5 Thoughts on Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
what is the book about?
Natalie is a tradwife influencer living on a farm with her husband and 5 children (her 6th is on the way). She sells her lifestyle to millions who watch her dote on her homeschooled children, make meals from scratch and she is viewed as a perfect wife and mother living a charming life. Except Natalie’s followers don’t see her nannies, producer and modern appliances.
Those parts of hidden from view.
Natalie is so busy packaging and selling her online persona as she is adamant to leave her followers assuming her life is perfect.
There are some who don’t agree with her views and who don’t buy her act but they are labelled as the ‘angry women’.
Then one morning Natalie wakes up in 1855. She is a wife and mother of 4 living in a house with zero modern conveniences. Laundry is done by hand in freezing water. Her food tastes bland. There are endless chores to be done. Her husband and children look familiar but she is convinced there has been a mistake because how can she have gone back in time? Is she on some sort of reality show? Or is she being tested?
She tries to escape but doesn’t get far and returns to a house that isn’t her house with a husband and children that aren’t hers.
What I thought:
Yesteryear is a book I won’t easily forget. I read it quickly as it got my attention from the start. But at the same time the protagonist is the one of the most unlikeable I’ve ever read! To be honest I have conflicting thoughts on this book.
I wanted to like this book and while it started out relatively entertaining, there were parts that I felt irritated, unsettled and downright confused by. Irritated is the best way I can describe a protagonist who is never happy. Not with all her trappings of contentment while she pretended to live in the 1800’s. Certainly not when she wakes up in 1855 and realises how comfortable her life had been until then.
Natalie is a series of contradictions. She is selling a lifestyle that is super fake. She is constantly smiling but extremely unhappy. She has children she hires nannies to care for. Doesn’t love her husband but looks down on anyone who isn’t married. She has such disdain for women who pursue careers while thinking she is better than everyone around her. She peddles a way of life and is affronted that anybody wouldn’t agree with her and actively want what she is selling.
The book has huge issues that are mentioned in the chapters but at the same time not explored. Religion, the patriarchy, domestic abuse, medical neglect, gaslighting and not to mention the damages and dangers of social media. I kept waiting for these topics to be dived into but they were not.
I guessed where the book was going but there were still some surprises towards the end. I am sure this would have been a popular book club book to discuss in a group but I personally didn’t enjoy it as much as (according to the hype) other readers did. Unfortunately this has happened with a few books over the years. A book is raved about SO much that I feel I am one of a handful not enjoying it.
Have you read this book and what were your thoughts on it?
xx