Yesteryear

By: Caro Claire Burke

“The way some women so willingly compromised every ounce of themselves in the name of building a life for themselves that they didn’t enjoy.”

Yesteryear

*This post contains spoilers for Yesteryear

Overview:

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn’t her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

As darkly funny as it is shocking and gripping, Yesteryear is an electrifying examination of tradition, fame, faith and the grand performance of womanhood, from a thrilling new talent in fiction.

Yesteryear

This was kind of a strange one.

Yesteryear, is one of the most talked about books of the year yet I went into it not really knowing what it was about. All I knew was the main character preached this idyllic traditional lifestyle and was somehow transported into pioneer days. That ended up not really being the case.

The book flashes between Natalie’s perfectly curated life on her farm to an eerily similar farm seemingly in a different time period. Her children are different but her husband looks the same, just older. During these jumps it is assumed that this new reality is something that Natalie has made up to cope with the fact that her perfect real life is falling apart. It is a way to escape for her.

This ends up being true but not in the way you first think. Natalie has not just created a new reality in her head, she has created an actual new reality. The farm that is stripped of all modern amenities? She renovated it to be so. Her children that are not the ones she remembered? He first five children left the farm and she continued to have children. Her husband that looks the same but not quite? He is her actually husband, just years older and more emboldened to play his part in a traditional masculine role.

The author did a very good job of making the reader believe that Natalie was hiding in a delusion. In a way she was, as she kept losing herself and forgetting where she was and how much time had passed. When Clementine’s car rolled up, I still didn’t believe that it wasn’t all in her mind. It was when it all was finally revealed that I saw what was in front of us the entire time.

It was a great revelation and it felt fresh. A lot of more recent books rely on shocking twists that can cause the story to suffer. Yesteryear’s twist is very effective and genuinely fits the story.

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Overall,

I really enjoyed this book and I can see why it has gained so much popularity. I have heard this book be described as “fun” and I wouldn’t put it into that category. The story is a mirror on the world today. We have so much access to information that we can get lost in things that aren’t real.

Natalie and Caleb both dive into their own worlds driven by the algorithm. After their entire life falls apart they decide to remove themselves completely from the modern world and hide themselves away.

I fear that some people may see them as inspirational and not satirical. Afterall, isn’t that a big problem with the internet today? We believe 30 seconds clips from unverified sources over trusted institutions.

Rating: 4/5 stars