalie is the only one the narrative seems determined to punish.
The book repeatedly tells us she's terrible, and then spends the rest of the story proving it with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Meanwhile, other female characters who are just as cruel, hateful, manipulative, or insufferable are treated as enlightened truth-tellers because they're on the "correct" side of the argument. The “Angry Women” are vicious. Shannon is awful. Reena, her roommate, is awful. Half the characters behave like cartoon villains. Yet readers are clearly expected to cheer for them while booing Natalie.
That's when I realized this story wasn't making me think. It was making me mad.
What really pushed me over the edge was the complete lack of proportional justice. Natalie receives thirty years of punishment while her husband—who cheats on her, uses her, drugs her, physically and emotionally abuses her, gaslights her, and participates in child abuse—somehow escapes carrying the same narrative weight. Apparently we're supposed to be furious at Natalie while shrugging at the man committing crimes alongside her, and Shannon, the producer who set her up specifically to destroy her, vilified her, blatantly lied about her, and was rewarded by the media and monetarily by the lawyers.
Interesting definition of justice.
The book claims to explore how society hates women, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it only hates certain women. Specifically women who don't fit the author's preferred worldview. The satire isn't aimed in all directions; it's aimed squarely at one target.
By the end, I wasn't challenged. I wasn't enlightened. I was just annoyed.
If the goal was to make me root for Natalie's downfall, it missed the mark. The book spent so much time trying to convince me she deserved it that I ended up rooting against the book instead.
I went in expecting a sharp feminist satire about gender roles, social media culture, and the fantasy of the trad-wife lifestyle. Instead, I got what felt like a 400-page public execution of one very specific kind of woman.
Natalie isn't written as a person. She's written as a caricature. Actually, scratch that. Every character in this book is a caricature. The difference is that Natalie is the only one the narrative seems determined to punish.
The book repeatedly tells us she's terrible, and then spends the rest of the story proving it with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Meanwhile, other female characters who are just as cruel, hateful, manipulative, or insufferable are treated as enlightened truth-tellers because they're on the "correct" side of the argument. The “Angry Women” are vicious. Shannon is awful. Reena, her roommate, is awful. Half the characters behave like cartoon villains. Yet readers are clearly expected to cheer for them while booing Natalie.
That's when I realized this story wasn't making me think. It was making me mad.
What really pushed me over the edge was the complete lack of proportional justice. Natalie receives thirty years of punishment while her husband—who cheats on her, uses her, drugs her, physically and emotionally abuses her, gaslights her, and participates in child abuse—somehow escapes carrying the same narrative weight. Apparently we're supposed to be furious at Natalie while shrugging at the man committing crimes alongside her, and Shannon, the producer who set her up specifically to destroy her, vilified her, blatantly lied about her, and was rewarded by the media and monetarily by the lawyers.
Interesting definition of justice.
The book claims to explore how society hates women, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it only hates certain women. Specifically women who don't fit the author's preferred worldview. The satire isn't aimed in all directions; it's aimed squarely at one target.
By the end, I wasn't challenged. I wasn't enlightened. I was just annoyed.
If the goal was to make me root for Natalie's downfall, it missed the mark. The book spent so much time trying to convince me she deserved it that I ended up rooting against the book instead.
Yesteryear is a debut novel that is certainly worth all its criticism in the sense of how much of a missed opportunity it is.
To be fair, I liked some aspects of the book. I really enjoyed the short chapters; it made it fairly easy to read and finish the book. It was structured like a Freida McFadden book. I also did enjoy the social commentary on how fake social media is. Not just how fake tradwife influencers are, but how fake all social media influencers are. I liked how Natalie was constantly distinguishing between “Offline Natalie” and “Online Natalie”. Like how it was all a performance, much like how a lot of modern womanhood and modern motherhood is. Also contrary to what many people have said, I didn’t find the book to be inherently anti-religion. It was actually a bit more nuanced, which was refreshing to see. I just don’t think literature that satires religious fundamentalism is incredibly daring or revolutionary nowadays. People have criticized religion in literature since the dawn of man; just read any Stephen King book!
What did I not like? The satire was not very funny. It just felt like a lot of shock value and aggressive cursing. It reminded me a lot of the satire you saw in The Boys (TV Series 2019–2026). I also felt like this book had way too many characters. I just didn’t care to remember everyone. Lastly, while the chapters were short, the writing style was very elementary. For a book covering so many serious topics, it needed a better writer to stretch them out better. No offense to Caro Claire Burke, but she’s not Donna Tartt.
I wouldn’t recommend this book. I’m sorry. Maybe the movie will be better? It’s very ironic how Ashley Audrain gave a praiseworthy review of this book because I felt like her debut novel, The Push, handled similar themes in a much superior way. I highly recommend everyone go read that book instead of this one.
To be fair, I liked some aspects of the book. I really enjoyed the short chapters; it made it fairly easy to read and finish the book. It was structured like a Freida McFadden book. I also did enjoy the social commentary on how fake social media is. Not just how fake tradwife influencers are, but how fake all social media influencers are. I liked how Natalie was constantly distinguishing between “Offline Natalie” and “Online Natalie”. Like how it was all a performance, much like how a lot of modern womanhood and modern motherhood is. Also contrary to what many people have said, I didn’t find the book to be inherently anti-religion. It was actually a bit more nuanced, which was refreshing to see. I just don’t think literature that satires religious fundamentalism is incredibly daring or revolutionary nowadays. People have criticized religion in literature since the dawn of man; just read any Stephen King book!
What did I not like? The satire was not very funny. It just felt like a lot of shock value and aggressive cursing. It reminded me a lot of the satire you saw in The Boys (TV Series 2019–2026). I also felt like this book had way too many characters. I just didn’t care to remember everyone. Lastly, while the chapters were short, the writing style was very elementary. For a book covering so many serious topics, it needed a better writer to stretch them out better. No offense to Caro Claire Burke, but she’s not Donna Tartt.
I wouldn’t recommend this book. I’m sorry. Maybe the movie will be better? It’s very ironic how Ashley Audrain gave a praiseworthy review of this book because I felt like her debut novel, The Push, handled similar themes in a much superior way. I highly recommend everyone go read that book instead of this one.
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